Victor E. Thorsell |
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MSS 7 is a small collection of personal papers of Victor E. Thorsell (1879-1969), a building contractor who lived in the same home on the Boise Bench for more than 50 years. Notable items in the collection include photos (mostly in the form of Real photo postcards) of the building of Arrowrock Dam near Boise, 1912-1915, and Victor Thorsell's yearly reading lists, 1938-1962.
Biographical Sketch: Victor E. Thorsell
Victor E. Thorsell was born in Cannon Falls, Minnesota on May 13, 1879. His father John (who retained the Swedish spelling of his last name, Thoorsell) moved the family to St. Paul in 1889, where he worked in the furniture and undertaking business until opening his own funeral home in 1893. Victor, the eldest son, attended school in St. Paul and helped with the family business. Between 1908 and 1913, Victor Thorsell seems to have worked on various U.S. Reclamation Bureau projects in the Midwest and West; the collection contains postcards addressed to him in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, Minatare, Nebraska, and Missoula, Montana, during those years. Exactly what sort of work he did is not clear; however there is a letter in the collection from O.T. Reedy, a Reclamation Bureau engineer, offering him a job in Grand Junction, Colorado, in 1913 as a surveyman, with the potential for promotion to the position of instrument man. Thorsell, however, came to Boise, Idaho, to work on Arrowrock Dam instead, perhaps induced to do so by the presence in nearby Nampa, Idaho, of Helga Lindquist, a friend of his from Minnesota, who was there living with her sister and brother-in-law. Victor and Helga were married in Nampa on November 27, 1913. In 1914 they built a home in a rural neighborhood on the outskirts of Boise, on what was then called Ora Dell Road (now Allumbaugh Street). The home was their residence for more than fifty years, and they witnessed the transition of the rural neighborhood into a busy suburban one, now part of Boise proper. A man with a practical bent, Victor Thorsell worked as a carpenter, pipefitter, and as a building contractor in the Boise area. According to his obituary, he worked on the construction of Black Canyon Dam, near Emmett, Idaho, in the 1920s. He was also active in the management of his neighborhood's water users association (managing irrigation). Beginning in 1938 he kept a year-by-year list of the library books he read. The Thorsells had no children but were close to Helga's relatives in Idaho. Helga Thorsell died in a nursing home in 1966; Victor died in his home on Allumbaugh Street on February 21, 1969.
The Collection
Boise State University (then Boise State College) was a beneficiary of Victor Thorsell's estate, and his papers came to the university not long after his death. It is a small collection consisting of one box of papers, one box of photos, and one box of building trade catalogs and manuals. The papers are scattered in nature, touching on various aspects of his life but not documenting any of those activities in much detail. Perhaps the most revealing file contains the handwritten lists of library books he read (Box 1, Folder 7). His choices were eclectic. Among the more than 200 titles on the lists are the practical (The Fluorescent Lighting Manual, in 1942), the scientific (Explaining the Atom, 1948), the historical (Mr. Lincoln's Admirals, 1957), and the biographical (Malone's Jefferson the Virginian, 1948), but books on contemporary political, social, and economic issues seem to predominate: Seven Kinds of Inflation (1938), Why Meddle in Europe? (1940), The Vital Center (1950), and Two Thirds of a Nation (1953), among them. He checked out books on Sweden and on psychological and religious issues (Jung's Psychology and Religion in 1939; Fromm's Psychoanalysis and Religion in 1951). He read two books by John F. Kennedy in 1959, While England Slept and Profiles in Courage. He did not record which library the books came from, but more than likely they were from the old Carnegie library in downtown Boise. Among the photos in the collection is one of Thorsell reading (Photo 004).
Other notable items are approximately 30 photos (Real photo postcards) showing the progress of the building of Arrowrock Dam on the Boise River, which at the time was the tallest dam in the world. Thorsell worked on that project during his first years in Idaho. There are scattered papers from his local water users association, revealing occasional glimpses of the internal politics of the Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District as well as the practical concerns of his local lateral's water users association. A similar small file of papers exist on the Cole School District which served his neighborhood. There are scattered pieces of correspondence and some family newspaper clippings and photos. As he aged, Thorsell began collecting clippings about centenarians , including Anton Gordon, a Boise man who lived to be 111 years old (1848-1959).
Rounding out the collection are approximately thirty-five building trade catalogs and manuals from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, plus a 1922 manual for Ford cars and trucks.
Collection number: MSS 7
Inclusive dates: 1908-1969
Size of collection: ca. 1 ft.
Processed by: Mary Carter, 2002, and Alan Virta, 2011
Victor E. Thorsell Papers: Box and Folder List
Box 1: Personal papers
Folder 1 Hand-written will, 1923, and Obituary, 1969
Folder 2 Fiftieth wedding anniversary announcement, 1963
Folder 3 Helga E. Thorsell funeral card, 1966
Folder 4 Family clippings: Thoorsell and Sons funeral home history, 1923
Folder 5 Family clippings: Turner anniversary, 1946 (Helga Thorsell's sister)
Folder 6 Family clippings: Lindquist anniversary, 1951 (Helga Thorsell's brother)
Folder 7 Victor Thorsell's yearly lists of books read, 1932-1962
Folder 8 Swedish names (lists)
Folder 9 Correspondence: Postcards received, 1908-1910
Folder 10 Correspondence: Postcards received, 1912
Folder 11 Correspondence: Postcards received, 1913
Folder 12 Correspondence: Postcards received, 1914
Folder 13 Correspondence: Postcards received, 1916?-1919
Folder 14 Correspondence: Letter to Winifred Turner (niece)
Folder 15 Correspondence: Letter from O.T. Reedy, 1913
Folder 16 Correspondence: Letters from F.D. Lindquist, 1921-1922
Folder 17 Correspondence: Boise State College (Dwane Kern), 1968
Folder 18 Correspondence: Address book
Folder 19 Financial records: Bank pass books, 1912-1969
Folder 20 Financial records: Miscellaneous, 1962-1969
Folder 21 Financial records: Thorsell estate, Boise State College (Dwane Kern), 1969
Folder 22 Thorsell home: Construction costs and plans; materials lists, 1914
Folder 23 Ora Dell Road (later Allumbaugh Street): historical note
Folder 24 Cole School district: miscellaneous papers
Folder 25 Irrigation: Rust Lateral Water Users Association papers, 1921-1948
Folder 26 Irrigation: Elderado Water Users Assocation papers, 1951-1956
Folder 27 Irrigation: Rust Lateral maps
Folder 28 Irrigation: Rust Lateral water schedules, 1951-1956
Folder 29 Irrigation: Manuals (USDA Farmers Bulletins 813 and 1683), 1917, 1932
Folder 30 Clippings: Boise Bench news and residents
Folder 31 Clippings: Anton Gordon
Folder 32 Clippings: Centenarians
Folder 33 Clippings: Judge Chase A. Clark, 1965
Folder 34 Clippings: Red Wing, Minnesota (Helga Thorsell's home town)
Folder 35 Main Line for Boise (railroad brochure), 1922
Folder 36 Specifications for water heating plant...for A.F. Montandon
Box 2: Photographs
Photos 001-007 Victor E. Thorsell (see also Photo 201, below)
Photos 008-011 Family photos (?)
Photos 012-016 Color snapshots (Thorsell in 012 and 013)
Photos 017-023 O.T. Reedy family
Most of the photos below are in the form of Real photo postcards and date from the early 20th century. Photos 201-205 are larger.
Photos 025-025 Idaho State Capitol
Photos 026-027 Barber Dam, Boise
Photos 028-031 Black Canyon Dam, Emmett, Idaho (see also Photo 205, below)
Photos 032 Diversion Dam, Boise
Photos 033 Bethany Presbyterian Church
Photos 034-037 Mining and dredging scenes near Idaho City, Idaho
Photos 038-041 Table Rock, Boise
Photos 042-044 Idaho scenes, including Yeager's Ranch
Photos 045-075 Arrowrock Dam (1912-1915) (see also Photos 202-204, below)
Photo 076 Barn Bluff, Red Wing, Minnesota
Photos 077-078 Cannon Falls Dam, Cannon Falls, Minnesota
Photos 079-087 Montana scenes
Photo 088-090 Pathfinder Dam construction, Wyoming
Photo 091 Head gate, Whalen, Wyoming
Photo 092 Iron mines, Sunrise, Wyo.
Photos 092-099 Unidentified dam and construction scenes
Photos 100-101 Unidentified photos
Photos 102-105 Miscellaneous commercial postcards
Photos 106-107 Grand Coulee dam
Photo 201 Victor and Helga Thorsell
Photos 202-204 Arrowrock Dam
Photo 205 Black Canyon Dam, Emmett, Idaho (clipping)
Box 3: Building trade catalogs and manuals, 1920s-1940s
Better Buildings, 10th ed (American Sheet and Tin Plate Company), no date
Better Buildings, 11th ed (American Sheet and Tin Plate Company), no date
Building Ideas, Boise Payette Lumber Company, 1916
Certigrade Handbook of Red Cedar Shingles, 1940
Choosing the Garage, no date
Concrete Improvements Arund the Home, no date
Concrete on the Farm, 1919
The Disston Saw, Tool & File Book, 1925
The End of Rust Troubles--Brass Pipe, no date
File Facts, Simonds, 1927
Ford Manual, 1922
Gilbert & Barker Gasoline and Oil Storage Systems, Catalog No. 5, no date
Hacksaw-ology, no date
Heatilator Plan Book of Modern Fireplaces, 1929
Heatilator, The Fireplace that Circulates Heat, 1934
Heating and Air Conditioning the Postwar Home, 1946
High-Early-Strength Concrete, no date
High-Early-Strength Concrete for Roads, Streets, and Bridges, 1928
Hollow Tile for the Home, 1920
The Home Garage of Concrete Masonry, no date
House Framing Details, 1929
Instruction Book for Ward's Windsor Pipe Furnace, 1928
A Lifetime of Winter Comfort and Health (Nesbit Moist Heat), 1928
Maximum Spans for Joists and Rafters, 1930
The Modern Garage of Hollow Building Tile, 1920?
Pacific Northwest Millwork Catalogue, No. 4, 1927
Painting: Repairs and Utilities (U.S. War Dept. Technical Manual), 1946
Pipe and Fittings, no date
Public Address System, no date
A Real Home: Suggestions to Home Builders (Copper and Brass Research Association), 1929
Southern Pine: The Supreme Structural Wood of the World, 1927
St. Paul Foundry Company, Bulletin D, no date
Steel Carpenters' Squares (Eagle Square), no date
The Story of Oak Floors, 1928
West Coast Woods, 1928
Western Electric Public Address Systems, 1929
Westinghouse Nofuze Load Centers, no date
Boise State College plaque in memory of Victor E. Thorsell (also in Box 3)