Collection Summary
Information for Researchers
Brief Biographical Sketch
Scope and Content
Collection Summary
Collection Title: Orlando Winfield Wilson Papers,
Date (inclusive): [ca. 1928-1972]
Collection Number: BANC MSS 73/179 c
Creator:
Wilson, O. W. (Orlando Winfield), 1900-1972
Extent:
Number of containers: 2 cartons, 3 boxes, 2 volumes and 1 oversize folder
Repository: The
Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Abstract: Letters written to him and by him; biographical material; manuscripts of his writings; copies of his speeches and statements;
reprints and tear sheets of his articles and book reviews; personalia; awards and diplomas; memorial tributes; clippings;
subject files. Relating to his career in police administration at Wichita, Kansas and Chicago, the development of the criminology
program at the University of California, Berkeley, his consultant assignments and his writings in the field of police administration.
Languages Represented:
English
Information for Researchers
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft
Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which
must also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Orlando Winfield Wilson papers, BANC MSS 73/179 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley.
Material Cataloged Separately
Brief Biographical Sketch
Orlando Winfield Wilson, criminologist, police administrator and educator, was born on May 15, 1900 in Veblen, South Dakota.
He started police work in 1921 as a patrolman with the Berkeley, California Police Department, working his way at the University
of California as one of August Vollmer's "college cops." Graduating with an A.B. in 1924, he resigned from the Berkeley force
in April 1925 to become chief of police in Fullerton, California. In 1928, on Vollmer's recommendation, he became police chief
of Wichita, Kansas, a position he held until 1939 when he returned to Berkeley as professor of police administration at the
School of Criminology, serving as dean, 1950-60. During this period he also did intermittent police consultation and advisory
work, conducting a number of police surveys and directing reorganization of departments in several cities. In World War II,
he served in the army in a variety of posts. In 1960 he went to Chicago at the request of Mayor Richard J. Daley, to head
a blue-ribbon committee seeking a new police commissioner. The committee, after searching the country for a candidate, chose
its own chairman, and Wilson accepted the job with the assurance that he would have the support he considered necessary to
rebuild the department which had been rocked with graft and incompetence. Retiring in 1967 with a distinct record of achievement,
he returned to California, living in Poway until his death on October 18, 1972.
Scope and Content
His papers were given to The Bancroft Library by his widow, Ruth Elinor Wilson, in May 1973. Covering the period 1928 to 1972,
they include correspondence, biographical material, MSS of his writings, copies of speeches and statements, reprints and tear
sheets of his articles and book reviews, personalia, awards and diplomas, memorial tributes, photographs and snapshots, clippings
and subject files. The papers, in general, relate to his career in police administration at Wichita, Kansas, and Chicago;
the development of the criminology program at the University of California, Berkeley; his consultant assignments; and his
writings in the field of police administration. They are described in greater detail in the Key to Arrangement which follows.
A list of the major correspondents represented in the collection follows the Key.
Some material relating to his work in Wichita was given by Mrs. Wilson to the Kansas State Historical Society, and his library
went to the Chicago Police Training Academy and to the San Diego Police Department.