Frederick Pilcher Jr. scrapbook

Unprocessed Material — Flat_Box: 1

Identifier: ViU-2023-0097

Staff Only

Content Description

Content Warning: This material contains graphic imagery and content involving human remains. The purpose of this note is to allow users to decide whether they need or want to view these materials or, at least, to mentally or emotionally prepare themselves to view the materials. This collection contains a scrapbook documenting Frederick Pilcher, Jr.'s life from the 1920s to the 1930s. It includes images from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI), known as Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia Medical School, and his travels to Seattle and Alaska. The scrapbook contains black and white photographs and assorted pieces of ephemera, including clippings, tickets to sporting events and for travel, assorted mementos such as commencement announcements and report cards, certificate of admittance to the medical board's examination, alumni ribbons, and cards and a few pieces of correspondence regarding advancements for his professional work. The photographs are usually labeled with identification of the place or person below or near the image. The photos begin with scenes from Blacksburg, Virginia, and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute scenes and depict parades, portraits of Pilcher and Classmates, shots of campus and the surrounding area, and a large-scale pillow fight. Report cards in the scrapbook suggest Pilcher attended VPI as an undergraduate and then the University of Virginia Medical School. Notably, there is a photograph of Pilcher posing with a corpse from the medical school. There is also a series of newspaper clippings describing Pilcher's legal troubles in 1926 after two bodies were found on the creek banks near Pilcher's home residence in Chesterfield County. Pilcher and his cousin took two bodies from the University's medical school home for examination while on vacation. Two months later, a 15 year-old boy found the bodies and called the police. Pilcher's status in medical school allowed him to avoid a murder investigation. The final section of the album consists of photographs from Pilcher's trip to the Pacific Northwest, where he had an internship in Seattle's Virginia Mason Clinic, and his trip to Alaska. The scrapbook includes a newspaper clipping mentioning Pilcher's appointment to a hospital in Seattle, tickets showing travel by rail across the country, and a steamship trip to Alaska.