Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech
Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries (0434) 560 Drillfield Drive Newman Library, Virginia Tech Blacksburg, Virginia 24061 Business Number: 540-231-6308 specref@vt.edu URL: http://spec.lib.vt.edu
John M. Jackson, Archivist
Repository
Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech
Identification
Ms.1992.008
Title
Henry Morgan Jacocks Papers 1898-1919
Quantity
2 Cubic Feet, 2 boxes; 2 oversize
Creator
Jacocks, Henry Morgan, 1878-1950
Language
The materials in the collection are in English.
Abstract
This collection contains the papers of Henry Morgan Jacocks, graduate of Virginia Tech (class of 1900), assistant superintendent
at Mathieson Alkali Works (Saltville, Virginia), independent businessman, and Virginia State Highway Department employee.
Correspondence, trade catalogs, instructional booklets, blueprints, and drawings from Jacocks' years at Mathieson Alkali Works.
Also includes a set of drafting standards for the Virginia Bridge and Iron Company and several photographs.
The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University
Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.
Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization
form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition
form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with
forms or to submit a completed form.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open to research.
Preferred Citation
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder],
Henry Morgan Jacocks Papers, Ms1992-008, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
Source of Acquisition
The Henry Morgan Jacocks Papers were donated to Special Collections in 1992.
Four additional photographs were donated in July 2014 by Matthew Kyle Jacocks, great-grandson of Henry Morgan Jacocks, B.S.
Civil Engineering, 2007, M.S. Civil Engineering, emphasis in Construction, 2009.
Processing Information
The processing, arrangement and description of the Henry Morgan Jacocks Papers commenced and was completed in December 2007.
Earlier processing of the collection had been done in 1992. Additional description was completed in July 2017.
Henry Morgan Jacocks, son of Jonathan Henry and Mary Katherine Harrell Jacocks, was born in Durant's Neck, North Carolina
on December 31, 1878. He graduated from Berkeley Military Institute in 1895 before attending Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University. A general science student at Virginia Tech, Jacocks was president of the Thespian and German clubs,
vice-president of the Maury Society and served as literary editor of the Grey Jacket and editor-in-chief of The Bugle . (A younger brother, Jonathan Wilbur Jacocks, also graduated from Virginia Tech in 1900.)
Together with his younger brother Jonathan Wilbur, Jacocks graduated from Virginia Tech in 1900. He was hired by the Mathieson
Alkali Works in Saltville, Virginia as an assistant draftsman. During his 17-year career at Mathieson, Jacocks would eventually
rise to the position of assistant superintendent.
Around 1919, Jacocks moved to Craddock, Virginia, where he worked briefly for the Portsmouth Cotton Oil Refining Company before
establishing H. M. Jacocks and Company. Selling fuel, feed and fertilizer, the business closed in 1933, a victim of the Depression
and a warehouse fire. Following the closure of his business, Jacocks worked for the Virginia State Highway Department before
retiring in 1950. He died in an automobile accident on August 20 of that same year and is buried in Norfolk's Magnolia Cemetery.
This collection contains the papers of Henry Morgan Jacocks (1878-1950), graduate of Virginia Tech (class of 1900) and assistant
superintendent of the Mathieson Alkali Works in Saltville, Virginia. The collection includes correspondence, operation notes,
printed materials, blueprintsm, and photographs.
While Jacocks' papers contain a small selection of correspondence and records pertaining to Mathieson's operation, they largely
consist of trade publications (both promotional and instructional). The catalogs promote steel products as well as various
pieces of machinery and other products. The instructional materials consist of manuals for specific pieces of machinery as
well as general technical publications. Within the collection is also a set of undated drafting standards for the Virginia
Iron and Bridge Company (Roanoke, Virginia).
The papers also include a set of approximately two dozen blueprints and drawings, mostly for parts and machinery to be used
at Mathieson. Except where otherwise noted, the drawings seem to have been completed in-house (a few were drawn by Jacocks
himself). Among the drawings is a 1914 aerial view of Mathieson Alkali Works.
The collection is arranged by document type, then chronologically, with the exception of the printed materials. These are
divided by function, with promotional materials arranged by corporation name and instructional materials arranged in bibliographical
order.