Lawrence J. Fleming Papers

Collection

Identifier: MSS-388

Scope and Content Note

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The Lawrence J. Fleming Papers consist primarily of correspondence, grant applications, notes, drawings, photographs, articles, promotional items, technical documentation, and other materials showing Fleming’s work to establish, maintain, and expand the Arizona Street Railway Museum, including acquiring and restoring three trolley cars (#44, #116, and #504) that ran on the Phoenix Street Railway. Also included are materials documenting Fleming’s service to the Arizona Historical Society’s Central Arizona Chapter, research on the Fleming and Coyne families, and work with the Central Arizona Air Museum. The collection has been divided into nine series.

Series I: Arizona Street Railway Museum houses correspondence, grant applications, notes, drawings, photographs, articles, reports, promotional items, and other materials documenting the Museum’s operations between 1977 and 2004. The bulk of these materials show the acquisition and restoration of Phoenix Street Railway trolley cars #44, #116, and #504, including research regarding trolley tracks and other street railroad equipment; efforts to procure replacement parts, necessary tools, work areas, and storage facilities; grant applications and progress reports; fundraising efforts; and photographs of the cars before, during, and after restoration. Many of the grant applications and progress reports include detailed information regarding work performed on the cars and the Museum’s history. Also included are materials documenting the Museum’s administration and the construction and operation of the Phoenix Street Railway Exhibit.

Series II: Phoenix Street Railway Research houses correspondence, photographs, notes, tickets, and other materials regarding the Phoenix Street Railway gathered by Fleming, possibly as part of his research for Ride a Mile and Smile the While. Of particular note are original copies and photocopies of documents produced by the Phoenix Street Railway, including fare box records, tickets, notices to contractors, and transfer statements; interviews with motormen Joseph Nelson Smith (1901-1980), Samuel R. Hodges (1889-), and William Henry Bill Scott (1892-1975); a video showing the official Last Run; and two Phoenix Street Railway fare tokens.

Series III: Other Railroads and Railways houses ephemera, technical documents, photographs, and other materials showing equipment used on various railroad and railway systems and such prominent trains as Santa Fe’s Chief, Super Chief, and El Capitan and Amtrack’s Southwest Chief, Southwest Limited, and Sunset Limited. It is possible that some of the equipment documented in this series was used on the Phoenix Street Railway, but this connection could not be definitively established during processing. For example, trolley cars in Phoenix employed an air braking system, but it is not clear whether the materials discussing air brakes housed in this series document the equipment used on the Phoenix Street Railway.

Series IV: Arizona Historical Society, Central Arizona Chapter houses minutes, committee records, correspondence, financial information, newspaper clippings, proposals, and other materials documenting the Chapter’s operations, including work to design a new facility for the Central Arizona History Museum and proposals for new Society chapters in Northern Arizona and Yuma. The bulk of these materials date from Fleming’s service on the Society’s Board of Directors (1980-1993) and as President (1987-1989).

Series V: Shannon & Fleming houses financial information, business cards, and other materials documenting this legal practice. Of particular interest is Fleming’s Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner application, which includes extensive biographical information. Series VI: Genealogy houses family photographs, photocopies of primary and secondary source materials, notes, and other information documenting the Fleming and Coyne families.

Series VII: Aviation consists primarily of airplane information, promotional materials, clippings, certificates, and other materials documenting Fleming’s involvement with the Central Arizona Air Museum. Series VIII: Personal Papers houses correspondence, programs, business cards, photographs, and other materials documenting the Fleming family and its involvement with such organizations as Ducks Unlimited, the Boy Scouts, and the Sun Angel foundation.

Dates

Creation: 1819-2008
Creation: Majority of material found within 1970-2008

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

The Arizona Board of Regents retains copyright to this collection for and on behalf of Distinctive Collections, Arizona State University Library. Requests for permissions to publish, display, or redistribute information from this collection must be submitted via our online application.

Biographical Note

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Lawrence James Larry Fleming was born to Lawrence Joseph Fleming (1909-1954) and Gladys Alberta (Crum) Fleming (1909-1964) on July 24, 1932 in Phoenix, Arizona. He graduated from Phoenix Union High School (1950), earned his A.A. from Phoenix College (1952) and attended Arizona State College (1952-1953) before earning his LLB from the University of Arizona’s College of Law (1956). Fleming worked a number of odd jobs while completing his education, including newspaper route carrier for the Arizona Times (1947-1949), janitor for the Arizona Awning Company (1949-1950), library page at the Phoenix Public Library (1950-1953), box loader for Malone Produce (Summer 1951-1953), and telephone switchboard operator for the University of Arizona’s Housing Department (1954-1956).

After graduation, Fleming was admitted to the Arizona State Bar and practiced law privately before joining the United States Air Force as an Assistant Staff Judge Advocate in 1957. After returning from the military in May of 1960, Fleming formed a legal partnership with his friend Mathew E. Shannon called Shannon & Fleming. The firm was later known as Shannon, Fleming & Stephenson (1964-1969), Filler, Paytas, Shannon, Fleming, and Stephenson (1969-1976), Filler, Paytas, Shannon, & Fleming (1976-1983), Paytas, Shannon, & Fleming (1983-1984), Paytas, Lutich, Bernstein, Shannon & Fleming (1984-), and Baumann, Doyle, Paytas & Bernstein. During his legal career, Fleming focused primarily on commercial litigation, bankruptcy cases, and creditors’ rights. He retired from legal practice in 2004.

In addition to his legal practice, Fleming was interested in history and especially in the history of the Phoenix Street Railway, which operated from 1887 to 1948. In 1975, Fleming learned that the remains of car #116 (later numbered 508), one of the six cars purchased in 1928 not destroyed in a 1947 car barn fire, was about to be demolished. He and several other individuals purchased the car in hopes of restoring it. Fleming, Carl Wickes, and Dwight Vencill incorporated the Arizona Street Railway Museum, designed to “organize and operate a railway museum to acquire, preserve, and restore railroad and street railway cars,” in March of 1977. The museum partially restored #116 and loaned it to the Arizona Historical Society for display as part of the exhibit program at the Ellis Shackleford House in 1983. When Phelps Dodge closed its reduction works in Douglas, Arizona in 1987, it made a large quantity of electrical railway materials available to the Museum at substantially reduced or no cost. With these supplies and grants from such organizations as the Arizona Historical Society and the Kemper and Ethel Marley Foundation, the Museum was able to restore #116 to operating condition and construct a Street Railway Exhibit featuring a ride on this historic car. This exhibit, located in Central Phoenix between the Ellis Shackleford House and Margaret T. Hance Park, opened to the public in 1999. As of 2016, the Museum’s lease on this property will not be renewed after September of 2017 due to the expansion of Hance Park. The Museum is planning to move to a new property.

In 2001, the Museum acquired the body of car #504 (originally numbered 106). The Museum proposed to restore #504 prior to the completion of the City of Phoenix’s light rail system in 2006 and operate #504 and/or its sister #116 as historic trollies on the new light rail system. Unfortunately, this proposal was unsuccessful. The Museum also acquired car #44, manufactured by the American Car Company in 1913, but was unsuccessful in raising money for its restoration and sold it to Old Pueblo Trolley in Tucson, Arizona in 2004 in hopes that it could be restored and displayed.

In addition to his work with the Arizona Street Railway Museum, Fleming was involved with the Arizona Historical Society, serving on its Board of Directors from 1980 to 1993, as its President from 1987 to 1989, and as President of the Arizona Historical Society Foundation in 1991. He also founded the Waterfowl Preservation Society (1973), established the Central Arizona Air Museum (1984), and published two books, Garnishment and the Supreme Court (1969) and Ride a Mile and Smile the While: A History of the Phoenix Street Railway, 1887-1948 (1977).

Larry Fleming married Gail Phillips (1938-) in 1960 and the couple had three children, Lawrence Timothy, Christopher Coyne, and Kathleen Elizabeth Ann. Larry Fleming died on May 12, 2013.

Full extent

19 Box(es)

Full extent

14.21 Linear Feet

Language of materials

English

Additional description

Abstract

Arrangement

This collection consists of nineteen boxes and one map case drawer divided into nine series:

Series I: Arizona Street Railway Museum
Series II: Phoenix Street Railway Research
Series III: Other Railroads and Railways
Series IV: Arizona Historical Society, Central Arizona Chapter
Series V: Shannon & Fleming
Series VI: Genealogy
Series VII: Aviation
Series VIII: Personal Papers
Series IX: Oversized Materials

Provenance

Gail Fleming donated these materials to the Arizona Collection 2008 and 2013 (Accession #2008-04256 and #2013-04742).

Processing Note

Duplicates were weeded and preservation photocopying undertaken as necessary during processing to eliminate newsprint and mold and thus preserve the affected information. Monographs and serial publications have been transferred for consideration for addition to the cataloged book collection.