William H. Galvani
{{Short description|Russian-American civil engineer, vegetarianism activist, and writer (1861–1947)}}
{{Orphan|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = William H. Galvani
| image = William H. Galvani.png
| birth_date = June 27, 1861
| birth_place = Russia
| death_date = October 23, 1947 (aged 86)
| death_place = Portland, Oregon, U.S.
| occupation = Civil engineer, writer, activist
}}
William H. Galvani (June 27, 1861 – October 23, 1947) was a Russian-American civil engineer, vegetarianism activist and writer.
Biography
Galvani was born in Russia and emigrated to the United States in 1882.Herringshaw, Thomas William. (1905). [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89119130466&view=1up&seq=408 Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century]. Chicago: American Publisher's Association. p. 390 He worked as a railway engineer under Hans Thielsen, chief engineer of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company. Throughout his career in engineering, he worked for the Oregon Electric Railway Company and the Pacific Power & Light Company.Gaston, Joseph. (1911). [https://archive.org/details/portlandoregonit02gast/page/716 Portland, Oregon, Its History and Builders, Volume 2]. Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company. pp. 717-718 He worked as a civil engineer on principal railways in the Pacific Northwest. He was also a writer and contributed to periodical literature.
In 1909, Galvani was appointed by Governor Benson to represent Oregon at the National Peace Congress in Chicago. Galvani was Jewish but held an interest in Buddhism and published several articles in Buddhist magazines.Tweed, Thomas A. (1992). The American Encounter with Buddhism, 1844-1912. University of North Carolina Press. p. 52. {{ISBN|0-8078-4906-5}}Anderson, Heather Arndt. (2015). Portland: A Food Biography. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 90. {{ISBN|978-1-4422-2738-5}} He was an exponent of pantheism and a member of the Theosophical Society. Galvani was an anti-vivisectionist and strict vegetarian. He planned to create a vegetarian colony at his farm in Oregon.Tweed, Thomas A. (1992). The American Encounter with Buddhism, 1844-1912. University of North Carolina Press. p. 82. {{ISBN|0-8078-4906-5}} He was President of the Oregon Vegetarian Society. In 1943, he was granted an honorary doctorate of engineering by Oregon State College.[http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/scarc/2016/08/12/avid-and-eclectic-galvani-the-collector/ "Avid and Eclectic: Galvani the Collector"]. Oregon State University Libraries and Press. Retrieved 18 January 2020. He was a 32nd-degree Mason of the Scottish Rite.
Map collection
Galvani was a collector of rare books and maps. In 1947, he bequeathed his private library, including his map collection to the Oregon State College. The collection includes over 1,050 maps.[http://scarc.library.oregonstate.edu/findingaids/?p=collections/findingaid&id=2110 "William H. Galvani Rare Maps Collection, circa 1570-1909"]. Oregon State University. Retrieved 18 January 2020.[https://kcby.com/news/local/rare-map-collection-cataloged-at-oregon-state-library "Rare map collection available at Oregon State library"]. KCBY. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
Selected publications
- [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112060009765&view=1up&seq=143 Vegetarianism] (Twentieth Century, 1891)
- [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015076976185&view=1up&seq=565 Meat and Murder] (Good Health, 1893)
- [https://www.jstor.org/stable/20610169 The Early Explorations and the Origin of the Name of the Oregon Country] (The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, 1920)
- Recollections of J. F. Stevens and Senator Mitchell (Oregon Historical Quarterly, 1943)
References
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Category:American civil engineers
Category:American Theosophists
Category:American vegetarianism activists
Category:American writers of Russian descent
Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States