Fred Wilson Photographs

Collection

Identifier: CP W

Scope and Content Note

This collection houses family and professional photographs documenting Fred Wilson's career in the automobile industry and trading posts. Many images show merchandise, including Native American rugs, basketry, pottery, kachinas, and jewelry. A number of images show artist Pop Chalee.

Only those images previously described on the Special Materials Index are included in this guide.

Dates

Creation: 1910-1958

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

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Frederic Edwards Wilson was born to William and Laura (Edwards) Wilson in Cincinnati, Ohio on July 15, 1883. He was the oldest of three children, including Ella Campbell (Wilson) Johnson (1886-) and Margaret (Wilson) Newell (1890-1978). Fred Wilson began his career with Maxwell-Briscoe, a Tarrytown, New York car company, in 1905. In 1909, he moved to the Overland Automobile Company (later known as Willis-Overland), where he was in charge of sales, marketing, and service in Houston, Dallas, and Cleveland. He worked for the Midwest Engine Company (1918-1920), Stutz Motor Car (1921-1923), Chrysler (1923-1925), and R. H. Collins Automobile Company (1925-1928) before moving to Phoenix, Arizona in 1933. Here, Wilson served as City Manger (1935-1936) before purchasing Vaughn's Indian Store in 1936. He changed the name to Fred Wilson's Indian Trading Post and operated a chain of these stores throughout the southwest. Wilson retired from the business in 1962 but continued to study Native American art and patronize artists until his death in 1969.

Wilson first married Georgiana Pendleton McIntosh and the couple had one son, William E. (1910-). Georgiana was deceased in 1915, and Wilson later married Ruth Rardin (1888-1962).

Full extent

3.5 Linear Feet

Full extent

2,547 Photograph(s)

Additional description

Abstract

Arrangement

This collection consists of two thousand, five hundred, and forty-seven photographs.

Provenance

Fred Wilson's estate donated these papers to Arizona State University in 1969 (Accession #1969-00086A).

Related Materials

Interested researchers may also wish to consult MSS-109: Fred Wilson Collection (guide available at http://www.azarchivesonline.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/asu/wilson.xml.