The Willis Collection is a collection of photographs by two brothers, Alfred T. Willis and Henry Willis.

Alfred was a commercial photographer in Spartanburg S.C. in the early 1900's until 1944. Most of the images of Spartanburg and the surrounding area are by Alfred.

Henry was a photographer for the Armed Forces also in the early 1900's. He was a member of the 1st Aero Squadron, the first aviators to be trained by the military. Most of the airplane photos are from this period while he was stationed on North Island off the coast of San Diago, California and also during the Mexican Conflict while stationed at Fort Sam Houston in Texas.

These photographs were found in 2003 by Elizabeth Fowler, the daughter of Alfred Willis. A large number of the negatives are glass plates from the early 1900's. A few of the images appear in books and on postcards but the majority of the images have never been seen. The original negatives have been cleaned and digitally scanned by Steve Fincher Photography. The original negatives along with the digital files and prints have been turned over to the Spartanburg County Public Library for storage and preservation. Archival, large format art reproductions of the photos on this website are available, please contact Steve Fincher for information.

All the photos on this website are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without written permission from Elizabeth Fowler.