University of Wyoming
Charles Will Wright (1879-1968) was an internationally known mining engineer. He born in Marquette, Michigan, and studied at the University of Heidelberg and the Freiberg School of Mines in Germany. He returned to the United States and received a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the Michigan College of Mines. He was a geological aide and assistant geologist in the Alaskan division of the United States Geological Survey from 1903 to 1909. He became chief engineer of the Societa Pertusole and Societa Germanari operating in Sardinia in 1909. He was general manager of the Societa Atensina Explorazioni Mineraraie in Northern Italy from 1919 to 1928. From 1928 to 1935, he was the chief of the mining division of the U.S. Bureau of Mines and chief mineral specialist for the U.S. State Department. In World War II he organized the mineral segment of the Institute of Inter-American Affairs to help accelerate the output of strategic minerals. He was a Colonel under General Lucius Clay reporting on German mineral resources during World War II, and he was chief foreign mineral specialist of the Department of State from 1942 to 1944. From 1944 to 1946 he was the chief technical consultant to the Board of Economic Warfare and Foreign Economic Administration. Leaving government service in 1947, he became a consultant for a number of private companies. Wright was the recipient of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers’ 1954 Legion of Honor award.
The collection contains correspondence (1936-1968); reprints, pamphlets, periodicals, and publication; reports on worldwide mineral deposits and distribution, government regulation and mining organization (1935-1968); numerous reports, magazine articles, books, newspaper clippings, correspondence and other general material on mining and mineral history; reports of the U.S. Bureau of Mines (1932-1968); government committee reports and hearings (1948-1968); mining bulletins (1908-1968); materials survey (1951-1952); maps of world mineral deposits; mining statistics; travel diaries (1935, 1938, 1939); interviews, remarks, comments, position statements and letters to the editor by and with Wright; and newsletters and press releases.
There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes, and the collection is open to the public.
The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.
There are no known other archival collections created by Charles Will Wright at the date of processing.
This material was received from Helen Wright in 1969.
Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Collection Name, Collection Number, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
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