Series I: Legal Career

The William S. Wilson Jr. papers consist of four series: Legal career, Reference materials, Personal life, and Photographs. Series I contains all of the materials in the collection relevant to William S. Wilson Jr.'s career as a lawyer and lobbyist. Included in this series are Wilson's professional correspondence, account books and case notes, business papers, and newspaper articles having to do with Wilson and his cases. Some examples of correspondence include lettes from the Democratic National Committee, the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City, the Senate of Maryland, and the House of Representatives, among others. The two account books detail Wilson's transactions as a lawyer, listing the name of the individual he worked for, the service he provided, and his fee. For example, an entry on page 1 of the first volume lists a January 16, 1943 transaction for Strouth, Edna R, wherein Wilson assisted in a divorce case, and charged her $82.05. There are two volumes of case notes in Wilson's handwriting documenting the particularies of specific cases, where the individuals are not named. There are entries related to workmen's comp, mortgages and foreclosure, foreclosure sales, wills, and more. There is one folder of business papers receipts and copies of court documents. Finally, there are three folders of newspaper articles that mention Wilson and his cases.

Series II, Reference materials, consists of two folders of legal journals and one folder containing an entire issue of a magazine with a profile of Wilson.

Series III, Personal life, contains Wilson's personal correspondence, chiefly incoming letters from his sister Jane and his granddaughter, Susan Butler West. There are also two letters included from Paul England, Wilson's friend, to his first wife, May. There is one folder ephemera containing invitations, programs, tickets, and flyers collected by Wilson. Materials in this folder include tickets to the 1922 Annual Excursion of the East Baltimore Business Men's Association to Chesapeake Beach, a pamphlet on buying Liberty bonds, and an invitation to the inauguration of Harry Hughes as Governor of Maryland in 1979. One folder in this series contains personal identification cards belonging to Wilson for the Selective Service, ration cards, and entrance to the United States Senate Chamber. The final folder in Series III contains miscellaneous papers related to Wilson's private life, including six dog licenses issued in Baltimore County, a two pedigrees for a male and female Siamese cats, and an undated poem titled "King for a Day." The final item in this series is a small bound book on Wilson family genealogy, beginning with Henry Guelph, the Duke of Bavaria in the 11th century. The final pages of the book list William S. Wilson and his children.

Series IV, Photographs, consists of 9 photographs of William S. Wilson, Jr., one photograph of Paul England, Wilson's friend, holding his infant daughter, Betty Jane, and one photograph of Wilson's sheep. Although eight photographs of Wilson are undated, five of these photographs appear in the March 1966 profile on Wilson in the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Baltimore's magazine.