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Wilson family photograph collection

 Collection
Identifier: P005

Scope and Contents

This collection includes photographs, a guide, clippings, and 1 videocassette tape from Lucile W. Wilson and the Wilson family in Indiana ranging from circa 1850s to 1995 regarding family life.

Dates

  • circa 1850s-1995

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Legal title, copyright, and literary rights reside with Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library, Indianapolis, IN. All requests to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted to Rare Books and Manuscripts.

Biographical Note

(Pearl) Lucile Williams Wilson was born on January 21, 1911 to Asbury C. and Ada Williams in Spencer, Indiana. She first married Forrest Blewett Fowler on April 1, 1933 in Bloomington, Indiana. They later divorced. She later maried Donald E. Wilson, son of Argus and Lucy Belle (Criswell) Wilson, on August 30, 1940 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Wilsons lived in Indianapolis and had two chiildren, Louann and George Ray.

Lucille Wilson attended Indiana University for a year before transfering to Central Business College in Indianapolis where she completed a secretarial course, supplementing her experience in the office at her father's garage. Her first job was personal secretary to a lawyer in Bloomington. After moving to Indianapolis, she took a secretarial job at the Stewart-Warner Indianapolis facility, where she was eventually promoted to purchasing agent. In the early 1950s, she took office positions at various companies and firms, including Flesch-Miller Tractor Co., Townsend and Townsend law firm, and RCA Corporation.

Donald Wilson worked as a fuel oil truck driver for Hoosier Coal and Oil Co. at that time, before he was drafted in 1943 and served as a cook in the U.S. Army during World War II. During his lifetime, he also worked as a soft drinks and chemicals salesman, a yard railroad fireman and engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and a real estate broker. Lucile Wilson worked as a secretary and had experience with legal work, which she employed for her husband's business endeavors. He died of a heart attack on December 7, 1969.

After her husband's death, Lucile Wilson moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. She enjoyed a great number of hobbies, including making doll cloths, photography, filming home movies, landscape gardening, interior design, ballroom dancing, and genealogy. The latter led her to research, write, and publish Wilson Worksheets, a comprehensive book on the genealogy and family history of the Wilson family and its many offshoots, in 1987. Lucile Wilson died on August 4, 2005 in Huntington Beach, California and was buried beside Donald in Washington Park East Cemetery, Indianapolis.

Sources:

Ancestry.com."Donald E. Wilson." Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2011. Accessed March 29, 2021. http://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

Ancestry.com. "Lucile Williams." 1920 United States Federal Census. Accessed March 29, 2021. http://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

Ancestry.com. "Lucile Williams." Marion County, Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1925-2012. Accessed March 29, 2021. http://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

Findagrave.com. "Pearl Lucile "lucile" Williams Wilson." Find a Grave Memorial. Accessed March 29, 2021. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/79825813/pearl-lucile-wilson.

Wilson, Lucile W. Wilson Worksheets: Our A-B-C- Genealogy with Collateral Families of Brian, Coster, Criswell, Eaton, Hume, Kopacek, Leipzig, Murray, Ragsdale, Sturgeon, Svensson, Thomas, Toliver/Tallaferro, Williams, and Others. Florida: L.W. Wilson, 1987.

Extent

0.45 Cubic Feet (1 manuscript box, 1 half manuscript box)

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

This collection is arranged numerically in the creator's original order.

Custodial History

This collection was received by Rare Books and Manuscripts as a donation, most likely from Lucile W. Wilson in 1995 March.

Accruals

No further additions are expected.

Processing Information

Collection processing completed 2021/03/29 by Brittany Kropf. EAD finding aid created 2021/03/29 by Brittany Kropf.
Title
Wilson family photograph collection
Status
Completed
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Repository

Contact:
140 North Senate Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 U.S.A.
317-232-3671