This small collection contains original artwork, photographs and small photograph albums, subject files, and ephemera collected by Wallace F. Hamilton (1890-1972), a U.S. Cavalry officer, World War I veteran, and San Diego illustrator.

Wallace Francis Hamilton was born on August 28, 1890 in Indianapolis, Indiana. For the next 23 years Hamilton went back and forth between Indianapolis and Idaho as he worked various jobs such as a drug store clerk, sheep herder, treasurer and as a construction worker. He attended Manual Training High School in Indianapolis and graduated in 1906. In 1912 Hamilton joined the Remy Electric Company in Anderson, Indiana and was transferred to San Francisco in 1913. During this time in San Francisco he joined the First U.S. Cavalry regiment, and moved with the unit to San Diego in 1914 as the acting Sergeant Major. For the next three years he served as the Sergeant Major of the Southern California Border District. Hamilton attended the School of the Line at Fort Leavenworth, and the School of Fire at Fort Still, Oklahoma. Between 1918 and 1919 he was deployed to France, where he helped organize the Overseas Courier Service. After resigning from the Army in 1919, he returned to San Diego, where he worked a wide variety of jobs, and developed his skill as an illustrator. Hamilton served as a staff artist for the San Diego Union, and took other jobs in advertising, photography, and accounting. He was also commissioned to create regional topographical relief maps, set designs, and decorative floats. Hamilton died on April 16, 1972 in La Jolla.

2.8 Linear feet (2 archives boxes and 1 oversize box)

Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.