A 4"x6" glass plate negative, full figure portrait photograph of Lionel and Thomas Wolfe, Jr., David City, Nebraska. The baby is wearing a long-sleeve, full-length, white cotton dress with eyelet trimmed slip, sitting on a cloth-draped chair with one hand on Lionel's head. Lionel is wearing a dark suit with white, picot-edged sailor collar, white embroidered insignia on the sleeve and dark bow tie, kneeling on the floor beside the chair, in front of a painted backdrop.
Thorpe Opera House Foundation/Boston Studio Project
Local Accession Number
00041800001
Source
Original format: 4"x6" glass plate negative from the Boston Studio Project collection.
Historical Notes
Lionel and Thomas Wolfe, Jr., were the sons of Thomas and Madessa Wolfe. Thomas Sr. was the president of the First National Bank in David City, Nebraska. Lionel Wolfe was born in Nebraska in 1898 and died in 1904 at the age of six. Thomas Wolfe, Jr., was born June 12, 1901, in David City, Nebraska. He graduated from David City High School, St. John's Military Academy in Delafield, Wisconsin, and Northwestern University, where he specialized in Military Science and Tactics and taught air transport economics for seven years. He married Ethel Ashby April 16, 1925, and they moved to Pasadena, California. Thomas became vice-president of Pacific-Alaska Division of Pan American World Airways in San Francisco, and established and flew the first commercial around-the-world air service. He established Wolfe Enterprises, an aviation consulting firm for government agencies, university and aerospace industries. Thomas Wolfe, Jr., served as Assistant Secretary of Defense 1956-1957. Besides receiving many aviation awards, he was a football letterman for three years at Northwestern and was a competitive horseman. He died July 30, 1984, in Los Angeles, California.
