Louis C. Wills papers
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Abstract
Louis Charles Wills (1884-1975), a lawyer, was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and entered Brooklyn Law School as a member of its third graduating class in 1903. He was admitted to the bar in 1906 and went on to a successful practice as an independent lawyer and as a member of the Brooklyn firms Fisher & Voltz and Wrenn & Schmid. Wills was also a prominent community leader in Brooklyn and served in various leadership roles for several civic, cultural, charitable, religious, and business organizations. The Louis C. Wills papers date from 1791 and the period 1856 to 1975, though the majority of the collection dates from 1900 to 1975. The collection includes autobiographical writings, awards, business cards, certificates, clippings, correspondence, obituaries, photographs, plaques, programs, publications and bound volumes, scrapbooks, and various printed ephemera created, received, or collected by Wills over the course of his distinguished career as a lawyer and community leader in Brooklyn. In addition to his law career and leadership role in the Brooklyn community, items also document Wills's personal life, particularly his youth and his relationship to his older brother, Anthony E. Wills (1879-1912).
Biographical Note
Louis Charles Wills (1884-1975), was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. In his youth, he was involved in amateur theater and published an amateur fiction magazine with his older brother, Anthony E. Wills (1879-1912), who later became a playwright, novelist, and actor. At his family's urging, Wills attended the Brooklyn Law School of Saint Lawrence University, to which he was admitted in 1903 as a member of the school's third graduating class. He was admitted to the bar in 1906 and joined the law firm Fisher & Voltz, led by George H. Fisher and Charles W. Voltz, after Fisher's death in 1910. Formerly located at 99 Broadway in Brooklyn, Fisher & Voltz had relocated to 84 Broadway, the site of the Manufacturers National Bank Building, in 1896. Though the firm dissolved after Voltz's death in 1913, Wills continued to practice law independently at 84 Broadway until 1920, when he relocated to the Chamber of Commerce Building at 32 Court Street. He moved offices again to 26 Court Street in 1926. In 1968 he joined the firm Wrenn & Schmid, remaining at 26 Court Street. Wills specialized in estates in his law practice. At the time of his death, he resided at the Hotel Bossert at 98 Montague Street with his wife, Lillian.
Aside from his career as a lawyer, Wills was actively involved in the Brooklyn community, serving in prominent positions for several civic, cultural, charitable, religious, and business organizations. His various positions included Trustee and Vice-President of the New-York Historical Society; member of the board of the Industrial Home for the Blind; member of the Advisory Board of the Manufacturers Trust Company; Officer, Director, and President of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce; member of the Delta Theta Phi Law Fraternity; Chairman of the Board for the Brooklyn Home for Children; member of the Advisory Board for the Salvation Army; Director of the American Red Cross; Treasurer of the Protestant Council and the Brooklyn Church and Mission Federation; member of the Protestant Committee for Religious Education; member of the Booth Dramatic Society; Treasurer of the Kings County Republican Committee; Chairman of the Long Island Tercentenary Celebration; and Director of the Brooklyn Eye and Ear Hospital, among several others. In 1937, Wills was awarded the Downtown Brooklyn Association's Gold Medal for Most Distinguished Service for Brooklyn. The Long Island Historical Society (now the Brooklyn Historical Society) also held a memorabilia exhibit in honor of Wills's work for the Brooklyn community in 1974.
Scope and Contents
The Louis C. Wills papers date from 1791 and the period 1856 to 1975, though the majority of the collection dates from 1900 to 1975. The collection includes autobiographical writings, awards, business cards, certificates, clippings, correspondence, obituaries, photographs, plaques, programs, publications and bound volumes, scrapbooks, and various additional printed ephemera created, received, or collected by Wills over the course of his distinguished career as a lawyer and community leader in Brooklyn. In addition to his law career and leadership role in the Brooklyn community, items also document Wills's personal life, particularly his youth and his relationship to his brother, Anthony E. Wills.
Items documenting Wills's law career relate to his graduation from the Brooklyn Law School, his activities on behalf of the school as an alumnus, certain cases in which Wills was involved, and the law firms in which he practiced, including Fisher & Voltz and Wrenn & Schmid. Items documenting Wills's prominent role as a community leader in Brooklyn illuminate the several civic, political, cultural, charitable, religious, and business organizations in which he served; the activities he carried out in his leadership roles; and the seemingly universal acclaim he received from various sectors of the community for his efforts. Items also document the 1974 memorabilia exhibit held in honor of Wills at the Long Island Historical Society (now the Brooklyn Historical Society).
Items documenting Wills's personal life concern his personal reflections on his youth and interest in amateur theater and journalism, as well as the members of his immediate family, including his older brother, Anthony E. Wills; his mother, Emilie R. Wills; and his father, also named Anthony Wills. Materials relating to Anthony E. Wills, a playwright, novelist, and actor, include photographs (mostly relating to his involvement in amateur theater as a youth with his younger brother), clippings, theater programs, and several of his published plays, stories, and novels. Items also relate to Anthony E. Wills's premature death at the age of 32. Materials pertaining to Louis C. Wills's parents, Anthony and Emilie R. Wills, mostly consist of clippings, photographs, and military certificates, the latter of which span 1856 to 1877 and reflect Anthony Wills's service in the New York State Militia and the New York State National Guard, including his service in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The collection also includes one letter written by Alexander Hamilton, United States Secretary of the Treasury, dating from 1791. The letter is from Hamilton in Philadelphia, PA to a Theodore Foster, Esquire and is in regards to the debt of the state of Rhode Island. It is unclear how this letter came to be included with the rest of Louis C. Wills's papers, as details regarding the context of Wills's acquisition of this document are not currently known. (The letter is in oversize box 2.)
A card catalog of the contents of this collection is available in Box 23.
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Families
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Conditions Governing Access
Open to researchers without restriction.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date (if known); Louis C. Wills papers, ARC.252, Box and Folder number; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Portions of the collection were the gifts of Louis C. Wills and E.M. Rushmore, dates unknown. Sources and dates of acquisition for remaining items in the collection are unknown.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Minimally processed to the collection level.
Box 23 (card catalog) rehoused by John Zarrillo in February 2016.
