Title: Alfred W. Lawson Books and Ephemera
Inclusive Dates: 1890-2000

Creator:

• Lawson, Alfred W. (Alfred William), 1869-1954

Call Number: M2003-104; M2005-041; M2011-085; M2012-058; M2014-011

Quantity: 11.8 cubic feet, 1.3 cubic feet of photographs, posters, and blueprints, 12 reels of 8 mm film, and 2 DVDs

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Published materials and miscellaneous ephemera concerning Alfred Lawson, a professional baseball player, an aviation pioneer active in the early aircraft industry in the 1910s and 1920s, and founder of “Lawsonomy,” a system of economics based on a general critique of science, philosophy, and human relations. Included are materials authored by Lawson, including Lawsonomy textbooks, books about aviation and bound copies of Fly magazine; materials concerning the University of Lawsonomy in Des Moines, Iowa, and campuses in other midwestern states; and miscellaneous newsletters, pamphlets, and ephemera. Also included are films of Lawsonomy gatherings and DVDs of interviews with Lawsonomy proponents Marjorie and Merle Hayden.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-m2003104

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After a career in professional baseball, Lawson became interested in aviation and, after settling in Milwaukee in 1917, built an 18-passenger plane that completed a round-trip flight from Milwaukee to Washington, D.C. When he was unable to secure sufficient financing to keep his airline solvent he espoused his ideas on economic reform in Direct Credits for Everybody. Lawson's theories evolved into a general critique of science, philosophy, and human relations which formed the basis for Lawsonomy. In 1943 he founded the University of Lawsonomy in Des Moines, Iowa.

This collection was received in multiple parts from the donor(s) and is organized into 5 major parts. These materials have not been physically interfiled and researchers might need to consult more than one part to locate similar materials.

• Part 1 (M2003-104): Original Collection, 1932-1952
• Part 2 (M2005-041): Additions, 1890-1982
• Part 3 (M2011-085): Additions, 1931-2000
• Part 4 (M2012-058): Additions, 1919
• Part 5 (M2014-011): Additions, 1911-1998

Acquisition Information

Presented by Merle J. Hayden, Racine, Wisconsin, 2003 and 2011; and Jerry Kuntz, Warwick, New York, 2005. Accession Number: M2003-104, M2005-041, M2011-085, M2012-058, M2014-011

M2003-104	Part 1 (M2003-104): Original Collection, 1932-1952 Physical Description: 2.0 cubic feet (3 archives boxes and 1 flat box)  Scope and Content Note: The bulk of the materials in the original collection are authored by Lawson and include Lawsonomy textbooks, books about aviation and bound copies of Fly magazine, and miscellaneous newsletters, pamphlets, and ephemera.
Box   1 Volume   1	Lawsonomy, Volume One
Box   1 Volume   2	Mentality: Lawsonomy, Volume Two
Box   1 Volume   3	The Almighty: Lawsonomy, Volume Three
Box   1 Volume   4	Born Again
Box   1 Volume   5	Gardening textbook for Des Moines University
Box   1 Volume   6	A New Species
Box   1 Volume   7	Children
Box   1 Volume   8	Manlife
Box   1 Volume   9	Aircraft History
Box   1 Volume   10	Know Business
Box   1 Volume   11	Creation
Box   1 Volume   12	Direct Credits for Everybody
Box   1 Volume   13	General Orders: Direct Credits Society
Box   1 Volume   14	Songs Forever
Box   2 Volume   15	Lawsonian Religion
Box   2 Volume   16	Lawson's Mighty Sermons
Box   2 Volume   17	Bezoiśrednie Kredyty Dla Kaźdego (Direct Credits for Everybody)
Box   2 Volume   18	Lawson's Proverbs
Box   2 Volume   19	Short Speeches as spoken by Alfred Lawson
Box   2 Volume   20	Penetrability Illustrated
Box   3 Volume   21	Lawson, Aircraft Industry Builder
Box   3 Volume   22	Fly: The National Aeronautic Magazine, Volume One, 1908-1909
Box   4 Volume   23	100 Great Speeches by Alfred Lawson
Box   4 Volume   24	Fifty Speeches by Alfred Lawson
Box   4 Volume   25	The Benefactor with Picture and Ten Speeches by Alfred Lawson
Box   2 Folder   1	Ephemera, 1946-1952, undated
Box   2 Folder   2	Lawson Sheet Music, 1945, undated
Box   2 Folder   3	Newsletters, 1932-1936
Box   2 Folder   4	Pamphlets, 1934-1944
Box   3 Folder   5	Ephemera, undated
M2005-041	Part 2 (M2005-041): Additions, 1890-1982 Physical Description: 1.0 cubic foot (1 record center carton), 1 photograph, and 1 poster  Scope and Content Note: Additions, 1890-1982, documenting Lawson's career as a baseball player and pilot, and his innovations in the design of passenger compartments for public transportation. Also included are materials concerning his University of Lawsonomy and FOIA requests. Additionally there are news clippings, bulletins, and pamphlets published by the Direct Credits Society.	⇧
Box   1 Folder   1-2	Aviation, 1919-1921
Box   1 Folder   3	Baseball, 1890-1908
Box   1 Folder   4-6	Patent documents for improvement of passenger compartment
Box   1 Folder   7-8	University of Lawsonomy, 1943-1959
Box   1 Folder   9	Obituary, 1954
Box   1 Folder   10-15	FOIA reprints, 1981-1982
Box   1 Folder   16-30	Publications and writings, 1937-1954
Oversize	Poster, 60th Anniversary of 1st airliner flight (Lawson Airlines)
PH Box   8	Photograph, passenger compartment of Long Island Railroad car
M2011-085	Part 3 (M2011-085): Additions, 1931-2000 Physical Description: 0.8 cubic feet (1 archives box and 1 flat box), 12 reels of 8 mm film, and 2 DVDs  Scope and Content Note: Additions, 1931-2000, relate to Lawson's aviation career, the Direct Credits Society and Lawsonomy universities in Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois. Materials include a photocopy of airliner plans, publications and convention programs; a first edition of Direct Credits; newsletters; 12 reels of 8 mm films (1948-1952) showing gatherings at the Lawsonomy campuses, primarily in Wisconsin and Detroit, and Lawson's cremation; and DVDs with interviews with Marjorie and Merle Hayden.	⇧
	Series: Aviation
Box   1 Folder   1	Plans for first airliner (copy)
Box   1 Folder   2	“A Two Thousand Mile Trip in the First Airliner,” Alfred Lawson
Box   1 Folder   3	“Aerial Stunts,” Hatfield pamphlet, 1976
Box   1 Folder   4	“Aeroplane (or Flying Machine) Scrapbook,” Volume 1-3, 1971-1975
Box   1 Folder   5	“Pioneers of Aviation,” 1976
Box   1 Folder   6	Aviation programs, 1977-1992
Box   2 Folder   1	The Airline March (sheet music)
	Series: Direct Credits	⇧
Box   1 Folder   7	Direct Credits and Lawson, 1931, undated
Box   1 Folder   8	Lawson: From Bootblack to Emancipator, 1934
Box   1 Folder   9	Songs of the Multitudes, 1940
Box   1 Folder   10	A New Species, 1944
Box   1 Folder   11	Bugle-American, 1976 September 17
Box   2 Folder   2	Benefactors newsletter
	Series: Moving Images	⇧
	Films
Box   3	Gatherings at Lawson University in Sturtevant (Wisconsin): Baseball game, airplane takeoff, views of officers and others (corresponds with Chapters 1-2 on DVD), 1952 July 4
Box   3	Gathering on Lawson Farm, featuring women playing softball, baseball games (corresponds with DVD Chapter 3)
Box   3	Gathering on farm in Sturtevant (corresponds with DVD Chapter 4), possibly 1954 May
Box   3	Lawson posing for photos with group at farm (corresponds with DVD Chapter 5)
Box   3	Lawsonomy recital with children, adults (corresponds with DVD Chapter 6)
Box   3	Graduation ceremony (corresponds with DVD Chapter 7), 1953 July
Box   3	“Eight Different Subjects and the Commander's Cremation,” San Antonio, Texas, other subjects not on DVD (corresponds with DVD Chapter 8)
Box   3	Workers survey farm (corresponds with DVD Chapter 9)
Box   3	Construction work (corresponds with DVD Chapter 10)
Box   3	Detroit, gathering, children giving speeches, performing (corresponds with Chapter 11 on DVD), 1956 July 4
Box   3	Recital/gathering in Detroit (corresponds with Chapter 12 on DVD), possibly 1955 December 31
Box   3	Urban scenes, only black-and-white film (corresponds with Chapter 13 on DVD)
	DVDs
Box   3	Untitled DVD of the 8 mm films, divided into 13 chapters
Box   3	DVD divided into two parts: video interview with Marjorie Hayden about her involvement and that of her husband Merle with Lawson and Lawsonomy; and video of 2000 air show that contains interviews with Marjorie and Merle Hayden
M2012-058	Part 4 (M2012-058): Additions, 1919 Physical Description: 1.0 cubic foot (1 flat box)  Scope and Content Note: Additions, 1919, consisting of a large scrapbook of news clippings arranged alphabetically by state detailing the efforts of Lawson to develop routes across the United States for Lawson Airlines.	⇧
M2014-011	Part 5 (M2014-011): Additions, 1911-1998 Physical Description: 7.0 cubic feet (6 archives boxes, 4 record center cartons, 1 box for realia, and 1 flat box) and 1.2 cubic feet of photographs, posters and blueprints (1 archives box, 2 flat boxes, and 2 oversize folders)  Scope and Content Note: Additions, 1911-1998, consisting primarily of publications (1911-1930, 1975) and photographs documenting Alfred Lawson's aviation career, and bulletins and letters (1932-1998) produced by the Direct Credits Society and Lawsonomy students and officers. Commander's Notices (1932-1954) were created by Lawson and other officers of the Direct Credits Society. The magazine runs are not complete. Magazines include primarily those with articles about Lawson's aircraft and those he edited or published, including Aircraft and Fly. Photographs of Lawson, aircraft and members of the Direct Credits Society are also included.	⇧
	Series: Aviation
	Serials
Box   1 Folder   1	Ace: The Aviation Magazine of the West, 1921 June
Box   1 Folder   2-6	Aerial Age Weekly, 1917 July-1920 March
Box   2 Folder   1-2	Aerial Age Weekly, 1920 May-1921 January
Box   2 Folder   3	Aero Digest, 1924 July
Box   2 Folder   4	Aeronautics, published by Aeronautics Press, 1911 May
Box   2 Folder   5	Aeronautics, monthly journal devoted to the technique and industry of aeronautics, 1911 October
Box   2 Folder   6	Air Power, 1918 September-1920 March
Box   2 Folder   7	Air Service Journal, 1918
Box   2 Folder   8	Air Travel, 1917
Box   2 Folder   9	Aircraft, 1910-1911 Note: Bound
Box   3 Folder   1-7	Aircraft, 1911-1916
Box   4 Folder   1	Aircraft, 1918
Box   11 Folder   1	Aircraft Journal, 1919
Box   4 Folder   2	Aviation, 1924
Box   4 Folder   3	Aviation and Aeronautical Engineering, 1918-1919
Box   4 Folder   4	Aviation and Aircraft Journal, 1921
Box   4 Folder   5	Flight and the Aircraft Engineer, 1917-1921
Box   11 Folder   2	Fly, 1908-1909
Box   4 Folder   6-8	Flying, 1914-1919
Box   5 Folder   1-4	Flying, 1920-1921
Box   5 Folder   5	Navy Air Pilot, 1917 October
Box   5 Folder   6	Private Pilot, 1975 October
Box   5 Folder   7	U.S. Air Service, 1919 October
	Books
Box   5 Folder   8	Blue Book of Aviation, 1932
Box   5 Folder   9	This Was Air Travel / Henry R. Palmer Jr., 1960
Box   6 Folder   1	Winged Gospel: America's Romance with Aviation, 1900-1950 / Joseph J. Corn, 1993
Box   6 Folder   2-3	World in the Air: volume I-II, 1930
Box   11 Folder   3	Newspaper clippings, telegrams, and ephemera, 1918-1976
	Series: Automotive	⇧
	Serials
Box   6 Folder   4	Automobile, 1917 April
Box   6 Folder   5	Automobile and Automotive Industries, 1917 October-1920 June
	Series: Direct Credits and Lawsonomy	⇧
	Lawson's Bulletins to Direct Credits Officers
Box   7 Folder   1	Index, 1932-1954
Box   7 Folder   2	Bulletins, 1932
Box   7 Folder   3-5	Commander's Notices, 1932-1954
	Lawsonomy students' letters
Box   7 Folder   6-12	1949-1955
Box   8 Folder   1-12	1956-1967
Box   9 Folder   1-12	1968-1979
Box   10 Folder   1-13	1980-1998
Box   10 Folder   14	Scrapbook, copies of aircraft clippings and correspondence, circa 1918-1980 Note: Also includes undated Direct Credits photographs.
Box   12	Realia, Direct Credits cap
	Series: Visual Materials	⇧
	Aircraft
Box   13 Folder   1-2	Aircraft, circa 1917-1921
Box   14	Lawson airliner photograph album, interior and exterior views
Box   13 Folder   3	Lawson airliner album, loose photographs
Box   15 Folder   1	Lawson Aircraft Corporation Tractor Biplane album
Box   15 Folder   2-3	Other aircraft, photographs on album pages, copy prints
Oversize Folder   1	Blueprints
Oversize Folder   1	Poster
Box   15 Folder   4	Lawson, Alfred W., portraits
	Direct Credits and Lawsonomy
Box   13 Folder   4	Members, group portraits
Box   13 Folder   5	Photographs from scrapbook, undated
Oversize Folder   2	Panoramic photograph of Direct Credits members