Wesley Wayne Wilson papers

Wesley W. Wilson was born in Columbus, Ohio, February 10, 1955 to Anna Lester Wilson and William Bedell Wilson. He was the oldest of three brothers and two sisters. He attended Upper Arlington High School, graduating in 1973. Mr. Wilson was a 1979 graduate of The Ohio State University (BA) and 1981 graduate of Case Western Reserve University (MSLS). He married Elena Sue Warren Wilson on July 10, 1982 and they had three children; Sarah Margaret (born June 24, 1986), Benjamin Wesley (born Aug. 29, 1990) and Abigail Emilie (born July 6, 1995). He arrived at DePauw University to accept the position of Coordinator of Archives and Special Services in August 1984. He had previously been employed as the photographic collections archivist at the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, Ohio from 1981-1984. In 1986 his title was changed to Coordinator of Archives and Special Collections to reflect the addition of the rare book collection management to his responsibilities following the renovation of the Roy O. West Library. During his time, the DePauw University Archives staff implemented improved access to the collections, first from expansion of the card catalog and then development of electronic access through MARC records and adoption of Encoded Archival Description for the creation of finding aids. He involved the Archives in the development of the DePauw Digital Library that now includes thousands of photographs, documents, and audio and video recordings. To assist the many classes using the Archives, he created bibliographies of archival resources and made presentations to the classes to introduce the students to those resources. Mr. Wilson expanded special collections by greatly adding to the numbers of faculty, staff and alumni publications and titles relating to the United Methodist Church. In service to the United Methodist Church in Indiana he was an active member of the commissions on archives and history and conducted consultation visits to local churches as well as being a co-founder of the Indiana United Methodist Historical Society. He was also an active member of the Society of Indiana Archivists, Midwest Archives Conference and Society of American Archivists. Mr. Wilson retired June 30, 2020 after nearly 36 years of service to DePauw University and the United Methodist Church. From July 1-December 31, 2020, he worked part time with new archivist, Bethany Fiechter, to assist with the transition to her leadership of the Archives and Special Collections.