Helen E. Whalen was the registrar at St. Lawrence from 1930-1968. During the years of the Second World War, she served as “Communications Officer” between the college and those in the greater Laurentian community serving in the Second World War. In this capacity, she wrote and published “Tommie’s Newsletter,” which was a periodic sharing of the location, status, and general news of those serving abroad. During the war, she kept photographs and other objects sent to her on display in her office. After the war, she compiled her correspondence into a scrapbook.
Collection Overview
The Helen “Tommie” Whalen World War II Scrapbook Collection documents Helen Whalen’s work as St Lawrence University’s “Communications Officer” during the Second World War. A long-time registrar at St. Lawrence, Whalen created “Tommie’s Newsletter,” a publication chronicling the whereabouts, anecdotes, and accomplishments of enlisted members of the greater St. Lawrence University community. The collections consists of copies of “Tommie’s Newsletter,” correspondence, newspaper and magazines clippings, photographs, sports news, and other ephemera collected by Whalen during the war years.