Wilson, (Bryan) Scott 1953-

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WILSON, (Bryan) Scott 1953-

PERSONAL:

Born January 29, 1953, in Spring Grove, IN; son of Harry (a printer) and Winifred (in retail sales; maiden name, Bryan) Wilson; married Melissa Maurer (a social worker), August 19, 1978; children: Ryan, Emily. Ethnicity: "Caucasian of Irish-German ancestry." Education: Ball State University, B.S., 1976. Hobbies and other interests: Films and film history, American presidents and politics in general.

ADDRESSES:

Home and office—1011 South Eighth St., Richmond, IN 47374. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Richmond State Hospital, Richmond, IN, employee, 1974-78; U.S. Postal Service, Richmond, IN, employee, 1978-86; American Nursing Care, Richmond, IN, affiliate, 1989—.

MEMBER:

Phi Alpha Theta.

WRITINGS:

Baseball Hall of Famers: Burial Places by State (monograph), Hall of Fame Library (Cooperstown, NY), 1999.

Resting Places: The Burial Sites of Over 7,000 Persons, McFarland and Co. (Jefferson, NC), 2001.

Contributor to periodicals, including Classic Images and Fredonia Gazette.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Revising Resting Places: The Burial Sites of Over 7,000 Famous Persons.

SIDELIGHTS:

Scott Wilson told CA: "I was very interested in a host of things as a kid, ranging from the U.S. presidents (a strange obsession for a five-year-old) to the Universal Pictures horror films of the 1930s and 1940s. By high school and college I had begun working in genealogy and public records, spent a lot of time in libraries, and developed a particular fondness for cemeteries—history in stone, in peaceful and (ideally, though not always) pleasant surroundings. My wife and I took the kids to historic sites at various areas of the country. While my interests in presidential history and politics remained fairly constant, as did my love of films, it was during some time in southern California in 1987, where so many film people are concentrated, that the idea occurred to me of accumulating information on the burial places of as many notables as I could think of. I underestimated the scope of the work considerably.

"There is hardly a single day in which I, or one of my regular contacts, does not come up with a new name or new information. It's massive, it is never-ending, but in the long run I think such a compilation has not only historical but some sociological significance. If one is not interested in the final dispositions of people, just look at Resting Places: The Burial Sites of Over 7,000 Famous Persons as a collection of one-paragraph biographies.

"The work is done by mail, by phone, on the Internet, and at the microfilm reader. There is still no substitute for a primary source, the contemporary newspaper. [New information] is entered into the ongoing accumulated 'resting places' daily. I had one relatively obscure character actor's daughter tell me that, because of my questions about him, his grandchildren would know more about him now. So if that is true in even a few cases, it gives the project validity."