The collection is open for research.
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Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Edward E. Thompson Papers, Ms1990-042, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Edward E. Thompson Papers were donated to Special Collections and University Archives in August 1990.
The processing, description, and arrangement of the Edward E. Thompson Papers commenced and was completed in September, 2024. Minimal description had been completed prior to 2011.
Edward Everett "Tommy" Thompson was born in Lyle, Minnesota, to Theodore Albert Thompson and Alma Marie Ostenson, on August 16, 1911. He graduated from Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine and worked as a field veterinarian for the U. S. Bureau of Animal Industry for two years before establishing a practice in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1936. That same year he married Mary Virginia Morris (1913-2003) in Roanoke; the couple would have three children. During World War II, Thompson served in the Army Veterinary Corps in Texas before being assigned to overseas duty in New Guinea, India, and China, where he was promoted to major. Returning to Virginia after the war, Thompson recommenced private practice and established the Salem Veterinay Hospital. He was instrumental in establishing the Salem Rotary Club in 1949 and served as its president in 1952. He was also active in the Lutheran Church and in the Republican Party. Edward E. Thompson died January 24, 1989, and was buried in Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens, Roanoke.
The Thompsons are the namesakes of the Virginia M. and Edward E. Thompson Award and the Edward E. Thompson Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research, and Public Service at Virginia Tech.
This collection contains the papers of Edward E. Thompson, a veterinarian in Salem, Virginia, and a World War II veteran of the U. S. Army Veterinarian Corps. Included is a daybook from Thompson's veterinary clinic, providing details on transactions (client names, patient conditions and treatments, and charges). The collection also contains notes tracking Thompson's income and expenditures over a 40-year period. The greater part of the collection, however, consists of scrapbooks and photograph albums compiled by Thompson. The scrapbooks focus on Thompson's veterinary career and his civic and personal activities and contain such materials as correspondence, photographs, and ephemera. A secondary focus is Thompson's interest in Republican Party politics. Included are photographs of individuals and letters bearing autopen signatures of such figures as Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Charles Robb, and Nancy Reagan. Also included is a Southwest Virginia Republican Party banquet menu, autographed by Nixon, Linwood Holton, Richard H. Poff, and John Dalton. The collection also contains two photograph albums: one (water-damaged) album focuses on Thompson's military service, beginning with an R.O.T.C. camp at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and continuing through his service in the U. S. Army Veterinarian Corps in China and the South Pacific during World War II; the other album documents Thompson's 1981 trip to China and contains postcards as well as snapshots.
The guide to the Edward E. Thompson Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).
This collection had been accessioned and cataloged and the Edward E. Thompson Memorabilia, but a closer inspection of the contents during processing in 2024 suggested that the Edward E. Thompson Papers would be a more accurate title.