MS – 196 Clair Wilbur Welty Papers

Introduction

The Clair Wilbur Welty Collection was accessioned into the Wright State University Department of Archives and Special Collections in December of 1989. They were donated by Dr. Gordon Welty, then a professor at Wright State University.

The papers in the collection date from 1905-1921 and fill 1 Hollinger box and three file folders.

There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.

Scope and Content

The collection is arranged into one chronological series. The series consists of a partial set of academic records and teaching certificates, military orders concerning Welty’s brief service as an Army officer, and letters of condolence addressed to his mother, Mary Welty, after his death in November 1918. Writers include Lt. J. Russell Worthington, a pilot in Welty’s unit, and U.S. Senator Benjamin F. Welty.

Biographical History

Clair W. Welty was a resident of Apple Creek, Ohio, located near Wooster in the Northeastern part of the State. Born in September of 1890, Welty attented grade school and high school in his home community, left for a brief period to attend the College of Wooster, and returned to teach in his old school district.

In 1917, Welty enlisted in the United States Army Signal Corps, and was trained as an airplane pilot at Ohio State University. Upon the completion of his training in November 1917, Welty was commissioned Second Lieutenant. After additional training in California, Welty was sent to France as part of a group of commissioned flying officers. After he recovered from a brief period of illness, Welty was ordered to Issoudun, France where he served as a pilot-trainer. On November 10th, 1918, another pilot’s plane crashed into Welty’s Nieuport 28 during a routine training flight. The details appear to have been glossed over in several of the letters which were later sent to Mary Welty, but it is obvious that Clair Welty survived the crash for only a short period of time

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