Noah Fields Drake Papers
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Scope and Content Note
Correspondence, reports, minutes of meetings, notes, notebooks, printed material, photographs, maps and land plats, business and other records created, received, or collected by geologist Noah Fields Drake and members of his family.
Materials pertain to: Drake’s academic career as student at University of Arkansas and at Stanford University (1888-1897), as associate professor of economic geology at Stanford University (1911-1912) and as professor of geology and mining at Pei-yang University in Tientsin (1898-1900, 1905-1911) and at University of Arkansas (1912-1920); to his business interests in Tientsin Land & Development Co., Ltd. (1904-1911) and American Machinery and Export Co. (1910); to life and travel and to mining and mineral resources in China, especially as regards coal mining (1898-1910); to his professional services as consulting geologist for Arkansas, Texas, and U. S. Geological Surveys (1887-1897), for American China Development Co. (1902-1904), and for various persons, institutions, and business firms in Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Mexico, especially as regards oil and gas exploration; to his commercial and avocational interests and activities in the cultivation of nut orchards in northwest Arkansas; and to personal and familial affairs. Correspondents include John Clinton Futrall, Albert Homer Purdue, John Newton Tillman.
Additional materials processed as Series 8 pertain to Noah Felds Drake; his daughters, Doris Drake Wigglesworth and Vera Drake Wade; Vera's husband, George Clifton Wade; and Wade's father, H. Lynn Wade. Materials consist of correspondence, writings, class notes, certificates, maps, sermons, account books, and scrapbooks. They also include genealogical materials as well as legal papers including deeds. They include photographs, glass lantern slides, and glass negatives from Drake’s years in China. Other materials include political posters, lapel pins, bumper stickers, vinyl albums, and reel-to-reel audio tapes.
Dates
- 1886-2013
Creator
Language of Materials
Materials are primarily in English
Access Information
Please call (479) 575-8444 or email specoll@uark.edu at least two weeks in advance of your arrival to ensure availability of the materials.
Use Information
No Use Restrictions Apply.
No Interlibrary Loan.
Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).
Noah Fields Drake Chronology
Birth
- 1864
- b. Summers (Washington County), Ark., 1/30/64, son of Wesley Drake & Martha Kellam D.
Education
- 1888
- C. E., U. of A.
- 1894
- A. B., Stanford
- 1895
- A. M., Stanford
- 1897
- Ph. D., Stanford
Marriage
- 1904
- m. Mary Elenor Shockley 7/30/04 (d. 12/25/26).
- 1932
- m. 2. Lota West Fairchild 12/23/32.
Professional
- 1887
- Ark. Geological Survey
- 1889-93
- Tex. Geological Survey
- 1897
- U.S. Geological Survey
- 1898-1900
- Prof., geology & mining, Pei Yang Univ., Tientsin
- 1900-01
- Engineer, Public Works Dept., Tientsin
- 1902-04
- Consulting geologist, American China Development Co.
- 1904-11
- Chairman of Bd., Tientsin Land & Development Co., Ltd.
- 1905-11
- Prof., geology and mining, Pei Yang Univ., Tientsin
- 1910
- Vice pres., American Machinery and Export Co., Tientsin
- 1911-12
- Assoc, prof., economic geology, Stanford
- 1912-20
- Prof., geology and mining, U. of A.
- 1920
- Consulting geologist.
Death
- 1945
- Fayetteville, Ark. 5/4/45.
Extent
40.7 Linear Feet (42 boxes and one oversize folder)
3.247 Gigabytes
Arrangement
Arranged and described in 8 series:
- Series 1. Records Pertaining to Personal, Familial, and Business Affairs, 1902...1972 (26 folders):
- Series 1, Subseries 1. Personal and Familial Records, 1902...1927, 1957…1972 (1 folder)
- Series 1, Subseries 2. Business Records, 1902...1972 (25 folders)
- Series 2. Records Pertaining to Academic Career, 1897...1925 (5 folders)
- Series 3. Records Pertaining to Professional Career, 1886...1937 (51 folders):
- Series 3, Subseries 1. Mining and Mineral Resources, Arkansas, 1911…1937 (21 folders)
- Series 3, Subseries 2. Mining and Mineral Resources Elsewhere in United States, 1886...1929 (8 folders)
- Series 3, Subseries 3. Mining and Mineral Resources in China, 1898...1920 (20 folders)
- Series 3, Subseries 4. Other Records, 1900...1922 (2 folders)
- Series 4. Miscellaneous Records, 1900, 1909, etc., undated (5 folders)
- Series 5. Letter-Press Book, 1899-1909 (1 volume)
- Series 6. Photographs, undated (88 items in 5 folders)
- Series 7. Maps, 1899...1925 (133 items)
- Series 8. 2021 Additions, 1866 . . . 2013 (Boxes 18-42)
- Series 8, Subseries 1. Noah Fields Drake Materials, 1885 . . . 2013
- Series 8, Subseries 2. Doris Drake Wigglesworth Materials, 1925 . . . 1984
- Series 8, Subseries 3. Vera Drake and George Clifton Wade Materials, 1924 . . . 2001
- Series 8, Subseries 4. Deeds and Other Legal Papers, 1866 . . . 1956
- Series 8, Subseries 5. Genealogical Materials, 1877 . . . 1990
Acquisition Information
The Noah Fields Drake Papers were donated to Special Collections by Vera (Mrs. George Clifton) Drake Wade of Fayetteville, Arkansas, in August 1979. Four additional items were donated by Wade in July 1982.
Series 8. materials were donated by Ted D. Colwell of Edina, Minnesota, Wade Colwell of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Linda M. Stewart of Winslow, Arkansas, in August 2021. The three are Noah Fields Drake's great grandchildren though Vera and George Clifton Wade's daughter, Mary Sue Colwell. One item (Digital Folder 2) was donated by Lynn Wade of Fayetteville, Arkansas in May 2023.
Processing Information
Processed by M.C. Woodward; completed in August 1980.
Boxes 18-42 (Series 8. 2021 Additions) were processed by Todd E. Lewis; completed in December 2022.
Updated by Katrina Windon in May 2023 to add newly-donated materials, Digital Folder 2; these were added to Series 8, Subseries 3.
Creator
Source
- Wade, Vera (Donor, Person)
- Colwell, Ted D. (Donor, Person)
- Colwell, Wade C. (Donor, Person)
- Stewart, Linda M. (Donor, Person)
- Title
- Noah Fields Drake Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- M.C. Woodward; Todd E. Lewis
- Date
- August 1980; December 2022
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is written in English.
Revision Statements
- December 6, 2022: Series 8 materials processed and added to the collection in 2022.
Repository Details
Part of the Special Collections Department Repository
University of Arkansas Libraries
365 N. McIlroy Avenue
Fayetteville AR 72701 United States
(479) 575-8444
specoll@uark.edu