Guide to the Veranus A. Moore Papers, 1836-1958

Veranus Alva Moore was born in Houndsfield (Hounsfield), NY, on April 13, 1859. He was raised in Oswego County, New York. When he was 14 years old, he stepped on a nail which caused an infection that kept him on crutches for the next ten years. During those years, Veranus struggled to finish his education while helping his mother support the family and raise his three younger brothers.

In 1883 he entered Cornell University. His work was so impressive that Dr. Simon Henry Gage recommended him for a position with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Animal Industry before he had completed his degree. He left for Washington in January 1887, wrote his undergraduate thesis in his spare time, and returned in June to graduate with his class. The following fall he entered Columbian (now George Washington) University. He took classes in the evenings and studied during weekends and vacations and received his M.D. in 1890.

Moore's career centered around the study and control of infectious diseases afflicting food animals. He worked for the Bureau of Animal Industry until 1896, then returned to Cornell to become one of the original six professors of the newly founded New York State Veterinary College. He taught Comparative Pathology and Bacteriology as well as meat inspection. In 1908 he became the second dean of the college, succeeding James Law. He served in that post until 1929, and died only two years later on February 11, 1931.

Correspondence, subject files, photographs, clippings, and other material pertaining to Moore's life and his career in veterinary medicine and public health.

The collection includes biographical information and genealogical information in the form of Moore family correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, financial ledgers, a scrapbook, and correspondence with friends such as Martin H. Goodkind, Warren D. More, and Ora P. Rider.

There is also an abundance of information about Cornell University and the New York State College of Veterinary Medicine, ranging from Moore's undergraduate years through his more than twenty years as Dean.

Much of the correspondence, subject files and ephemera in the collection comes from Moore's involvement in professional organizations such as the American Public Health Association, American Veterinary Medical Association, New York State Veterinary Medical Society, Society of American Bacteriologists, Tompkins County Medical Society, United States Livestock Sanitary Association, and World's Dairy Congress Association. There is also an abundance of material relating to his membership in a number of fraternal and civic organizations, such as the Cosmos Club, the Masons, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Sigma Kappa, the Ithaca City Hospital and the Ithaca Board of Education.

There are also a number of files documenting Moore's consulting work with companies and institutions such as the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, Borden, Briarcliff Farms, and the Milbank Memorial Fund. There is also an abundance of material regarding Moore's work on the formation of the United States Army Veterinary Corps.

The subject files in this collection cover a broad range of topics. Of particular note are the materials on bacteriology, brucellosis, the study and teaching of veterinary medicine, microbiology, meat inspection, milk hygiene, public health (especially in New York State), sexual hygiene instruction, vivisection, human tuberculosis, and bovine tuberculosis

Correspondence with veterinary and public health specialists comprises the bulk of the Moore collection. Significant correspondents include Bernhard Bang, Jean Broadhurst, Samuel H. Burnett, George Washington Carver, Cooper Curtice, W. W. Dimock, R. R. Dykstra. P.A. Fish, C.P. Fitch, Mark Francis, Langdon Frothingham, H.C. Gardiner, Ward Giltner, W.G. Hollingsworth, Grant Sherman Hopkins, William Henry Kelly, Fred L. Kilbourne, James Law, Alexandre Liautard, Winfred B. Mack, Charles Edward Marshall, C.J. Marshall, Duncan McEachran, F.H. McNair, L.A. Merillat, H.J. Milks, Frank H. Miller, J.E. Peabody, H.D. Pease, Leonard Pearson, E.M. Pickens, S.C. Prescott, M.P. Ravenel, M.H. Reynolds, J.G. Rutherford, Daniel Salmon, Theobald Smith, C.H. Stange, D.H. Udall, A.R. Ward, Cassius Way, David Stuart White, Horace White, W.L. Williams, and John G. Wills.

The ephemera in the collection includes, buttons, pins, ribbons, maps, posters, and visiting cards (calling cards).

For a complete listing of all subjects and correspondents, please see the container list.

The earliest material, which dates from the 1830s is in the Family Papers Series. The most recent material dates from the 1950s and is included in the "Posthumous Memorials" folder in the Biography series and in the "Vivisection" Subject Files. It is unclear how the most recent vivisection material (Box 29, Folder 22) became part of the collection. Moore died in 1931, yet the material dates up to 1958. It is possible that the material was added by Dr. Norman Moore, his son, or that material from other collections was mixed with the Moore material in the years between original transfer and processing.

RMC Collection #13-06-2082. Norman S. Moore oral history, 1985.

Olin F129. I8.M66 1996+. Published transcript of a 1994 interview with Norman Moore.

RMC Collection #51-01-1368. Norman Moore papers, 1919-1994.

This collection is an amalgamation of several separate collections of different origin. Over a period of approximately sixty years, the official records of the Dean's Office of the College of Veterinary Medicine during Moore's tenure as well as that of James Law were mixed with the personal papers of Veranus Moore and his son Norman Moore. At some point in the 1950s the files were rehoused and reorganized in one chronological run. In 2002-2003 the collection was again reprocessed to provide better access to significant material. There is still a series of chronological "miscellaneous" files, but correspondence from particularly noteworthy individuals and institutions as well as frequent correspondents have been separated. Other material, such as biographical information, subject files and ephemera, have been separated into their own series. Thus the structure of the collection is purely artificial and no conclusions should be drawn about Moore's priorities or modus operandi from the folder arrangement.

Some Dean's Office records from Moore's tenure may have been lost when the College moved from James Law Hall to Schurman Hall in 1959. This is evidenced by an 1899 letter from Cooper Curtice to Moore found at the Law Hall "wrecking site" in 1959 by Mrs. Theodore S Lisberger. The letter is now located in the Cooper Curtice folder in Series III. Correspondence.