Dr. Wilson of the Sphinx papers
Contributors: Houdini, Harry, 1874-1926; Conradi, F. W. (Friedrich Wilhelm), 1870-1944; Burgess, Clinton, 1880-1932; Thurston, Howard, 1869-1936; Harry Houdini Collection (Library of Congress)
Published: 1905
Language: eng
Subjects: Correspondence; Society of American Magicians; Magicians; Sphinx (Chicago, Ill.)
Description: Correspondence files, ranging from complaints from subscribers of non-receipt of issues of the Sphinx to news and gossip of the magic world.  Includes business correspondence (particularly concerning advertising), a few Wilson family letters, and a few letters concerning prescribing medications and other matters concerned with pharmacy and medical practice.  Letters concerning the activities of the Society of American Magicians and its branches and other magicians' groups are also present.  Major magicians represented include Howard Thurston, Harry Houdini, Clinton Burgess, F.W. Conradi, and others.
Notes: Bequest: Estate of Harry Houdini, April 1927.

Albert M. Wilson became a doctor and minister after failing as a magician.  Later he became a pharmacist.  He became editor of the Sphinx, a magic periodical, in 1904.

The initial group of letters were given to Harry Houdini by Wilson in 1924 (cf. TLS, 15 Jul. 1924.)  The early letters were roughly sorted (by Houdini or his librarian) alphabetically.