Boise State University Special Collections and Archives
Victor E. Thorsell Papers
MSS 007
1.5 linear feet
2 boxes
1908-1969
Personal papers of a miscellaneous nature, photos, and a collection of 35 building trade catalogs and manuals from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. Includes yearly listings of books Thorsell read (1938-1962); family clippings; a few papers relating to Cole school district (Boise, Idaho) politics (1920s); a few papers relating to politics of the Nampa and Meridian (Idaho) Irrigation District and management of the neighborhood irrigation works (1921-1966); plans and material lists for his own home (1914); and about 30 photos taken during the construction of Arrowrock Dam near Boise, Idaho (1912-1915).
English
.
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.
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 and 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 35 building trade catalogs and manuals from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, plus a 1922 manual for Ford cars and trucks.
Collection is available for research.
Gift of Mr. Thorsell's estate, 1969
Boise State University, Albertsons Library, Special Collections and Archives, Victor E. Thorsell Papers, MSS 7, [item description].
Nampa and Meridian Irrigation District (Idaho)
Books and reading
Reclamation of Land
Boise
Idaho
Photographs
Water and Water Rights
Photographs
Hand-written will and Obituary
1923, 1969
1
1
Fiftieth wedding anniversary announcement
1963
1
2
Helga E. Thorsell funeral card
1966
1
3
Family clippings: Thorsell and Sons funeral home history
1923
1
4
Family clippings: Turner anniversary (Helga Thorsell's sister)
1946
1
5
Family clippings: Lindquist anniversary (Helga Thorsell's brother)
1951
1
6
Victor Thorsell's yearly lists of books read
1932-1962
1
7
Swedish names (lists)
1
8
Correspondence: Postcards received
1908-1919
1
9-13
Correspondence: Letter to Winifred Turner (niece)
1
14
Correspondence: Letter from O.T. Reedy
1913
1
15
Correspondence: Letters from F.D. Lindquist
1921-1922
1
16
Correspondence: Boise State College (Dwane Kern)
1968
1
17
Correspondence: Address book
1
18
Financial records: Bank pass books
1912-1969
1
19
Financial records: Miscellaneous
1962-1969
1
20
Financial records: Thorsell estate, Boise State College (Dwane Kern)
1969
1
21
Thorsell home: Construction costs and plans; materials lists
1914
1
22
Ora Dell Road (later Allumbaugh Street): historical note
1
23
Cole School district: miscellaneous papers
1
24
Irrigation: Rust Lateral Water Users Association papers
1921-1948
1
25
Irrigation: Elderado Water Users Assocation papers
1951-1956
1
26
Irrigation: Rust Lateral maps
1
27
Irrigation: Rust Lateral water schedules
1951-1956
1
28
Irrigation: Manuals (USDA Farmers Bulletins 813 and 1683)
1917, 1932
1
29
Clippings: Boise Bench news and residents
1
30
Clippings: Anton Gordon
1
31
Clippings: Centenarians
1
32
Clippings: Judge Chase A. Clark
1965
1
33
Clippings: Red Wing, Minnesota (Helga Thorsell's home town)
1
34
Main Line for Boise (railroad brochure)
1922
1
35
Specifications for water heating plant...for A.F. Montandon
1
36
Photograph: Victor E. Thorsell (see also Photo 201, below)
1
001-007
Photograph: Family photos (?)
1
008-011
Photograph: Color snapshots (Thorsell in 012 and 013)
1
012-016
Photograph: O.T. Reedy family
1
017-023
Photograph: Idaho State Capitol
1
024-025
Photograph: Barber Dam, Boise
1
026-027
Photograph: Black Canyon Dam, Emmett, Idaho (see also Photo 205, below)
1
028-031
Photograph: Diversion Dam, Boise
1
032
Photograph: Bethany Presbyterian Church
1
033
Photograph: Mining and dredging scenes near Idaho City, Idaho
1
034-037
Photograph: Table Rock, Boise
1
038-041
Photograph: Idaho scenes, including Yeager's Ranch
1
042-044
Photograph: Arrowrock Dam (1912-1915) (see also Photos 202-204, below)
1
044-075
Photograph: Barn Bluff, Red Wing, Minnesota
1
076
Photograph: Cannon Falls Dam, Cannon Falls, Minnesota
1
077-078
Photograph: Montana scenes
1
079-087
Photograph: Pathfinder Dam construction, Wyoming
1
088-090
Photograph: Head gate, Whalen, Wyoming
1
091
Photograph: Iron mines, Sunrise, Wyo.
1
092
Photograph: Unidentified dam and construction scenes
1
092-099
Photograph: Unidentified
1
100-101
Photograph: Miscellaneous commercial postcards
1
102-105
Photograph: Grand Coulee dam
1
106-107
Photograph: Victor and Helga Thorsell
1
201
Photograph: Arrowrock Dam
1
202-204
Photograph: Black Canyon Dam, Emmett, Idaho (clipping)
1
205
Building trade catalogs and manuals:
2
- 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
- Carborundum Abrasive Products on the Farm, 1934
- Carborundum Brand No. 57 File, 1934
- Certigrade Handbook of Red Cedar Shingles, 1940
- Choosing the Garage (Atlas Portland Cement Company), no date
- Concrete Improvements Around the Home (Portland Cement Association), no date
- Concrete on the Farm (Atlas Portland Cement Company), 1919
- The Disston Saw, Tool and File Book, 1925
- The End of Rust Troubles - Brass Pipe (Copper and Brass Research Association), no date
- Fenner Specifications and Methods (Fenner Factory Cut Homes, Portland), no date
- File Facts, Simonds, 1927
- Ford Manual, 1922
- Gilbert and Barker Gasoline and Oil Storage Systems, Catalog No. 5, no date
- Graff Furnace Company Tag
- 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 (Universal Portland Cement Company), no date
- High-Early-Strength Concrete for Roads, Streets, and Bridges (Universal Portland Cement Company), 1928
- Hollow Tile for the Home (MasterTile), 1920
- The Home Garage of Concrete Masonry (Portland Cement Association), no date
- House Framing Details (National Lumber Manufacturers Association), 1929
- Instruction Book for Ward's Windsor Pipe Furnace, 1928
- A Lifetime of Winter Comfort and Health (Nesbit Moist Heat), 1928
- Lumber, Sash and Doors Price List (M. H. Goodwin), 1903
- Maximum Spans for Joists and Rafters (National Lumber Manufacturers Association), 1930
- The Modern Garage of Hollow Building Tile, 1920/1921
- Pacific Coast Piece List Pipe and Fittings (Walworth, Portland, Oregon), no date
- Pacific Northwest Millwork Catalogue, No. 4, 1927
- Painting: Repairs and Utilities (U.S. War Department Technical Manual), 1946
- Quick Clean Heat (Standard Furnace and Supply Company), 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 Manufacturing Company), no date
- The Story of Oak Floors (Oak Flooring Bureau, Chicago), 1928
- West Coast Woods (West Coast Lumber Bureau), 1928
- Western Electric Public Address System (Graybar), no date
- Western Electric Public Address Systems, 1929
- Westinghouse Nofuze Load Centers, no date
Plaque: In Memory of Victor E. Thorsell, Benefactor of Boise State College Library
2