Guide to the Thomas L. Fries Papers

Biography of Thomas L. Fries

Thomas Louis Fries was born in Dayton, Ohio on September 28, 1942, the son of Robert L. and Charlotte Van Ostrand Hawley. Fries' father abandoned the household in 1950, and eventually his mother remarried. Fries attended public school in Dayton, later attending Ohio State University for three years, Bowling Green State University for one year, and the University of Dayton for two years.

He was interested in sports in general and baseball in particular, playing professional baseball with the Minnesota Twins from 1960 to 1964 and the Washington Senators from 1964 to 1966. Fries married Esther Carole Stookey in 1963, and the couple had two children, Thomas Louis Fries, Jr., and Melissa Suzanne Fries.

Thomas Fries worked in the Sales and Marketing Division of Gulf Oil Corporation from 1966 to 1970, and began his elective political career by running successfully as a Democratic for the 86th district state representative in 1970. His service on the Ohio House Finance Committee spanned six terms over twelve years (1971-1983), the entire length of his tenure as state representative. In 1982 when Charles Curran resigned from the Ohio Senate, Fries was appointed as Curran's replacement. However, ten months short of fulfilling the term, Fries decided to retire. Tom Talbot filled the seat until the general election in which Chuck Horn won. In addition to his legislative duties, Fries was an active member of the Citizens' Clean Air Association, and the Huber Heights-Wayne Township Jaycees.

Scope and Content

Thomas Fries represented the 86th State Legislative District for twelve years, January 1971-January 1983. This collection focuses on his papers from the 114th General Assembly (1981-1982), which pertain to legislation considered and/or composed by Thomas Fries and his colleagues serving on the Ohio House Finance Committee.

The records tend to be somewhat repetitious and include verbatim copies of submitted and amended bills, form letter memos, and fiscal notes pertaining to legislation. "Scope and content" sheets descriptive of various bills are found in the folders dealing with Representative Fries' co-legislators on the Finance Committee.

The material pertinent to Fries' political life aside from legislative matters includes correspondence between Finance Committee members, letters received expressing opinions for or against certain legislation, and Fries' press releases. These documents illuminate the life of a politician concerned with duties of fundraising, attending inconclusive committee meetings, and other considerations.

This collection falls rather evenly through 1981-1982, a time of increasing economic distress in Ohio. There is a slight preponderance of notes from 1982, which is understandable, considering it was an election year (although Fries declined to run for a seventh term). A weakness of the collection is the abundance of verbatim legislation, for example, H.B. 580 and other bills are listed in their entirety.

The collection contains nothing more explanatory concerning the legislation than a series of brief "scope and content" sheets, which do not aid the ordinary citizen's conception of a bill's significance. The personalized general political category is clearly more beneficial in regards to gaining a general understanding of some of the aspects of a politician's life and career in a two-year period.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Use

Copyright restrictions may apply. Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Restrictions on Access

There are no restrictions on accessing materials in this collection.

Charles J. Curran Papers
https://www.libraries.wright.edu/special/collectionguides/files/ms346.pdf

Subject Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

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Preferred Citation

[Description of item, Date, Box #, Folder #], MS-154, Thomas L. Fries Papers, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.

Acquisition Information

The collection was donated to Special Collections and Archives by Thomas Fries via the Ohio Historical Society in March, 1983.

Other Finding Aid

The finding aid is available on the Special Collections & Archives, Wright State University Libraries web site at https://wright.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/814.