Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish material from the Frank Horsfall, Jr. Papers must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Frank Horsfall, Jr. Papers, Ms1992-040, Special Collections, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Acquisition Information

The Frank Horsfall, Jr. Papers were donated to Special Collections in three accessions, dated 1992 and 1995.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement, and description of the Frank Horsfall, Jr. Papers commenced and was completed in June, 2013.

Biographical Note

Frank Horsfall, Jr., son of Frank and Margaret Atwood Horsfall, was born in Missouri on July 7, 1903. By 1910, he was living with his family in Helena, Oklahoma, and the 1920 census found the family living in Monticello, Arkansas. Horsfall was still living in Monticello when he married Louise Richardson on December 22, 1928, and by 1930, the couple was living in Idabel, Oklahoma, where Horsfall was employed as a public school teacher. He obtained his master's (1932) and Ph.D. (1935) in horticulture at the University of Missouri, and evidence suggests that Horsfall remained at the University of Missouri for several years, working at the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station. He also worked at Northwest Missouri State University and is credited with assembling the collection that would become the nucleus of the university's agriculture museum. Horsfall was hired as a professor of horticulture at Virginia Tech in 1947 and served in that position until retiring in 1973. Frank Horsfall, Jr. died in Roanoke, Virginia on March 21, 1988.

Scope and Content Note

This collection contains the papers of Frank Horsfall, Jr., a professor of horticulture at Virginia Tech from 1947 to 1973. The collection includes materials relating to both Horsfall's professional career and personal interests. In addition to Horsfall's University of Missouri thesis (1932) and dissertation (1935), the collection contains published copies of several horticulture-related articles written by Horsfall. The collection also contains awards received by Horsfall and a file devoted to his retirement, including letters from Virginia Tech President T. Marshall Hahn and Virginia Governor Linwood Holton, as well as the text of a retirement speech delivered by Horsfall. Horsfall's interest in barbed wire is represented by various articles, notes, and letters on the subject, as well as a small collection of barbed wire samples. A folder relating to stone tools, another of Horsfall's interests, includes printed materials and a collection of drawings by Horsfall. The collection is completed by an assortment of newspaper clippings, ephemera, and photographs, which includes Horsfall's Boy Scouts of America membership card, Fort Snelling ROTC Infantry Camp pass, Civil Air Patrol certificate, World War II draft classification, and three photos of an unidentified locomotive.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged by subject matter.

Index Terms

Subjects:

• Faculty
• Horticulture
• Science and Technology
• University Archives
• Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University