Ben Carlton Mead was born in 1902 in Bay City, Texas. He spent most of his formative years in Amarillo. After graduating from Amarillo High School he attended the Art Institute of Chicago. He then returned to Texas and worked as a commercial artist in San Antonio. Ben Mead was best known as a painter and illustrator. He traveled throughout the state to master his vision of the American West. While living in Irving, Texas Ben Mead founded the Dallas Chapter of the International Westerners. He left Texas in 1981, moving to the Santa Ynez Valley of California. His best known works include murals at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, paintings of Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Doc Holiday, and illustrations for J. Frank Dobie's Coronado's Children, 1931 edition. He died December 8, 1986.

This material is a representative sample of projects, resource materials, and correspondence of western artist, Ben Carlton Mead. The murals in Canyon, Texas and the commissions concerning the paintings of Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, and Doc Holiday are among the more renowned works represented in this collection. The correspondence ranges from 1929-1978. A few commercial drawings are in oversized storage boxes.