Record Unit 9523

Interview 1: May 26, 1983

Covers his youth, education, and first museum position at the Illinois State Museum, c. 1909-1940, including: his youth, living in the Carthage Jail Museum; early interests in museums, natural history, and taxidermy; volunteer work at the Carthage College Museum with Earl Lambert and Alice Lovina Kibbe; visits to the Field Museum of Natural History; undergraduate education at Carthage College and the University of Iowa at Iowa City, c. 1929-1932; employment in 1933 as a zoologist at the ISM under the direction of Arthur Sterry Coggeshall; reminiscences of Coggeshall's life as a dinosaur hunter and paleontological preparator; exhibit work at the ISM and Illinois State Fairground; production of The Illinois State Museum, Guide to Exhibits in 1937; his role as acting chief of the ISM after Coggeshall's departure in 1937 for the Santa Barbara Museum; Rockefeller Foundation internship at the Buffalo Museum of Science in 1937-1938 and summer at the Allegany School of Natural History; reorientation of the ISM to anthropology by its new director, Thorne Deuel, after 1938; relationship of the ISM to the Illinois Natural History Survey in Urbana; reminiscences of the Marchand family of museum preparators.

Transcript, pp. 1-39, of audiotape recording, 1.0 hour.

Recording of Interview: Total Recording Time: 1.0 hour

Interview 2: June 1, 1983

Discusses his career at the Illinois State Museum and Peabody Museum of Natural History, c. 1933-1948, focusing on: reminiscences of the staff of the ISM; his work on exhibits and the Guide to Exhibits in the 1930s; reminiscences of Coggeshall, including his mediating role between Othniel Charles Marsh of the Peabody Museum and Henry Fairfield Osborn of the American Museum of Natural History, his paleontological work at the Carnegie Museum, and his exhibits renovation at the ISM, c. 1885-1937; trips with Coggeshall to American Association of Museums meetings; preparation of the bird exhibit at the ISM; effects of the Great Depression on the museum and employment of WPA workers in the 1930s; relationship of the ISM to the state government; Wright's summer at the Allegany School of Natural History in 1938; his entomological work, especially with Lepidoptera, Odonata, and Arachnida; activities with an explorers' club for teenagers; publication of ISM bulletin, The Living Museum, by V. S. Eifert; graduate program at the University of Illinois at Urbana culminating in an M.S. in zoology in 1946; field work with botanist, George Damon Fuller in the 1940s; publication of Wright's Common Illinois Insects in 1951; impact of World War II on the museum and its staff, including transfer of historical collections to New Salem Village and arrival of German refugee paleontologist, Heinz A. Lowenstam; acquisition of the Barnes collection of natural history specimens; ISM art exhibits curated by Frances Summers Ridgely; Wright's departure from the ISM in 1947 to accept a position as Chief of the School Service Department at the Peabody Museum; reminiscences of F.S.C. Northup and S. Dillon Ripley at Yale; return to the ISM in 1948.

Transcript, pp. 40-89, of audiotape recording, 1.5 hours.

Recording of Interview: Total Recording Time: 1.5 hours

Interview 3: June 28, 1983

Discusses his career as curator of exhibits at the Florida State Museum and chief of the Museum Planning Branch, Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri, c. 1953-1963, including: his appointment as Curator of Exhibits at the FSM in Gainesville in 1953 by Director, Arnold B. Grobman; development of a "museumobile"; exhibits planning for historical site museums for the Florida Parks Service; appointment of Joshua C. Dickinson, Jr., as Director after Grobman's departure to the American Institute of Biological Sciences in 1958; close relationship between the FSM and University of Florida; contacts with the National Park Service during the 1950s; exhibits planning for the FSM Seagle Building with assistance from graduate students; Dickinson's efforts to secure a new building; Wright's appointment by the National Park Service as chief of the Museum Planning Branch for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis in 1961; planning for the historical museum beneath the Gateway Arch; sudden decision to abandon the museum project because of cost overruns for the Arch; Wright's interview with Leonard Carmichael for a position with the Smithsonian's Office of Exhibits Programs in 1963.

Transcript, pp. 90-143, of audiotape recording, 1.5 hours.

Recording of Interview: Total Recording Time: 1.5 hours

Interview 4: July 7, 1983

Covers Wright's career at the Smithsonian, c. 1963-1975, focusing on: his arrival at the Smithsonian in 1963; work on the Exhibits Modernization Program in NMNH in the 1960s; working relations between the curatorial, exhibit design, and exhibit production staffs; exhibits R&D by Rolland O. Hower; work on temporary exhibits and non-NMNH exhibits; liaison for an NBC television series; Wright's supervisory duties, especially personnel management and contracting for exhibits work; reminiscences of Alexander Wetmore and John E. Anglim; preparation of David J. Hasinger tiger.

Transcript, pp. 144-197, of audiotape recording, 1.5 hours.

Recording of Interview: Total Recording Time: 1.5 hours

Interview 5: November 15, 1983

Discusses Wright's career at the Smithsonian, publications and teaching at George Washington University, c. 1963-1978, including: reminiscences of Office of Exhibits Programs, especially accommodations in the Quonset hut and relations with taxidermists; Rolland O. Hower's development of freeze-dry techniques for exhibits preparation; development of the It All Depends ecology exhibit; planning for the Dynamics of Evolution exhibit; liason for an NBC television series and subsequent creation of the Motion Picture Film Unit in the Office of Exhibits; preparation of by-word exhibit scripts; decentralization of the Office of Exhibits; responsibilities as senior museologist, Office of the Director of the NMNH in 1971-1972; transfer to the Exhibits Editor's Office as a writer/editor after the reorganization; his writing projects, including Antwerp's Golden Age, Festival of American Folklife scripts, Freeze-Drying of Biological Specimens, and We the People scripts; biography of Karl Patterson Schmidt; teaching and coordination of the Museum Studies Program at George Washington University in the 1970s; natural history photography of Kjell B. Sandved; development of the Insect Zoo in 1971; Wright's retirement from the Institution in 1975.

Transcript, pp. 198-252, of audiotape recording, 1.5 hours.

Recording of Interview: Total Recording Time: 1.5 hours