[Large Archive of Photographs, Letters, and Assorted Ephemera Documenting the Extended Skonberg-Price-Wilson Family from the Midwest]

[Various locations, mainly in Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Texas, 1969. Very good.. Approximately fifty-five original manuscript letters and documents, plus 150 photographs, most on studio mounts, and several dozen ephemeral items, including newspaper clippings, photocopies of manuscript documents, business cards, and much more. A handful of photographs with minor chipping, but overall in nice shape. A voluminous archive of letters, documents, photographs and more documenting various aspects of an extended family in the Middle West, concentrated in Kentucky, Missouri, and Kansas. The family includes members with various surnames, most prominently the Wilson, Price, Nelson, and Mason families. Much of the correspondence from the 19th century centers around Robert G. Wilson, who was a partner in Wilson & Parker in Independence, Missouri. The early documents pertain to Wilson's business interests, such as a legal contract appointing Wilson as a personal attorney, stock purchase agreements, letters to him from clients as far away as Gonzales, Texas, and more. The collection also includes other letters and legal papers related to other members of the Wilson, Price, and Mason families, such as John T. Wilson, Louisa G. Wilson, Bettie Wilson, and Martha Price Mason. Much of the legal correspondence sent to John Wilson comes from various towns in Texas. Some of the early material, most of which is produced in one of several towns in Kentucky, also relates to various members of the family of Sterling Price, including a letter to Rev. Matthew "Branch" Price and another written from Daniel Price to his sister.

In addition to the letters and documents, the collection includes about 150 photographs of the family from the late-19th century to the first half of the 20th century. The earliest photographs include albumen images, tintypes, and other images, the great majority on studio mounts from Kansas City or other photographers in Kansas and other locations. The images feature a couple of portraits of an elderly Robert Wilson, Carrie Wilson (daughter of John T. Wilson), Allen Price, Andrew Nelson, and more than fifteen images featuring various members of the Nelson family in Clyde, Kansas (produced by the studio of Willis Brandon). Other images feature various members of the Wilson, Nelson, Skonberg, Clatfelter, and other families, including a small number of images picturing family members from San Antonio and Beeville, Texas. Another seventy images, plus a wealth of newspaper clippings and other ephemeral items, are present here in loose photo album leaves, mostly relating to later-20th century members of the Wilson family. Most of the images here, including the 19th-century albumens, are profusely annotated in pencil or pen on the verso with vital identifying information, including names and often their location and names of relatives, providing invaluable genealogical information for tracing the family's history.

The archive extends into the later 20th century, with various items related to Frank W. Wilson. The latest-dated item is a graduation announcement for Robert C. Wilson in 1969. The archive is rounded out by a clutch of materials, including photocopies and newspaper clippings, related to the Wilson and Mason families. The whole seems to be the beginnings of a genealogical project that was not completed. The material here certainly provides a wonderful opportunity for connecting disparate members of an extended family in several states, from Kentucky and Kansas to south Texas, with a particularly deep selection of original annotated photographs.