Description: Letter from the founder of the Order of Demolay, Frank S. Land, instructing Wendell Gilley to choose and send carvings to Harry S. Truman, Dr. Frank Stanton, president of CBS, Leon Leonidoff, producer of Radio City Music Hall shows, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and White House aide Bernard Shanley. The cost of the five carvings was $250.
Description: Letter regarding the possible exhibition of a Gilley piece in the Spirits and Nature Exhibition organized by Steven Rockefeller and held at Middlebury College. The piece was a carved and painted group of eiders made in 1970. Color slide transparency enclosed with letter
Description: Letter typed on FBI letterhead and signed by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover in gold ink thanking Wendell Gilley for the gift of carved bobwhites sent on behalf of Frank S. Land.
Description: Thank you letter from the Governor of California thanking Wendell Gilley for a carving of a quail, which he placed on his desk in the Governor's Mansion.
Wellington - C. G. (Clarence George) Wellington (1890-1960)
Date:
1957-03-04
Description: Letter typed on Kansas City Star letterhead from Executive Editor Clarence G. Wellington thanking Wendell Gilley for carved birds sent on behalf of Frank S. Land.
Description: Letter to the editor of the Wendell Gilley Museum's publication, The Eider, from James C. Collins after learning of Wendell Gilley's death
Description: This letter describes three birds (a bobwhite, a yellowlegs, and a gull) carved by Wendell Gilley and owned by the letter writer, Isabel Thacher.
Description: Letter to the donor of a bronze sculpture by Walther Matia in memory of Foster Whitlock . The letter thanks her for her donation of the sculpture to the museum and describes the dedication ceremony.
Description: Letter to the Museum Director about sending the museum copies of letters received from Wendell Gilley. Enclosed are two letters by Wendell Gilley to Mr. Stearns.
Description: Letter acknowledging return of a bob-white carving as well as discussion of solder and advice on where to get bass wood. Also included are sketches of the leg and foot of a Canada goose.
Description: Written on museum letterhead, this letter describes the opening of the Wendell Gilley Museum and mentions Wendell Gilley's donation of his carvings to the museum
Description: Letter concerning the packing and shipping of a pintail duck carving commissioned from Wendell Gilley by Norman Willock and returned to the museum for repair.
Description: This letter expresses Lucretia Evans' intention to donate her copy of Wendell Gilley's book Bird Carving, a Guide to a Fascinating Hobby, which she believed might be a first edition.
Description: This letter acknowledges receipt of a letter and chisel from Gilley, and discusses various carvings including a spotted sandpiper on a mussel shell and two pairs of quail
Description: This letter discusses correspondence between Wendell Gilley and Byron Cheever, author and magazine publisher, about Gilley's book. The author of the letter makes suggestions about paper and cover art and discusses copyright.
Description: Letter discusses sending text, artwork, and photos for the book, Art of Bird Carving, to Byron Cheever. Flying goose, bob-white and blue quail carvings are also mentioned.
Description: Letter acknowledges receipt of a copy of O'Brien's letter to Wendell H. Gilley. Cheever promises to work on the material for Gilley's book but says hes is in the process of getting the summer issue of North American Decoys ready for the printer.
Description: Cheever writes that he has received the materials for Gilley's book and that he read the new chapter on decoys and thought it was well done. He also talks about meeting carver Harold Haertel in Chicago at a meeting of decoy collectors.
Description: Note from O'Brien included with a copy of a letter from Byron Cheever. O'Brien mentions having been asked by Peggy Rockefeller if Gilley would sell her a flock of geese.
Description: Photocopy from the original by Byron Cheever listing questions he had regarding publishing Gilley's book. Gilley's answers as dictated to Donal C. O'Brien, Jr. are in pencil after each question.
Description: This letter praises Wendell Gilley's inventiveness, his carving and his book . O'Brien refers to a vise for holding decoys and carvings for painting that Wendell includes in the book.