Scope and Content Note
The Robert L. Mullen Collection contains correspondence, notes, a manuscript, photographs, land title instruments, certificates, academic transcripts, ballots, voter registers, financial records, news clippings, and printed matter documenting the life of a rancher and public servant. These materials date from 1880 to 1982 and are divided into five series.
Series I: Business and Legal Papers houses correspondence, notes, land titles, voter registers, financial records, and printed matter dating from 1887 to 1982.
Series II: Political Papers contains correspondence, ballots, voter registers, and printed matter dating from 1898 to 1941.
Series III: John E. Campbell Papers dates from 1898 to 1911 and includes correspondence, certificates, and real estate records showing an estate (constituting a ranch) of which Robert L. Mullen was executor and heir.
Series IV: Mullen Family Papers includes correspondence, a manuscript, and printed matter dating from 1880 to 1963.
Series V: Photographs dates from 1895 to 1963. These items are largely black and white images, in varying formats, showing family groups. Geographic settings and group activities are also depicted.
Dates
- Creation: 1880-1982
Language of Materials
Material in English
Access Restrictions
To view this collection, make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist or calling (480) 965-4932. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Monday through Friday. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability.
Copyright
Arizona State University does not own the copyright to this collection. We recognize that it is incumbent upon the researcher to procure permission to publish information from this collection from the owner of the copyright.
Biographical Note
Robert Lionel Mullen was born in Concow, California on October 10, 1871. His family relocated to Tempe, Arizona in 1886 and Mullen attended the Arizona Territorial Normal School in 1888. He married Charlotte Ruth Gibson (d. 1963), an 1895 Normal School graduate, in 1897. The Mullens had six children, of whom three survived to adulthood: Thelma Beryl (Mullen) Clymer Folcka (1901-1996), Gladys Claire (Mullen) Lake (1903-1992), and Robert Lionel (1907-1970).
Farming and ranching activity propelled Mullen to a position as state cattle buyer and cattle inspector as well as to memberships in the Tempe Landowners Association, the Arizona Cattle Growers Association, and the Associated Farmers of Maricopa County. He was also an investor in the Tempe Irrigating Canal Company.
Mullen was active in the Republican Party and served as a Precinct Councilman and election judge. He served on the Tempe City Council for four years and served two terms as Trustee of the Tempe Union High School District. Mullen died on January 12, 1963.
Full extent
4 Box(es)
Full extent
2.67 Linear Feet
Abstract
The Robert L. Mullen Collection contains correspondence, notes, a manuscript, photographs, land title instruments, certificates, academic transcripts, ballots, voter registers, financial records, news clippings, and printed matter documenting the life of a rancher and public servant. These materials date from 1880 to 1982 and are divided into five series.
Arrangement
This collection consists of two boxes divided into five series:
- Series I: Business and Legal Papers
- Series II: Political Papers
- Series III: John E. Campbell Papers
- Series IV: Mullen Family Papers
- Series V: Photographs
Provenance
The Robert L. Mullen Collection was donated to the Arizona Collection by Thelma Mullen Clymer Folcka in 1977 (ACC# 1977-00059A).
Subject
- Mullen family -- Archives (Family)
- Title
- Robert L. Mullen Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Heatherly E. McIntyre Knowles and Lane Crawford Cromby in December of 2001; machine-readable finding guide created by Michael Lotstein in March of 2003.
- Date
- 2012
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding guide encoded in English.
Repository details
Part of the Greater Arizona Collection Repository
Contact
Arizona State UniversityP.O. Box 871006
Tempe AZ 85287-1006 United States
(480) 965-4932
archives@asu.edu