Frank Stevens Whitney (1893-1959) was born in Britt, Iowa, to John Wayne and Martha Abigail Stevens Whitney on July 21, 1893. He studied civil engineering at Iowa State College (University) where he was a member of the Ausonia club and Army ROTC until 1917 when the United States declared war on Germany, at which point he enlisted and served overseas with the Rainbow Division and later the 34th Division. He was discharged from the Army in 1919.

Whitney spent four years engaged in land reclamation work in Iowa before agreeing to become one of the first five men employed by the newly formed Kentucky Highway Department in 1923. He served as the district engineer for District 7 until moving into a private firm in Huntington, West Virginia in 1930. While in Kentucky he met Anna Pearl Caudill of Morehead, Kentucky, whom he married on June 27, 1926.

In the early 1940s newly elected mayor Paul O. Fiedler appointed Whitney Huntington, West Virginia's city engineer. He selected the site of the Tri-State Airport and was appointed its first manager, a post he held from 1952-1955, when he returned to the city engineer position. His title was changed to public works director in 1957.

Whitney was a registered professional engineer and land surveyor, a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the West Virginia Society of Professional Engineers, and the American Waterworks Association. He was also active in civic groups, including the Lions Club, and BPO Elks Lodge.

The collection consists of photographs, scrapbooks, certificates, news clippings, Kentucky property deeds and a Whitney family genealogy. Topics include the Whitney and Caudill families, Huntington, West Virginia, the Kentucky Highway Department, civil engineering, the Ausonia club at Iowa State College (University), Iowa State College (University) ROTC, and the United States Army's World War I Rainbow Division.

The collection is arranged alphabetically.