Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America
Archives related to: Willson, George Crapo, 1871-1938
| title | George Crapo Willson papers, 1904-1938. |
| repository | Richard P. Scharchburg Archives |
| description | Bio/History: George Crapo Willson was chiefly remembered as a banker and art collector. Mr. Willson was a director and chairman of the executive committee of the Genesee County Savings Bank, and a director of the Flint Structural Steel Company. In partnership with Edwin Atwood and J. Eddington Burroughs, he was also manager of numerous trusts in the Flint area. |
| extent | 2.5 linear ft. |
| formats | |
| access | In house research only, papers do not circulate |
| finding aid | Finding aid available in the Scharchburg Archives. |
| acquisition information | The Willson papers are an unrestricted gift donated to the Scharchburg Archives. Gerry Fauth and Mrs. Frances Willson Thompson: Gift. |
| updated | 02/14/2025 10:07:45 |
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| title | Henry Howland Crapo Family Papers |
| repository | University of Michigan-Flint Frances Willson Thompson Library |
| description | This collection consists primarily of letters, photographs, and memorabilia. Most of it was collected by Frances Spencer (Willson) Thompson, of Chicago and Flint, a great-granddaughter of Henry Howland Crapo, but some items were also contributed by descendants of Crapo's son William Wallace. The material thus mainly concerns James C. Willson and his family. Several items are of interest to students of Flint and Genesee County history. The most significant item is the Willson scrapbook, which contains newspaper clippings, drawings, and ephemera, such as programs, handbills, and invitations. George C. Willson seems to have pasted, around 1915, various items, mostly undated, which he had saved. They concern his relatives, including Henry H. Crapo and especially his father, and deal with such activities as the senior Willson's involvement in Flint politics and the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, his lectures, recitals of the Flint Conservatory of Music and plays performed by the Shakespeare Club, visits by relatives, and weddings. The passing certificates from Walker School given to George Crapo Willson, dating from 1884 and 1885, are noteworthy. There is material on Crapo Farm (originally called "Grassmoor"), in Gaines Township, Genesee County, which until 1955 raised pedigreed Hereford cattle. The photocopied letters from Emma E. (Crapo) Cristy to her son J. Crapo Cristy, then a student at Yale, describe her interest in spiritualism and her admonitions about his behavior. Genealogical material on the Crapo forebears can be found in the photocopied scrapbook of Mary Florence (Orrell) Willett, which contains a large number of clippings concerning family members, and in the genelogy written by Lucy (Crapo) Smith. Finally, the collection contains two legal agreements between Henry H. Crapo and James Arnold, from 1854 and 1855, which relate to Crapo's purchase of pine lands in Michigan---the source of his fortune---and a memorandum written by William W. Crapo in 1909 describing the disposition of his inheritance. Photographs include several of the Crapo home and gardens, now in Willson Park in Flint. Especially noteworthy is the full-plate daguerreotype of Henry H. and Mary Ann (Slocum) Crapo and their children, taken about 1852. William W. Crapo and his family are well represented by photographs, including two of his house in New Bedford. Other photographs include snapshots taken at Salters Point, Massachusetts. There are portraits of Governor Crapo, James C. and Rhoda (Crapo) Willson, William C. Durant, and George C. Willson, his wife Frances, and daughter Frances. A number of photographs document the last thirty years of Crapo Farm. Not listed here are the artifacts in the Crapo Room in the Library of the University of Michigan-Flint, for which a separate list is available. The Michigan Historical Collections, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, house most of the papers of Henry Howland Crapo and William Wallace Crapo, as well as the diaries of James C. Willson. Microfilm of most of the Crapo papers will shortly be available for inspection here. |
| extent | 2 linear ft. and ca.390 photographs |
| formats | Correspondence Photographs Ephemera |
| access | There are no restrictions on access to this collection. |
| record source | http://www.umflint.edu/library/archives/crapo.htm |
| acquisition information | This collection was donated to the Genesee Historical Collections Center between 1979 and 1995 by donors no. 001, 072, 076, 179, 180, 182, 219, 225, and 232. |
| updated | 02/14/2025 10:07:45 |
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