CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

W. Pete Cunningham

American politician (1929-2010)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ7945900 ↗
Source-derived summary

William Pete Cunningham (November 7, 1929 – December 21, 2010) was a Democratic member of the North Carolina General Assembly representing the 107th House district, including constituents in Mecklenburg county. He resigned on December 31, 2007, in his 11th term.

Cunningham worked with Robert F. Williams and the Monroe County chapter of the NAACP in the 1950s and 1960s. He served in the US Navy, (Ret.) for 16 years, (Submarine) US Army Paratrooper for 4 years. He was also a real estate investor in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “W. Pete Cunningham” as american politician (1929-2010). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1929, 2010, 2007—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1929-11-07. The account is most persuasive where Pete, Cunningham and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american politician (1929-2010). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7945900. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1929, 2010 and 2007.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “W. Pete Cunningham”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow W. Pete Cunningham primary sources, W. Pete Cunningham archive and Pete research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “W. Pete Cunningham”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “W. Pete Cunningham” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.