Description

Frederick C. Crawford (1891-1994) was a Cleveland, Ohio, industrialist and philanthropist. Crawford headed Thompson Products, Inc. (later TRW Inc.) as it moved from an automotive and aircraft parts manufacturer into the aviation and aerospace industries. A leader of Cleveland's philanthropic community, Crawford served on the boards of many cultural institutions. He was appointed to the Western Reserve Historical Society Board of Trustees in 1944 and later served as it's president. He was instrumental in the transfer of the Thompson Auto Album and Aviation Museum collection to WRHS in the 1960s, which became the nucleus of the Frederick C. Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum of WRHS. Crawford was married twice; to Audrey Cecelia Bowles in 1932, and to Kathleen M. Saxon in 1975. The collection consists of individual and group portraits of Frederick C. Crawford, his family, friends, and associates, and views of his activities relating to awards, tours, dinners, business enterprises, clubs, travel, residences, and museums. The collection also contains portraits of Harold T. Clark, General James Doolittle, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Arthur Godfrey, Bob Hope, the King Sisters, General Curtis LeMay, General Douglas MacArthur, Walter O'Keefe, and Tyrone Power.