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William H. Wagoner and June Wagoner collection 1950-1954

NAU.MS.345
NAU.MI.2001.45

Biographical Note

William "Bill" H. Wagoner Jr. was born on December 24, 1916 in Merchantville, New Jersey. As a young boy, he was an Eagle Scout, a Red Cross Lifesaver, and a freelance photographer. In the middle of the Depression years, Bill found work as a counselor and instructor at a boy's camp, a life insurance company office, and as a bank bookkeeper.

June Stadtler (married name June Wagoner) was born in 1920 in New Jersey. Little else is known about her childhood. In her early adulthood, she held a secretarial position to the vice president of Campbell Soup Company. June later worked as a secretary for the Personnel Director of RCA.

Bill and June married in 1940. During World War II, Bill was drafted, serving as a photographer in the US Army Signal Corps. Afterwards, Bill Wagoner served as a ranger-naturalist at Grand Canyon National Park; during this time he also took photographs on behalf of the U.S. Park Service. The Wagoners were both nature-lovers and avid hikers. After World War II ended, the couple spent a year traveling North America together, filming their adventures mountain-climbing, skin diving and hiking in different regions. Between 1945 and 1959, they made several silent films about nature and conservation. These included "A Touch of the Tropics," which documented the wildlife and scenery of South Florida, as well as "Wanderland," which drew upon footage from the Wagoners' backpacking trips in Florida, Arizona, and Utah among other states.

The Wagoners made several trips to the Glen Canyon region prior to its flooding in the early 1960s. Of particular note was a twelve-day rafting trip they took from Hite (Utah) to Lees Ferry (Arizona) on the Colorado River in 1954, possibly with noted river runner Georgie White Clark. They filmed "Grand Canyon" and "Wild River" during these trips.

After the couple found success as lecturers, the National Audubon Society signed both Bill and June Wagoner on the Audubon Wildlife Film Lectures. They projected their silent films and lectured at many places such as museums, universities, and clubs between 1953 and 1959, before Bill decided to stop lecturing at the age of 42. The Wagoners then retired to Sedona, Arizona, where they both took up oil painting.

In their sixties, the Wagoners decided to spend six months of the year at their condo at Surf and Racquet Club on the Kona coast of Hawaii.

Bill Wagoner died on February 16, 1998 at the age of 81. As of 2001, June Wagoner was still living in Sedona, Arizona.

Information in this biographical note is drawn from biographical materials provided to Special Collections and Archives by June Wagoner.

Scope & Content Note

The William H. Wagoner and June Wagoner collection includes the original film footage and accompanying lecture manuscripts for two of the Wagoners' films, "Wild River" and "Grand Canyon." It also includes access and master copies of the original film footage created by SCA staff in 2001 and digitized access and master versions of the films in 2023.

Arrangement

Restrictions

Conditions Governing Access

Due to a lack of required playback equipment and the fragility of the materials in question, all 16mm films in the William H. Wagoner and June Wagoner collection (NAU.MI.2001.45) are unavailable for access and use in the Miriam Lemont Reading Room. Researchers are advised to utilize digitized versions of the original films available online via the Colorado Plateau Digital Collections. Please see the Digital Material Available note to learn more.

Conditions Governing Use

It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for Northern Arizona University, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.

Related Material

Controlled Access Terms

Administrative Information

Digital Material Available

In spring 2023, SCA staff, notably Olivia "Liv" Hall, digitized all 16mm films from the William H. Wagoner and June Wagoner collection as part of SCA's NEH grant to address at-risk moving images. Click here to view all digitized moving images from the William H. Wagoner and June Wagoner collection available via the Colorado Plateau Digital Collections.

The digitization of and public online access to moving image materials from the Joseph Dudziak collection was made possible through generous funding from the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) Humanities Collections and Reference Resources: Implementation grant (PW-277441-21), 2021-2024.

Preferred Citation

[Title or brief description of file or item.] William H. Wagoner and June Wagoner collection [manuscripts], NAU.MS.345, Box [ ], Folder [ ]. Northern Arizona University. Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives. Flagstaff, Arizona.

[Title or brief description of file or item.] William H. Wagoner and June Wagoner collection [moving images], NAU.MI.2001.45.[ ]. Northern Arizona University. Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives. Flagstaff, Arizona.

Acquisition Information

June Wagoner donated materials in the William H. Wagoner and June Wagoner collection to SCA in 2001.

Processing Information

In 2001, under the direction of Laine Sutherland, SCA staff worked with a vendor to copy footage from the original 16mm film reels to Betamax videotapes and VHS videotapes, which would serve as preservation and access copies of the original format. One of the films, "Wild River, 1954" was also digitized from U-Matic tape and added the Colorado Plateau Digital Collections.

In May 2023, SCA staff, notably Olivia "Liv" Hall, digitized, edited, and uploaded the original films to the Colorado Plateau Digital Collections as part of SCA's NEH grant project to address at-risk moving images. Nix Mendy then added item-level links to the digitized films across the finding aid.

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