Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation

MSS 16874, Arthur L. Wharton papers, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was a purchase from McBride Rare Books to the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library on 9 April 2024.

Biographical / Historical

This is the collection of Arthur L. Wharton and his wife, Betty Lou Golden Wharton, relating to Arthur's career as a mapmaker for the Central Intelligence Agency and documenting their family life. Arthur Wharton was born in the New York City in 1926. Both of his parents were from British Guiana. Arthur was a student at George Washington High School in New York when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy in June 1945, at the age of 18. The 1950 Census shows he was living in Washington, D.C. with Betty Lou, and her parents Louise and Clinton Golden. Arthur is listed as a maintenance man at an Air Base, and Betty Lou was in the Armed Forces, as well. A group photo from the NCO Club at Rammstein Air Base in Germany in 1954, and a Vacation Bible School certificate for his daughter,indicate that Arthur and Betty Lou also spent some time in Germany in the 1950's.

Wharton was a special and accomplished member of the CIA, serving at a time when few other Black people worked there. Arthur's ten years of service to the CIA, dated September 18, 1963; and the accompanying program for the Third Annual CIA Awards banquet at which Arthur received his "Longevity Certificate; " interestingly, the program is stamped "Administrative Internal Use Only" twice on every page. Arthur's CIA awards are accompanied by two copies of an 8 x 10 inch photograph featuring Wharton, shaking hands with Ray S. Cline, one of which is inscribed by Cline, "With my congratulations!" Ray S. Cline (1918-1996) moved to Washington D.C. in 1962 to take up a post as head of the CIA's Directorate of Intelligence, the analytical branch of the agency. He is perhaps the best known as the chief CIA analyst during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962; he is listed in the 1963 awards program as "Deputy Director (Intelligence)."

Content Description

This collection contains photographs, photo albums, letters, certificates, and a program belonging to Arthur L. Wharton and his wife, Betty Lou Golden Wharton, relating to Arthur's career as a mapmaker for the Central Intelligence Agency and documenting their family life.  

Arthur's career in the Central Intelligence Agency is represented here by five documents and two photographs. The documents include a printed certificate of commendation from the CIA's National Intelligence Survey Program and a typed letter of commendation dated July 10, 1962, awarded to Wharton, "for his excellent performance as Cartographic Draftsman in the Office of Research and Reports, CIA." Another pair of documents include a certificate celebrating Arthur's ten years of service to the CIA, dated September 18, 1963; and the accompanying program for the Third Annual CIA Awards banquet at which Arthur received his "Longevity Certificate." Arthur's CIA awards are accompanied by two copies of an 8 x 10 inch photograph featuring Wharton, shaking hands with Ray S. Cline. Cline (1918-1996) was head of the CIA's Directorate of Intelligence, the agency's analytical branch. "

Accompanying Arthur's CIA material are two photograph albums and a group of loose photos of various sizes, some in the photographer's studio folders. Most of the 136 photographs are without captions, with the earliest dated 1930 and the latest dated 1959. The images feature Arthur and Betty Lou along with various friends and relatives. Three are identified as having been taken in Arthur's parents' home country of Guyana [Guiana], two of which show losses from the major fire in the capital city of Georgetown in 1945 which started in Booker's Drug Store. The family photographs are accompanied by a small group of letters and notes, mainly sent to Betty Lou. There are two notes from Colorado College, one signed by the Dean of Women Louise Fauteaux in 1946, when Betty Lou Golden was a student there. Her family lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado at the time. Arthur Wharton was a special and accomplished member of the CIA, serving at a time when few other Black people worked there.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• African American families