The collection is open to research.
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Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], F. N. Whaley Letter, Ms1992-007, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The F. N. Whaley Letter was purchased by Special Collections and University Archives in 1992.
The processing and description of the F. N. Whaley Letter commenced and was completed in September, 2023.
Frederick N. Whaley, son of George and Ann Furley Whaley, was born in Fairfield (Fairfax County), Virginia, on September 7, 1819. He graduated from Jefferson College (Canonsburg, Pennsylvania) in 1846, and Union Theological Seminary (Prince Edward County, Virginia) in 1849. On February 26, 1850, he married Elizabeth S. Hughes; the couple had two children. Whaley was ordained in 1851; the following year, he became pastor of Clarksville Presbyterian Church, and he remained in that position for 40 years. Frederick N. Whaley died in Clarksville on April 18, 1900, and was buried in Oakhurst Cemetery, Clarksville.
Union Theological Seminary was founded in 1812 as an adjunct of Hampden-Sydney College and located in Prince Edward County, Virginia. The school relocated to Richmond, Virginia, in 1898, and in 1997 united with the Presbyterian School of Christian Education, becoming Union-PSCE. In 2009, the institution's name was changed to Union Presbyterian Seminary.
This collection consists of a single three-page letter written by F. [Frederick] N. Whaley, a student at Union Theological Seminary (Prince Edward County, Virginia), on May 13, 1847. Writing from the seminary to his friend James H. Orbison of "near Hopkinsville," Kentucky, Whaley proposes that the two meet at Natural Bridge, Virginia, in early July while Whaley and a classmate are on vacation and engaged in selling books. Whaley then extols at length the virtues of the Union Theological Seminary as a place of learning. He praises the faculty, facilities, and students, and notes that students have the opportunity to preach to the local congregation every 10 to 12 weeks and "can go out to the country and preach as often as you please." Whaley closes by discussing the activities of mutual acquaintainces and the possibility of meeting with Orbison later in the summer.
The guide to the F. N. Whaley Letter by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).