Philip Cecil McConnell was an agricultural engineering student at Iowa State College (University) from 1914 to 1917. This scrapbook documents his life from the start of his college career through his military service in World War I and finally his graduation from the University of California in 1922. The scrapbook contains photographs and other materials documenting campus life at Iowa State, interactions with friends, and military training in France. A folder containing a small number of loose items is also included.

Philip Cecil McConnell, born November 25, 1895, to R.C. and Edith McConnell in Riceville, Iowa, studied agricultural engineering at Iowa State College (University) from fall of 1914 through spring 1917. At Iowa State, he was a member of the Dramatic Club and the Glee Club. On August 9, 1917, McConnell was drafted to Fort Snelling, located in Minnesota, for Reserve Corps training and on May 15, 1918, was sent to a military academy in Nice, France, where he served for almost a year. Come the end of WWI, McConnell was honorably discharged from the Armed Forces on February 7, 1919, and was admitted to the University of California on January 12, 1920. He graduated from there on May 17, 1922. According to the 1930 census, he stayed in California after graduation and married Gertrude L. McConnell. McConnell passed away on May 4, 1995, in Ventura, California.

This collection (1914-1922) consists of a scrapbook containing photographs, ribbons, news clippings, and correspondence along with several loose items that were removed from the scrapbook and stored in a separate folder. The photographs include images depicting Iowa State College (University) campus life in the 1910s, including interactions between McConnell and his friends, campus buildings (exterior), performances of the Iowa State Dramatic Club and Glee Club, football games, and pushball competitions. Other images include McConnell's Reserve Corps training at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and in Nice, France; French architecture and landscapes (exterior); and trips to Oklahoma, Texas, and California. The scrapbook also contains ribbons earned by McConnell; various news clippings and programs for Dramatic Club and Glee Club performances (at Iowa State and the University of California); a poem; programs for agricultural engineering events; various official government correspondence with McConnell about his Reserve Corps training; French currency and mementos; and his draft notification and note of honorable discharge. The folder of loose items contains McConnell's admission card to University of California and invitation to the commencement ceremony. Many of the items in the scrapbook include handwritten captions and notes provided by McConnell.