Collection Title: George Tipton Wilson Papers
Series Number: MS13-09
Processed and Cataloged by: Processed by Dieter C. Ullrich in August of 2013.
Date Listed: August 21, 2013
Date Span: 1925-2010 (bulk, 1942-1948)
Size of Collection: 12.0 linear feet.
Number of Boxes: 5 legal size document cases; 3 legal half size document cases; 2 letter size document cases; 3 letter half size document cases and 8 oversized boxes.
Type of Material: Correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, manuscripts, personal records, research files and published materials.
Condition of Material: Good.
Arrangement: Organized by format of material; Chronological arrangement.
Biographical / Historical Information: George Tipton Wilson was born on April 14, 1921 at Smithland, Kentucky. He attended local public schools and graduated from Livingston County High School in 1939. He studied journalism and political science at Murray State Normal School from 1939 to 1942. He formally graduated from the school in 1943. He also spent a semester at the University of Kentucky in 1941. During the Second World War, he served in the United States Army as a cryptographer at the headquarters of General Douglas MacArthur in Australia and the Philippines. Following the war, he attended Northwestern University and studied journalism. In 1952 he became associate editor of the Atomican, which was published by the McGraw Construction Company of Paducah, Kentucky. Two years later he became the Vice President for Advertising and Public Relations for the Mitchum Company of Paris, Tennessee. He retired from the company in 1971 and became a full time freelance writer. Before his death on May 21, 2013, he published articles in dozens of magazines and journals, including Southern Living, Mississippi Magazine and the Memphis Business Journal.
Scope and Content: Collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, scrapbooks and photographs created or retained by George Tipton Wilson from 1925 to 2010. The papers contain letters written by Wilson when he served in the United States Army in the Pacific Theater during the Second World War. Included in the collection are personal records, research files and published materials related to Wilson’s fifty plus years as a freelance author. Many of his articles focused upon local and regional history, World War II and Native American peoples and culture. Items of significant importance are his letters written during the Second World War from the headquarters of General Douglas MacArthur, research files on the West Loch disaster in Hawaii, autobiography of Chief Phillip Martin, a history of Smithland, Kentucky and numerous records on local and regional people and events in Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi.
Subject Headings / Descriptors:
Wilson, George Tipton, 1921-2013
MacArthur, Douglas, 1880-1964
United States. Army. Signal Service Company, 832nd – History.
World War, 1939-1945 – Personal narratives, American.
World War, 1939-1945 – Australia – Brisbane (Qld.)
Americans – Australia – Queensland – History – 20th century.
United States – Armed Forces – Australia – Brisbane (Qld.)
World War, 1939-1945 – Communications.
World War, 1939-1945 – Philippines.
Mitchum Company (Paris, Tenn.)
Paris (Tenn.)
Smithland (Ky.)
Paducah (Ky.)
Memphis (Tenn.)
