Scope and Content Note
The Rocky Nelson Collection contains a financial report, press releases, newspaper clippings, and scrapbooks dating from 1946 to 1951. These materials document the establishment of an intrastate airline called Arizona Airways, a campaign by that airline to gain route use permission from civil aeronautics authorities, and concurrent public debate over the utility of air feeder lines in general. This collection also documents a concerted effort to convert small, municipal airports and former Army Air Forces facilities in Arizona into commercial terminals.
Dates
- Creation: 1946-1951
Creator
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 copyright to this collection. Distinctive Collections recognizes that it is incumbent upon the researcher to procure permission to publish information from this collection from the owner of the copyright.
Biographical Note
Hillis Orville Rocky
Nelson was born to Charles A. and Agnes (Hilstrum) Nelson in Sisseton, South Dakota on April 20, 1904. He was one of four children, including Merle Evelyn (Nelson) Clayton (1901-1994), Leland Kenneth (1906-1992), and Evelyn Blanch (ca. 1909-). Rocky Nelson married Jean Pody
Owen (1908-1979) and the couple had one son, Jon Rockwell.
In the 1930s, Nelson oversaw irrigation well drilling and equipment enterprises in the Los Angeles, California area. During the Second World War, he operated a naval flight instruction program at Safford, Arizona. In 1946, Nelson established Arizona Airways as an intrastate air service. When that firm subsequently failed financially, he campaigned to retain its air mail routes. Those routes eventually became a part of the service network of Frontier Airlines, of which Nelson was the regional vice president. He was also a member of the initial Arizona State Aviation Commission and an organizer of the annual Arizona Aviation Conference.
During the postwar period, Nelson was active in irrigation development projects in Mexico. Rocky Nelson died in Phoenix, Arizona of heart disease on March 6, 1951.
Full extent
2 Box(es)
Full extent
0.5 Linear Feet
Abstract
The Rocky Nelson Collection contains a financial report, press releases, newspaper clippings, and scrapbooks dating from 1946 to 1951. These materials document the establishment of an intrastate airline called Arizona Airways, a campaign by that airline to gain route use permission from civil aeronautics authorities, and concurrent public debate over the utility of air feeder lines in general.
Arrangement
This collection consists of two boxes.
Provenance
Rocky Nelson Jr. donated these papers to the Arizona Collection in 1992 (ACC# 1992-00562).
Subject
- Title
- Rocky Nelson Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Lane C. Cromby in March of 1992; machine-readable finding guide created by Michael Lotstein in March of 2003.
- Date
- 2013
- 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