Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.

Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Richard B. Talbot Papers, Ms1995-024, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Source of Acquisition

The Richard B. Talbot Papers were donated to Special Collections and University Archives in 1994. Additional material was transferred in 2003, and additional material was discovered in the archival backlog in 2021.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement, and description of the Richard B. Talbot Papers commenced and was completed in 1995. Additional material and additional description was completed in March 2003 and in August 2022.

Biographical Note

Dr. Richard B. Talbot was professor, Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Medical Informatics at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg. He also served as a consultant in the areas of veterinary medical regulatory and governmental affairs, veterinary informatics, and veterinary medical pharmacology and toxicology.

Richard Talbot was born and reared in Marshall County, Kansas. He attended Kansas State University where he was awarded baccalaureate and doctor of veterinary medicine degrees. He later obtained a Ph.D. degree from Iowa State Unversity.

Talbot also was a faculty member at Iowa State University and the University of Georgia. He started at Iowa State as an instructor of physiology and moved through the ranks to associate professor. At the University of Georgia, he served as professor, as chairman of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, as director of the Institute for Comparative Medicine, and as dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Dr. Talbot came to Virginia Tech from the University of Georgia in 1975 to help the university plan and develop the Virginia/Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM). He served as dean of the college until the first class was graduated in 1984. From 1984 until October of 1987 he was devoted full-time to research and teaching. For the next two years, he served as director of the Office of New Animal Drug Evaluation at the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) while on leave from Virginia Tech. At the FDA, a part of Talbot's work was the oversight of evaluation for new animal drug entities requesting approval to market in the United States. Other initiatives included the management of new drug applications using electronic submissions, and the creation of procedures to implement the Generic Animal Drug and Patent Restoration Act. Talbot returned to teaching and research in November of 1989. His research interests involved veterinary medical informatics and included:

His work was funded by the FDA and the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop an information base on potential drug residues in food products of animal origin. He also worked in the areas of pharmacologic and toxicologic effects of the stable rare earth compounds.

Talbot was a consultant to several universities and pharmaceutical companies, to the National Institutes of Health, the Bureau of Health Manpower, the FDA, the USDA, and Hazelton Laboratories Corporation. He served on the National Academy of Sciences National Research Council Committee on Veterinary Medical Sciences. He served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Veterinary Medical Education , as president-elect of the American Veterinary Computer Society, and chairman of the American Veterinary Medical Association's Committee on Informatics. He was editor of Veterinary Pharmaceuticals and Biologicals , a standard reference work for veterinary medicine.

Dr. Talbot's activities also included service on the Board of Directors of Hazelton Corporation, a life sciences corporation, and First Virginia Bank of the Southwest. He was a member and president-elect of the Rotary Club of Blacksburg, Virginia, and an elder in the Presbyterian Church.

On September 8, 1994, at the age of 61, Dr. Talbot died alongside all passengers and crew members of USAir Flight 427 when it crashed due to mechanical failure while landing at Pittsburgh International Airport. The Richard B. Talbot Memorial Scholarship at the Virginia/Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM) was established in his honor soon after, and the VMRCVM's Richard B. Talbot Educational Resources Center was dedicated in 1996.

Scope and Content

The collection consists primarily of speeches, speech resource and research materials, administrative notes, departmental program planning and budgeting materials. Speech resources folders are organized chronologically, with undated items first followed by dated items. This collection contains several reports from the United States Department of Agriculture. The collection also contains multiple reports about the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine and several about the need for a Veterinary Medicine College in New England and New Jersey. The collection also contains several documents relating to the groundbreaking ceremony for the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged by type. Speech resources folders are organized chronologically, with undated items first followed by dated items.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Faculty and staff
• Science and Technology
• University History
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute (1944-1970)
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (1970-)
• Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (1980-present)

Rights Statement for Archival Description

The guide to the Richard B. Talbot Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ ).