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Papers of Virgil Payne

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Held at: Science History Institute Archives [Contact Us]315 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Science History Institute Archives. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Call Number:
003
Repository:
Science History Institute Archives
Extent:
3.5 linear feet (8 boxes)
Preferred Citation:
Virgil Payne Papers, Science History Institute Archives Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Date:
1946-1956 (bulk) and 1927-1960 (inclusive)
Creator:
Payne, Virgil Francis, 1893-
Form:
Archival materials
Abstract:
The Papers of Virgil Payne contain correspondence, research files and finished papers chiefly concerned with the life and career of Robert Peter, a professor of chemistry, and his circle of friends, all of them active in antebellum Kentucky.

Virgil Francis Payne was born on January 23, 1893 near Fulton, MO. He studied at Westminster College (MO), the University of Missouri, University of Chicago and received his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in 1931. From 1923 to 1941, Payne was Head of the Chemistry Department at Transylvania College in Kentucky. While at Transylvania he became acquainted with the letters and papers of Dr. Robert Peter (1805-1894) who had taught Chemistry there in early in 19th century and much of Payne's subsequent historical research concerned itself with Peter and members of his circle. From 1941 to 1957 Payne was employed by the U.S. Signal Corps at their Ft. Monmouth, NJ laboratories. Upon retirement from the Signal Corps he returned to his first love, teaching, teaching at Monmouth Community College. Payne wrote extensively on Robert Peter and other important figures in ante-bellum Kentucky. He was also active in the ACS Division on the History of Chemistry, serving as Chairman in 1960-1961.

These are research files for a series of papers that Payne presented on the teaching of Chemistry in the U.S. prior to the Civil War. Much of the material deals with Transylvania College in Kentucky. The collection is divided into materials relating to the history of chemistry and a smaller cache of materials relating to Payne's work with the U.S. Signal Corps. The larger portion of the historical material concerns Robert Peter. There were photographs in the collection, but these have been separated out.

Method of acquisition--gift;; Date of acquisition--1983..

People
Organization
Subject

Publisher
Science History Institute Archives
Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Collection Inventory

Biographical Materials (incl. List of Published Papers and a Signal Corps "Restricted" report on battery failures in the South Pacific), 1937-1957.
Box 1 Folder 1
Speaking Engagements and Lecture Notes, 1931-1960.
Box 1 Folder 2
A.C.S. Division of the History of Chemistry—handwritten Membership List and notes, undated.
Box 1 Folder 3
Transylvania University—Photostats of a diploma and newspaper articles from early 19th century about T.U., undated.
Box 1 Folder 4
The Filson Club—correspondence regarding Payne's articles on Dr. Samuel Brown, 1950-1953.
Box 1 Folder 5

"Letters to Robert Peter"—corres. and notes, 1941.
Box 1 Folder 6
"Letters to Robert Peter from (1) E.W. and J.E. Hilgard and (2) J.W. Mallett"—corres., notes, Photostats, 1941.
Box 1 Folder 7
"Letters to Robert Peter from (1) J.L. Smith and (2) B. Silliman and B. Silliman, Jr.—typed copies of original corres., notes, abstract of paper, 1941.
Box 1 Folder 8
"A Letter to Robert Peter from Eben Norton Horsford", 1946.
Box 2 Folder 1
"Letters to Robert Peter from Leo Lesquerieux"—corres., abstract, notes, Photostats of original corres., 1946.
Box 2 Folder 2
"A Letter to Robert Peter from the Rumford Chemical Works and Peter's Reply"—corres., abstract, Photostats of original corres., notes, 1946-1956.
Box 2 Folder 3
"Robert Peter: Analytical Chemist in Berzelius' Time"—corres., abstract, negatives of original documentation, notes, 1947-1948.
Box 2 Folder 4
"Letters to Robert Peter as Chemical Consultant"—corres., abstract, Photostats of original corres., notes, 1947-1948.
Box 2 Folder 5
"A Letter to Robert Peter from Joseph Henry"—corres., abstract, notes, photostats of original corres., 1947.
Box 2 Folder 6
"A Letter from Robert Peter to John Leonard Riddell"—corres., abstract, Photostats of original corres., notes, one reprint, 1948.
Box 2 Folder 7
"Chemical and Apparatus Purchases of Robert Peter"—corres. and notes, 1949.
Box 2 Folder 8
"A Letter from Robert Peter to Francis Preston Blair and John Cook Rives"—corres. and notes, 1950.
Box 3 Folder 1
"A Letter from Dr. Robert Peter to Editor Luther Tucker"—corres., abstract, Photostats of original corres., notes, 1950.
Box 3 Folder 2
"Letters to Robert Peter from Amos Eaton and Fay Edgerton"—corres., abstract, Photostats of original corres., notes, 1954.
Box 3 Folder 3
"Robert Peter's Notes on Lectures of Amos Eaton"—abstract, transcripts of original documents, undated.
Box 3 Folder 4
Poems by Robert Peter, Jr.—typescript of 16 poems written between 1826 and 1829, undated.
Box 3 Folder 5
"Letters to Robert Peter", 1941.
Box 3 Folder 6a
"Letters to Robert Peter III. From Eugene Woldemar Hilgard and Julius Erasmus Hilgard & IV. From John William Mallett", 1941.
Box 3 Folder 6a
"A Letter to Robert Peter from Eben Norton Horsford", 1946.
Box 3 Folder 6a
"Letters to Robert Peter from Leo Lesququereux", 1946.
Box 3 Folder 6a
"A Letter to Robert Peter from Joseph Henry", 1947.
Box 3 Folder 6a
"Letters to Robert Peter as Chemical Consultant", 1948.
Box 3 Folder 6b
"A Letter to Robert Peter from John Leonard Riddell", 1948.
Box 3 Folder 6b
"Letters to Robert Peter as Toxicologist", 1949.
Box 3 Folder 6b
"Chemical and Apparatus Purchases of Robert Peter", 1949.
Box 3 Folder 6b
"A Letter from Dr. Robert Peter to Francis Preston Blair and John Cook Rives", 1950.
Box 3 Folder 6b
"A Letter from Robert Peter to Editor Luther Tucker", 1950.
Box 3 Folder 6b
"Robert Peter—Teacher", 1951.
Box 3 Folder 6b
Four Pamphlets by Robert Peter, 1835, 1838, 1843.
Box 4

"Amos Eaton Fay Edgerton"—corres. and Photostats, 1942.
Box 5 Folder 1
Dr. Samuel Brown—correspondence about and general information file, 1945.
Box 5 Folder 2
"The Writings of Samuel Brown (1769-1830) and Samuel Brown (1768-1805)"—corres., abstract, Photostats of original documentation, notes, 1951-1954, 1957.
Box 5 Folder 3
"Some Portraits of Dr. Samuel Brown"—correspondence and notes, 1951-1953.
Box 5 Folder 4
"Dr. Samuel Brown in Lexington, Kentucky from 1797 to 1806"— abstract and ms. of abstract, 1952.
Box 5 Folder 5
"Dr. Samuel Brown at Transylvania University from 1819 to 1825"— corres., abstract, Photostats of original corres., notes, 1952.
Box 5 Folder 6
"James Blythe (1765-1847), Chemistry Teacher"—corres., abstract, Photostats of original documentation, notes, 1952-1957.
Box 6 Folder 1
"Benjamin Rush, Thomas Duche Mitchell and the Temperance Movement"—corres., abstract, Photostats of original documentation, notes, 1953, 1955-1957.
Box 6 Folder 2
"Lunsford Pitts Yandell (1805-1878)"—corres., abstract, Photostats of original documentation, notes, 1954-1955.
Box 6 Folder 3
"Robert Best"—abstract only, 1955.
Box 6 Folder 4
"Thomas Duche Mitchell (1791-1865)"—corres., abstract, Photostats of original documentation, notes, 1956-1957.
Box 6 Folder 5
"Amos Eaton's Contribution of Hezekiah H. Eaton and Robert Peter to Kentucky"—abstract, 1957.
Box 6 Folder 6
"The Holy Grail of Chemistry", 1927.
Box 6 Folder 7
"Chemistry and Life", 1927.
Box 6 Folder 7
"The Lecture—Demonstration and Individual Laboratory Methods Compared", 1932.
Box 6 Folder 7
"A Solution of Some of the Difficulties of Balancing Electronic Transfer Equations", 1937.
Box 6 Folder 7
"A Plan for the Correlation of High School and College Chemistry", 1938.
Box 6 Folder 7
"The Writings of Samuel Brown (1769-1830) and Samuel Brown (1768-1805)", 1953.
Box 6 Folder 7
"Chemists and Chemistry in the Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories", 1955.
Box 6 Folder 7
"Thomas Duche Mitchell (1791-1865); The sense of Taste in Chemistry", undated.
Box 6 Folder 7
Photocopy of Mitchell's "Medicinal Chemistry", undated.
Box 6 Folder 7
"Letters to Robert Peter V, from Amos Eaton and Fay Edgerton", undated.
Box 6 Folder 7
Notes on index cards prepared by Payne for various talks, undated.
Box 6 Folder 7
Letters from A.E. Marshall, President, Rumford Chemical Works to VP discussing early photography and, in particular a copy of a daguerreotype of Robert Peter, 1947.
Reference Requests, 1949-1957.
Box 6 Folder 9
"Dr. Alfred Meredith Peter" (son of Robert Peter)—abstract and original documentation, 1927-1928.
Box 6 Folder 10
Letter from D.D. Owen to Robert Peter—typescript of a 1859 letter, undated.
Box 6 Folder 11

"Substitutes for Shawnigan Black in Dry Batteries"—corres, abstract, 1944.
Box 7 Folder 1
"Signal Corps Research Contracts Directed Toward Corrosion Prevention"—abstract, 1946-1947.
Box 7 Folder 2
"The Photovoltaic Effect"—abstract only, 1947.
Box 7 Folder 3
"Attitudes Toward Beverage Alcohol"—corres., abstract, Photostats of original documentation, notes, 1950-1954.
Box 7 Folder 4
"Attitudes Toward Beverage alcohol"—abstract, 1951.
Box 7 Folder 5
Research Material on Alcoholism-1—corres., documentation, 1951-1953.
Box 7 Folder 6
Research on Alcoholism-2—documentation, 1957-1960.
Box 7 Folder 7
"Chemists and Chemistry in the Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories"—corres., abstract, documentation and notes, 1956.
Box 7 Folder 8
Gimbels Stamps ("Chemistry on Stamps")—corres., abstract, notes, 1957-1960.
Box 7 Folder 9
"A Plan for the Correlation of High School and College Chemistry" and "Aspects of Chemistry"—mss. and notes, undated.
Box 7 Folder 10

Photocopy of 1819 Edition of Medicinal Chemistry by T.D. Mitchell, undated.
Box 8
Index cards with speaker's notes for various lectures, undated.
Box 8

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