The Fay Oma Wainwright Collection

Wetherill Archive Highlight: The Fay Oma Wainwright Collection

TCHA has over 200 processed collections in the Richard B. Wetherill Archives. Each of these collections is carefully inventoried and studied by staff and volunteers at TCHA in order to create a finding aid that will assist researchers in finding the information they need. The first collection processed by TCHA staff was the Fay Oma Wainwright Collection.
The collection of Fay O. Wainwright (1891-1977) includes miscellaneous personal and family items. The bulk of the collection relates to the development of Wainwright High School (1965-1975) located in Sheffield Township, eight miles south of Lafayette and one-fourth mile east of U.S. 52. The 30-acre tract of land upon which the school was built was donated to the Tippecanoe School Corporation in April 1963 by Miss Wainwright. The school was named in memory of her deceased parents. The news clippings contained in this collection date from the time of the donation and document the school’s development through 1966 with a few articles relating to the school to 1971. Also included in the collection is a complete set of yearbooks from the high school and an architect’s rendering and floor plan of Wainwright High School, 1963. In the fall of 1975 the school became a junior high school, bearing the name Wainwright Junior High School.
The collection was assembled, following Miss Wainwright’s death, by Rosemary Frantz, Miss Wainwright’s neighbor and nurse, and George DeLong, executor of the estate.
Fay O. Wainwright was born 23 October 1891 at Farmer’s Institute, Tippecanoe County, Indiana. She died 19 November 1977 at the Wainwright Home Place, Tippecanoe County.

The daughter of William Francisco Wainwright and Louise Ione Ford Wainwright, Fay Wainwright lived the greater part of her life with her parents on their farm in Shelby Township, Tippecanoe County.

Fay was interested in art and music; she played the piano until arthritis forced her to discontinue. She was a lover of cats and a collector of antiques, including buttons and bottles.

Following her donation of the 30-acre tract of land to the Tippecanoe School Corporation for the building of Wainwright High School, Miss Wainwright took a lively interest in the students and the school’s development and activities. On her birthday, the Wainwright High School Band regularly serenaded her.

To learn more about the resources available in the Fay Oma Wainwright Collection, check out our online database on our Archives page.