William A. Taylor Memory Book

Collection

Identifier: MS0378

Staff Only

Content Description

The William A. Taylor Memory Book is a working copy of an album compiled by friends of Dr. William A. Taylor, former chief of the U. S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), and presented to him in 1944. The memory book highlights the personnel and work of the Plant Industry Station in Beltsville, Maryland, in the 1940s. It contains reminiscences, reproductions of congratulatory letters, and photographs. Robert L. Taylor (no relation to William A. Taylor) preserved this working copy. The finished book was presented to Dr. Taylor by Dr. J. R. Magness. It was an edited version of the working copy, containing fewer materials. Robert L. Taylor, photographer for the BPI's Division of Foreign Plant Exploration, Wilfred Mead, photographer for the Division of Information, and P. S. Brown, photographer with the Sugar Plant Investigations unit, took the pictures for the book. Jack Ferrall, an amateur bookbinder, assembled and bound the materials. The book's content was compiled under the direction of Clarence A. Reed.

Dates

Creation: 1944

Conditions Governing Access

Contact Special Collections for access.

Biographical Sketch

William Alton Taylor (1863-1949) was born at Chelsea, Michigan. He earned a bachelor's degree from the Michigan State Agricultural College, and completed his Ph.D. there in 1888. After managing a fruit farm in Douglas, Michigan for three years, Taylor joined the USDA in 1891 as an assistant pomologist. He was appointed assistant chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry in 1910, and by 1913 was promoted to chief of the bureau. Dr. Taylor retired from USDA in 1933, after 42 years of service.