Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Frank Perlette Shull Papers, 1924-1942, 1972. Accession 50230. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Gift of F. Richard Davis, Glen Allen, Virginia, 21 November, 2011.

Biographical Information

Frank Perlette Shull was born on 5 May 1904 in Roanoke, Virginia. When Shull was six years old, he moved with his family to Erwin, Tennessee, where he went on to graduate from Erwin High School. He attended Washington and Lee from 1922-1927, earning a bachelor's and a master's degree. He taught French for many years at Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg, where he worked at the time he wrote most of the letters to the editor included in this collection. Shull married Nellie Elizabeth Wyatt (1911-1998) in August 1931. The couple had a son, Frank Richard Shull. They divorced in May 1963. Frank Perlette Shull died on 7 July 1972 in Richmond.

Scope and Content

Papers, 1924-1942, 1972, of Frank Perlette Shull (1904-1972) of Lexington and Lynchburg, Virginia, include several letters to the editor of the Rockbridge County News and other papers, 1939-1941, predicting that the United States would not be able to stay neutral as World War II got underway, and urging preparedness. Another frequent topic of his letters to the editor was the presidential election of 1940, arguing against a third term for Franklin D. Roosevelt and in support of Wendell Willkie. Six pieces of correspondence, 1939-1941, include two letters from Harry F. Byrd thanking Shull for his supportive letter published in the Roanoke Times and two from Carter Glass responding to Shull's letters urging aid to the Allies. Miscellaneous papers include an essay Shull wrote on the topic of syphilis, entitled "The Third Great Plague," written in January 1924 while a student at Washington and Lee; notes on the "interviewing method;" two family snapshots; two passports, 1933 and 1937, for Shull that include photographs of both him and his wife, Nellie Wyatt Shull (1911-1998); and Shull's obituary, July 1972. Also included are two notebooks and several looseleaf sheets containing poetry written by Shull.