Above: Mary Hutchison with Wesley and Nelle Halliburton in Memphis enjoying one of Richard Halliburton's letters home. Photo courtesy of the Rhodes College Archives and Special Collections, Memphis, Tennessee.
“Dear Richard:
As I stood watching the Flying Carpet grow smaller and smaller, to finally disappear into the distant haze, I felt something new, some strange, deep emotion I have never experienced before. No, it was not fear for you or your plane and crew—I know you can take care of yourself; you are now a man, grown up, self sufficient, able—I am proud of you. No, it is not that—it is something entirely different that I have not felt when you departed from us before. It is, I think, that for the first time I realize that you no longer belong to your mother and me. You now belong to your readers, your vast audience—you belong to the world.”
The Halliburton family in Memphis consisted of Wesley and Nelle Halliburton, their sons, Richard and Wesley Jr. and their close friend, Mary Hutchison. At the end of his life, Wesley was the last living member of the family and he took great care to compile many scrapbooks loaded with photographs, documents and notes of all kind, relating to his famous son's adventures. Each page is a time capsule of another time and place and well represents the obvious affection Wesley Halliburton felt for his family. Below is a small small sample of those scrapbooks, now being archived in the Special Collections of Rhodes College in Memphis.
CLICK EACH PAGE FOR A CLOSER LOOK.
Courtesy of the Rhodes College Archives and Special Collections, Memphis, Tennessee.
