A Guide to the William Marvin Whyburn Papers, 1920-1977

Biographical Note

William Marvin Whyburn (1901-1972) was born in Denton County, Texas, on November 12, 1901. He received his undergraduate education at North Texas State College and the University of Texas at Austin. He obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin under the direction of Hyman Joseph Ettlinger, largely while teaching at Texas Technological College. Whyburn was a National Research Fellow at Harvard University (1927-1928) before joining the faculty of the University of California-Los Angeles, where he became Mathematics Department chairman (1937-1944). In 1944 Whyburn returned to Texas Technological College as President, a position which he retained until 1948 and his appointment as Kenan Professor of Mathematics and Mathematics Department chairman at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Whyburn also served as Acting Provost (1956-1957) and Vice President for Research (1957-1960). After his retirement from the University of North Carolina in 1967, Whyburn was Frensley Professor of Mathematics at Southern Methodist University until 1970, when he returned to Chapel Hill and teaching part time at Eastern Carolina University. He died in 1972. Whyburn was a Council member (1940-1942), Associate Secretary (1950-1953), and served on numerous committees of the American Mathematical Society. He was first Vice-President of the Mathematical Association of America for 1943-1945. Whyburn's research dealt mainly with the theory of ordinary differential equations, particularly second order differential systems. He did extensive consulting work for the U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Whyburn wrote several college textbooks with P. H. Daus.

Source: Reid, W. T., "William M. Whyburn, 1901-1972," Bulletin of the Mathematical Society of America, 79 (November, 1973):1175-1183.

Scope and Contents

Whyburn's administrative work at the University of North Carolina (1948-1967) is the most strongly represented aspect of his career in the collection. The General Correspondence contains many letters from this period, although letters from several academic years are missing. The Faculty and Administrative Activities series (1928-1972) is also dominated by Whyburn's University of North Carolina records, but also includes material, largely correspondence, bearing on his Texas Technological College Presidency (1944-1948). Documentation prior to 1944 is fragmentary. There is a series of his lectures and speeches (1928-1971). Coverage of Whyburn's American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America work (1939-1962) is sparse. The bulk of material related to Whyburn's research and publications (1928-1972) concerns his paper, "Systems of Differential Equations" (1972), written with Richard K. Williams, his textbooks, written with P. H. Daus (1947-1960), and his research grants (1953-1971). His government consulting work is well represented (1944-1971).

Whyburn kept some family and other personal letters (1958-1960) in a separate file, which is entered under Personal.

Forms part of the Archives of American Mathematics.

Restrictions

Use Restrictions

The majority of these papers are stored remotely at CDL. Advance notice required for retrieval. Contact repository for retrieval. Photographs are stored on-site and do not require advance notice.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

William Marvin Whyburn Papers, 1920-1977, Archives of American Mathematics, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

Detailed description of the papers