Texas Archival Resources Online

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Descriptive Summary

Biographical Sketch

Scope and Content

Restrictions

Collection Topics

Related Material

Administrative Information

Description of Series

Correspondence, 1911-1940 and undated

Printed Material, 1939-1984 and undated

Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University

Willis, Sumner H.

An Inventory of His Papers, 1911-1984 and undated, at the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library



Descriptive Summary

CreatorSumner H. Willis
Title:Sumner H. Willis Papers,
Dates:1911-1984 and undated
Abstract:The collection consists of correspondence and some printed material concerning the wool industry dating from 1911-1984 and undated.
Collection #S 1724.1
Quantity:2 boxes (1.25 linear feet)
RepositorySouthwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University

Biographical Sketch

Sumner Holden Willis was born in Brighton, Massachusetts on July 31, 1896 and died in 1942 just short of his 45th birthday after undergoing surgery. Sumner began working in the wool business in 1915 as an office boy for Hallowell, Jones and Donnell in Boston. Sumner served in the Navy during World War I and afterward became a wool buyer in South America for Hallowell, Jones and Donnell, as well as buying wool in Texas and New Mexico for firms such as Eisemann Inc. in Boston.

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Scope and Content

The bulk of the collection consists of daily correspondence between Sumner and his firm about prices and qualities of the wool they were buying and the state of the wool market in general between 1938 and 1940. Additional material includes records of business correspondence from 1919 to 1921 while Sumner was operating in South America, several telegraph code ciphers and some printed material.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

Open for research

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Collection Topics

The subject headings used by the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library are derived from the Library of Congress and/or locally developed.
Subjects (persons)
Willis, Sumner H.
Marston, Walter M.
Subjects (Organizations)
Eisemann Inc.
Hallowell, Jones and Donnell
Subjects
Wool industry--Texas

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Related Material

For related materials located in the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, see the following collections:

  • Southwest Conference Records, 1914-1996
  • Big Twelve Records, 1995-

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Sumner H. Willis Papers, 1911-1984 and undated, Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas

Collection Accession #:
86-0001-B

Gift, 1985

Processed by

John Perrin, December 2006

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Collection Inventory

 

Correspondence, 1911-1940 and undated

boxfolder
11Telegraph Code Cipher, 1911
2Sumner Willis to W. E. Jones Esq., March 27, 1915
3Record Book of Correspondence (1 of 2), 1919-1921
4Record Book of Correspondence (2 of 2), 1919-1921
5Private Cable Code of Sumner H. Willis, 1930
6S. H. W. South America Code, 1931-
7Walter M. Marston, Esq., January 1, 1938-December 26, 1938
8“Sumner H. Willis” (1 of 3), January 3, 1938-December 31, 1938
9“Sumner H. Willis” (2 of 3), January 3, 1938-December 31, 1938
10“Sumner H. Willis” (3 of 3), January 3, 1938-December 31, 1938
11“Walter M. Marston”, January 2, 1938-December 30, 1938
12“New Mexico” (1 of 2), 1939
13“New Mexico” (2 of 2), 1939
14“S. H. Willis to W. M. M.”, 1939
15“W. M. Marston to S. H. W.”, 1939
16Walter Marston to Sumner Willis, January 11, 1939-August 23, 1939
17Ralph Vandewart, Jr., January 4, 1939-July 14, 1939
18Sumner Willis, January 18, 1940-June 29, 1940
19Telegraphs from Sumner, January 17, 1940-September 12, 1940
20Sumner H. Willis to Eisemann Inc., January 20, 1940-September 14, 1940
21Sumner H. Willis, July 1, 1940-September 11, 1940
boxfolder
21Telegraphs, January 18, 1940-September 9, 1940
21940 Texas Descriptions, December 11, 1940
3Code Cipher, Undated
4Code Cipher, Undated

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Printed Material, 1939-1984 and undated

boxfolder
25Intercultural Development Research Association Newsletter, February 1981-May 1982
6Wool and Mohair in Texas, 1939 and Undated
7Sumner Holden Willis Bio., 1984

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