William Arthur Craft was born on September 9, 1894, near Jonesboro, Arkansas. He was the son of John M. and Ellar Gambill Craft. He received his B.S. (1922) and M.S. (1923) degrees from Iowa State College (University). He received a Ph.D. (1932) from the University of Wisconsin. Craft was a member of the faculty at Oklahoma State University from 1923-1936. Craft joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1936 and was named Director (1937-1959) of the Regional Swine Breeding Laboratory of the USDA and Cooperating States, North Central Region, headquartered in Ames, Iowa.

Craft was named Professor (1943-1960) of animal husbandry by Iowa State and later designated Professor Emeritus (1960). Craft received the Certificate for Superior Service (1949) from the USDA, served as President (1947) of the American Society of Animal Production, and served as President (1958) of the Osborn Research Club at Iowa State. He was also a member of Alpha Zeta and Sigma Xi.

William Craft married Mabel Lahart in 1923. She passed away in 1946. He married Rosalie Rathbone, a faculty member of the Department of Textiles and Clothing, in 1950.

Craft died January 28, 1963, in Des Moines, Iowa.

This collection (1937-1966, n.d.) contains biographical information, writings on hog raising and the development of the field of animal husbandry into animal science, one folder of correspondence, research notes on swine, teaching materials from graduate animal husbandry/science courses (1950s-1960s), and one folder of materials from Jay Lush's seminar, "Quantitative Genetics."

This collection is arranged chronologically.