H.L. Bolley Collection
Collection
Identifier: UA 0260
Scope and Contents
The H.L. Bolley collection is organized into three series that offer glimpses of various aspects of Bolley's life. The Awards and Degrees Series showcases accolades from Purdue University, North Dakota Agricultural College, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, along with fraternity materials. In the Personal Belongings Series, items such as passports, personal diaries, and Fargo Depot Plaza Donation Certificates provide insights into Bolley's personal life. The Correspondence Series spans different periods, including mixed correspondence from 1889 to 1939 and a notable letter from Don Bolley to Whitney Eastman in 1967. The Newspaper Series features publications and clippings related to H.L. Bolley, while the Photograph Series captures moments from various stages of Bolley's life. The Artifact Series, found in Boxes 2 and 3, includes intriguing items such as a magnifying glass, a small microscope with a glass slide of butterfly wing debris, an unknown botany tool, a commemorative plaque from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, a framed and sealed sample of a common barberry bush, wooden dumbbells, and H.L. Bolley's business card.
Dates
- Majority of material found within 1890 - 1970
Access
The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the NDSU Archives.
Conditions Governing Use
The NDSU Archives owns the copyright to the files in this collection.
Biography
Henry Luke Bolley was born on February 1, 1865, in Manchester, Indiana, the youngest of twelve children of John B. Bolley and Mary Broad Bolley. He attended Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1888. He served as an assistant botanist at the Indiana Experiment Station and earned a Master of Science degree from Purdue in 1889.
In the summer of 1890, the Board of Administration, on the recommendation of the newly selected president of the North Dakota Agricultural College [NDAC], Dr. Horace E. Stockbridge, asked Bolley to join the fledgling college as a professor of botany and zoology and as the botanist of the North Dakota Agricultural Station. Bolley accepted and officially began working at NDAC on October 15, 1890, to join the first faculty.
During his first winter at Fargo, Bolley made the first pure cultures of the fungus Oospora scabies, which caused potato scab. In the spring of 1891, the first field plantings of treated scabby seed were made. The results were successful and led to the publication of "Potato Scab and Possibilities of Prevention." The corrosive sublimate treatment for potato scab became known worldwide. It was also during that first year at the college that Bolley began to study the disease that was destroying the flax crop. Bolley described it as "flax wilt." He also began work on smut in wheat, oats, and barley.
Plant diseases were not Bolley's only interest. Human sanitation was also very important to him. From 1890 to 1896, Bolley published many bacteriological papers dealing with the purity of water supplies, milk, and other farm products. In 1897, Professor Bolley published a serum method of diagnosing typhoid fever in the Journal of Comparative Medicine and Veterinary Science.
H.L. Bolley's love of nature, sports, and the outdoors led to an early interest in hunting, fishing, baseball, and football. While at Purdue, Bolley developed a keen interest in football, which was a very new sport at the time. He helped organize the first team at Purdue. In 1890, he organized a team at the North Dakota Agricultural College and challenged the University of North Dakota team to two games in 1893. Bolley coached the team for several years and remained interested in it even after regular coaches were hired. The competition between the two schools continues today and is one of the longest-running rivalries in college athletics.
It was during these early years at the college that Bolley met Frances Barnett Sheldon, daughter of Alfred Sheldon of Janesville, Wisconsin. After graduating with a degree in Greek Studies from Oberlin College, she was hired as a lady principal at Fargo College in 1893. Shortly after arriving in Fargo, she met Professor Bolley, and they married on September 23, 1896. The Bolleys had two children, Don and Ann.
Mrs. Bolley was very active in educational and civic functions. She served on the board of the public library, board of education, board of directors of the Florence Crittenton home, and the community chest. Mrs. Bolley was particularly active in the Fine Arts Club of Fargo. She joined the club at the time of its organization and served as chairwoman of the program committee for many years. In 1924, she was elected President of the club and twice re-elected. During her tenure as president, the club grew and progressed. In 1926 she organized the history section of which she served as chairwoman for many years. Also of vital interest to the club was her suggestion that the club incorporate to place it on a sound financial basis. This led to the acquisition of a club house for women in Fargo. She later served as a member of the executive board of the club.
Professor Bolley was a firm believer in the principle of survival of the fittest. After coming to North Dakota, he became convinced that the so-called flax-sick land was not sick in the sense that it was overcropped, but due to a parasitic disease in the soil. Bolley believed that the way to control the disease was to develop resistant plants through breeding. He arranged with the agricultural department of the H.L. Bolley Papers to turn over an area of land which could be made flax-sick. The area was called "Plot 30", and Bolley immediately began testing his theory. Bolley soon discovered that even on the most wilt-ridden areas of lands some scraggly plants survived. After a careful process of selection and continuous cropping on the same flax-sick lands, Bolley and his assistants were able to develop varieties that could survive. After nearly nine years of investigations, Bolley proved the land had not lost its fertility but was infected by seed-born germs of the fungus known as Fusarium lini. In 1901, he published Bulletin 50, describing the fungus as the cause of flax wilt. As a result of his pioneering work, the North Dakota Agricultural College and the United States Department of Agriculture jointly funded a trip to allow Bolley to survey flax cropping in Europe. He spent the summer of 1903 in the chief flax growing areas of Holland, Belgium, Northern Germany, and Russia, observing the crops and obtaining samples. It was in Russia that Bolley met Dr. Arthur Jaczewski, one of the most important plant pathologists in Europe. Dr. Jaczewski directed Bolley to the oldest areas of flax production in Russia, where he gathered seeds from the few plants that survived. These lots of seed were planted on flax-sick soil, where many of the selections produced a considerable number of plants that survived. Bulletin 55, along with other publications published in 1905, demonstrated the possibility of procuring wilt-resistant varieties through breeding and selection. After ten or twelve years of persistent effort, Plot 30 began to produce an almost perfect flax crop. Due largely to his efforts, North Dakota became a major flax-producing state.
Professor Bolley also made extensive studies of rusts and smuts of cereal grains. In 1893, he proposed the formaldehyde method of seed disinfection for the prevention of oat smut. By observation and trial, he quickly discovered that this treatment could be applied to practically all kinds of seed. In 1899, he published his results in Bulletin 27. The treatment became very popular and saved farmers many thousands of dollars from losses due to diseased seed. Flax, potatoes, and oats were not the only crops suffering from disease when Bolley arrived in North Dakota. Wheat was suffering from black stem rust, and he applied the tactics of "selective breeding" once again. In 1896, he planted wheat among rows of barberry bushes which contained rust spores. The results were very destructive. Only certain varieties of red durum and one variety of bread wheat, which were brought from Russia in 1903, survived. The destruction from the barberry bushes emphasized the importance of breeding and selecting cereals for rust resistance. It also brought about the enactment of the first state law authorizing the destruction of barberry bushes on public and private properties in 1916. Because of his extended experience in seed studies, he began advocating a pure seed law and pure seed laboratory early in his career. Farmers particularly wanted reliable germination tests for their seeds to determine if the seeds were suitable for crop use. As Dean of the Department of Botany and Biology, Bolley and his assistants were the most reliable people to undertake such testing. In 1907, Bolley began campaigning for a pure seed law, and in 1909, the State Legislature passed the law as it was written by Bolley himself. He served as State Seed Commissioner from 1909 to 1929. During this time, the Pure Seed Laboratory determined varieties, authorized field and bin inspections, and issued tags certifying seed for sale. The sale of certified potatoes and seed stock in the United States and in foreign countries became one of the state's leading industries.
Bolley was one of the earliest experimenters in the eradication of weeds in cereal grain fields by means of chemical sprays. Although some chemicals were already used to kill weeds and grasses, Bolley believed the Experiment Station should investigate whether chemicals of sufficient strength could destroy the weeds but not injure cereal grains and beneficial grasses. He believed a traction sprayer could be driven over the fields to destroy the weeds. Experiments initiated in 1896 were so successful that many states and European countries quickly began spraying for weeds to increase production. Bolley also corresponded with many manufacturers to help them develop suitable machinery to undertake the work.
Professor Bolley's discoveries were not always pleasing to everyone. His discovery of flax-sick and wheat-sick soils angered the land speculators and railroads who were making large sums of money off new farmers. To protect their interests, a group of bankers and businessmen formed the Better Farming Association to counteract Bolley, and others, at the Agricultural College. In 1913, Thomas Cooper, Directory of the Better Farming Association, joined the Agricultural College and was given control of the experiment station and extension division. Bolley was quickly locked out of his laboratories and relieved of research money. He was charged with unscientific conduct and investigated by a faculty committee in 1916. He continually fought and denied all charges until he was finally exonerated.
After being relieved as State Seed Commissioner in 1929, Bolley was granted a leave of absence in 1930 to study flax cropping in Argentina. Bolley was accompanied by Mrs. Bolley and their daughter Ann. Tragedy struck the Bolley family while visiting a museum in Buenos Aires. Mrs. Bolley suffered two paralytic strokes on August 13 and 16, and died on August 19, 1930. Bolley and daughter Ann returned with the body. Mrs. Bolley was interred in the mausoleum at Riverside Cemetery in Fargo. In 1931, Bolley returned to Argentina and obtained new samples of flax to continue his studies. His observations of the Argentine trip were published in Bulletin 253 in 1932. Upon his return to America, Bolley married Emily Knight Sheldon on August 1, 1931, daughter of Godfrey Knight and sister-in-law of Frances Sheldon. Emily had two daughters, Lorissa and Therese (Mrs. J.W. Ansenberger). The second Mrs. Bolley died on March 8, 1944.
Professor Bolley continued teaching and conducting research until his retirement in 1945. In recognition of years of research and service, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Purdue University in 1938, and a Doctor of Science degree from the North Dakota Agricultural College in 1939. Henry Luke Bolley died on November 10, 1956, at the age of 91. He was interred at the Riverside Cemetery mausoleum near his first wife Frances. Bolley was a member of numerous organizations, including the American Botanical Society, Indiana Academy of Science, North Dakota Academy of Science, Honorary member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society of Agronomy, American Society of Phytopathology, Fargo Commons Club, 32nd Degree Mason, American Association for the Promotion of Agricultural Science, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was a contributor to the Journal of the American Society of Agronomy, the American Journal of Botany, and various other scientific and agricultural publications.
In the summer of 1890, the Board of Administration, on the recommendation of the newly selected president of the North Dakota Agricultural College [NDAC], Dr. Horace E. Stockbridge, asked Bolley to join the fledgling college as a professor of botany and zoology and as the botanist of the North Dakota Agricultural Station. Bolley accepted and officially began working at NDAC on October 15, 1890, to join the first faculty.
During his first winter at Fargo, Bolley made the first pure cultures of the fungus Oospora scabies, which caused potato scab. In the spring of 1891, the first field plantings of treated scabby seed were made. The results were successful and led to the publication of "Potato Scab and Possibilities of Prevention." The corrosive sublimate treatment for potato scab became known worldwide. It was also during that first year at the college that Bolley began to study the disease that was destroying the flax crop. Bolley described it as "flax wilt." He also began work on smut in wheat, oats, and barley.
Plant diseases were not Bolley's only interest. Human sanitation was also very important to him. From 1890 to 1896, Bolley published many bacteriological papers dealing with the purity of water supplies, milk, and other farm products. In 1897, Professor Bolley published a serum method of diagnosing typhoid fever in the Journal of Comparative Medicine and Veterinary Science.
H.L. Bolley's love of nature, sports, and the outdoors led to an early interest in hunting, fishing, baseball, and football. While at Purdue, Bolley developed a keen interest in football, which was a very new sport at the time. He helped organize the first team at Purdue. In 1890, he organized a team at the North Dakota Agricultural College and challenged the University of North Dakota team to two games in 1893. Bolley coached the team for several years and remained interested in it even after regular coaches were hired. The competition between the two schools continues today and is one of the longest-running rivalries in college athletics.
It was during these early years at the college that Bolley met Frances Barnett Sheldon, daughter of Alfred Sheldon of Janesville, Wisconsin. After graduating with a degree in Greek Studies from Oberlin College, she was hired as a lady principal at Fargo College in 1893. Shortly after arriving in Fargo, she met Professor Bolley, and they married on September 23, 1896. The Bolleys had two children, Don and Ann.
Mrs. Bolley was very active in educational and civic functions. She served on the board of the public library, board of education, board of directors of the Florence Crittenton home, and the community chest. Mrs. Bolley was particularly active in the Fine Arts Club of Fargo. She joined the club at the time of its organization and served as chairwoman of the program committee for many years. In 1924, she was elected President of the club and twice re-elected. During her tenure as president, the club grew and progressed. In 1926 she organized the history section of which she served as chairwoman for many years. Also of vital interest to the club was her suggestion that the club incorporate to place it on a sound financial basis. This led to the acquisition of a club house for women in Fargo. She later served as a member of the executive board of the club.
Professor Bolley was a firm believer in the principle of survival of the fittest. After coming to North Dakota, he became convinced that the so-called flax-sick land was not sick in the sense that it was overcropped, but due to a parasitic disease in the soil. Bolley believed that the way to control the disease was to develop resistant plants through breeding. He arranged with the agricultural department of the H.L. Bolley Papers to turn over an area of land which could be made flax-sick. The area was called "Plot 30", and Bolley immediately began testing his theory. Bolley soon discovered that even on the most wilt-ridden areas of lands some scraggly plants survived. After a careful process of selection and continuous cropping on the same flax-sick lands, Bolley and his assistants were able to develop varieties that could survive. After nearly nine years of investigations, Bolley proved the land had not lost its fertility but was infected by seed-born germs of the fungus known as Fusarium lini. In 1901, he published Bulletin 50, describing the fungus as the cause of flax wilt. As a result of his pioneering work, the North Dakota Agricultural College and the United States Department of Agriculture jointly funded a trip to allow Bolley to survey flax cropping in Europe. He spent the summer of 1903 in the chief flax growing areas of Holland, Belgium, Northern Germany, and Russia, observing the crops and obtaining samples. It was in Russia that Bolley met Dr. Arthur Jaczewski, one of the most important plant pathologists in Europe. Dr. Jaczewski directed Bolley to the oldest areas of flax production in Russia, where he gathered seeds from the few plants that survived. These lots of seed were planted on flax-sick soil, where many of the selections produced a considerable number of plants that survived. Bulletin 55, along with other publications published in 1905, demonstrated the possibility of procuring wilt-resistant varieties through breeding and selection. After ten or twelve years of persistent effort, Plot 30 began to produce an almost perfect flax crop. Due largely to his efforts, North Dakota became a major flax-producing state.
Professor Bolley also made extensive studies of rusts and smuts of cereal grains. In 1893, he proposed the formaldehyde method of seed disinfection for the prevention of oat smut. By observation and trial, he quickly discovered that this treatment could be applied to practically all kinds of seed. In 1899, he published his results in Bulletin 27. The treatment became very popular and saved farmers many thousands of dollars from losses due to diseased seed. Flax, potatoes, and oats were not the only crops suffering from disease when Bolley arrived in North Dakota. Wheat was suffering from black stem rust, and he applied the tactics of "selective breeding" once again. In 1896, he planted wheat among rows of barberry bushes which contained rust spores. The results were very destructive. Only certain varieties of red durum and one variety of bread wheat, which were brought from Russia in 1903, survived. The destruction from the barberry bushes emphasized the importance of breeding and selecting cereals for rust resistance. It also brought about the enactment of the first state law authorizing the destruction of barberry bushes on public and private properties in 1916. Because of his extended experience in seed studies, he began advocating a pure seed law and pure seed laboratory early in his career. Farmers particularly wanted reliable germination tests for their seeds to determine if the seeds were suitable for crop use. As Dean of the Department of Botany and Biology, Bolley and his assistants were the most reliable people to undertake such testing. In 1907, Bolley began campaigning for a pure seed law, and in 1909, the State Legislature passed the law as it was written by Bolley himself. He served as State Seed Commissioner from 1909 to 1929. During this time, the Pure Seed Laboratory determined varieties, authorized field and bin inspections, and issued tags certifying seed for sale. The sale of certified potatoes and seed stock in the United States and in foreign countries became one of the state's leading industries.
Bolley was one of the earliest experimenters in the eradication of weeds in cereal grain fields by means of chemical sprays. Although some chemicals were already used to kill weeds and grasses, Bolley believed the Experiment Station should investigate whether chemicals of sufficient strength could destroy the weeds but not injure cereal grains and beneficial grasses. He believed a traction sprayer could be driven over the fields to destroy the weeds. Experiments initiated in 1896 were so successful that many states and European countries quickly began spraying for weeds to increase production. Bolley also corresponded with many manufacturers to help them develop suitable machinery to undertake the work.
Professor Bolley's discoveries were not always pleasing to everyone. His discovery of flax-sick and wheat-sick soils angered the land speculators and railroads who were making large sums of money off new farmers. To protect their interests, a group of bankers and businessmen formed the Better Farming Association to counteract Bolley, and others, at the Agricultural College. In 1913, Thomas Cooper, Directory of the Better Farming Association, joined the Agricultural College and was given control of the experiment station and extension division. Bolley was quickly locked out of his laboratories and relieved of research money. He was charged with unscientific conduct and investigated by a faculty committee in 1916. He continually fought and denied all charges until he was finally exonerated.
After being relieved as State Seed Commissioner in 1929, Bolley was granted a leave of absence in 1930 to study flax cropping in Argentina. Bolley was accompanied by Mrs. Bolley and their daughter Ann. Tragedy struck the Bolley family while visiting a museum in Buenos Aires. Mrs. Bolley suffered two paralytic strokes on August 13 and 16, and died on August 19, 1930. Bolley and daughter Ann returned with the body. Mrs. Bolley was interred in the mausoleum at Riverside Cemetery in Fargo. In 1931, Bolley returned to Argentina and obtained new samples of flax to continue his studies. His observations of the Argentine trip were published in Bulletin 253 in 1932. Upon his return to America, Bolley married Emily Knight Sheldon on August 1, 1931, daughter of Godfrey Knight and sister-in-law of Frances Sheldon. Emily had two daughters, Lorissa and Therese (Mrs. J.W. Ansenberger). The second Mrs. Bolley died on March 8, 1944.
Professor Bolley continued teaching and conducting research until his retirement in 1945. In recognition of years of research and service, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Purdue University in 1938, and a Doctor of Science degree from the North Dakota Agricultural College in 1939. Henry Luke Bolley died on November 10, 1956, at the age of 91. He was interred at the Riverside Cemetery mausoleum near his first wife Frances. Bolley was a member of numerous organizations, including the American Botanical Society, Indiana Academy of Science, North Dakota Academy of Science, Honorary member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society of Agronomy, American Society of Phytopathology, Fargo Commons Club, 32nd Degree Mason, American Association for the Promotion of Agricultural Science, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was a contributor to the Journal of the American Society of Agronomy, the American Journal of Botany, and various other scientific and agricultural publications.
Extent
1.25 Linear Feet (Henry L. Bolley papers and artifacts, circa 1890s-1930s; Photographs, Framed letters of introduction to Russia and South America from the U.S. government, Correspondence, Newspaper clippings, certificates, Honorary doctorate degree from NDAC, Microscope, Exercise dumbbells made of wood, Pencil sharpener, Books and magazines, Diary and notebooks, Medallion)
Language of Materials
English
Overview
The H.L. Bolley Collection, covering the circa 1890s-1930s, offers a glimpse into Henry Luke Bolley's life. It includes photographs, framed government letters for his travels, correspondence, certificates, and an honorary NDAC doctorate. Tangible items like a microscope, wooden exercise dumbbells, a pencil sharpener, and a medallion are also part of the collection. Bolley's personal writings, such as diaries, notebooks, and a range of books and magazines, provide a deeper understanding of his experiences and intellectual pursuits.
Provenance
The NDSU Archives received the materials from Kathleen Pengelly in 2017.
Property Rights
The NDSU Archives owns the property rights to this collection.
- Title
- Finding Aid to H.L. Bolley Collection
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the University Archives Repository
Contact:
West Building
3551 7th Avenue N
Fargo North Dakota 58102 United States
ndsu.archives@ndsu.edu
West Building
3551 7th Avenue N
Fargo North Dakota 58102 United States
ndsu.archives@ndsu.edu