John B. Stetson IV, great grandson of Stetson University’s benefactor, visited the DeLand campus this week and donated Stetson family memorabilia to the university’s Archives, including old family Bibles and military medals.

An architect and construction manager from Philadelphia, John B. Stetson IV visited the campus with his wife Solveig on Monday, March 20, and brought along such items as the documents signed by President Calvin Coolidge in 1925 appointing John B. Stetson Jr., his grandfather, as ambassador to Finland and Poland.

“A lot of this was passed down to me as the inheritor of the family name,” he said, seated in the Archives of Stetson’s duPont-Ball Library. “I felt an obligation to retain it, along with what we’d gleaned about our heritage, and we have three sons and rather than start thinking about breaking up the collection of papers and distributing them, and aware that the Stetson library was actively keeping archives on the family, we really felt it would be best to keep it together and in a place where any member of the family can have access to it.

“We’re grateful that Stetson is doing this,” he added.

From among the items displayed on a table, his wife Solveig opened a black lace parasol believed to have belonged to Elizabeth Stetson, John B. Stetson’s third wife, whose children included John B. Stetson Jr. Elizabeth Hall, funded primarily by her husband, is named after her.

Beside the parasol was an official document listing Elizabeth Stetson as Countess of Saint Eulalia, a title she received after John B. Stetson died and she married a count from Portugal. Also displayed on the table were numerous military medals that show the family’s tradition of military service, including by John B. Stetson IV’s father, John B. Stetson III, who was killed in World War II at age 36.

“In all honesty, because my father died at a very early age, we didn’t spend much time with the Stetson side of the family,” said John B. Stetson IV, who served in the U.S. Navy as an intelligence officer. “It was mostly with my maternal side, so I can’t honestly say there was a lot of talk about Stetson University, except on an occasional remembrance basis. We certainly were aware of it and knew about it then and proud of it and proud of its reputation,” he said.

During Monday’s visit, the Stetsons visited Stetson Mansion, once the winter home for the famed hat maker and philanthropist, and met with Stetson University President Wendy B. Libby, Ph.D.

Their visit came after Susan Ryan, Dean of the duPont-Ball Library, received an endowment two years ago from another Stetson descendant to continue researching the family history and the company’s history (the Stetson family sold its stake in the hat company in the 1960s). Through her research, Ryan identified 124 direct descendants of John Batterson Stetson (1830-1906), and worked with 30 family members to construct a family tree, which is three feet long and was mailed to them this past Christmas.

“The University Archives has collected a variety of Stetson family and Stetson company memorabilia over the years – many donated by Stetson family members,” Ryan said. “But this gift from John and Solveig Stetson is much larger than anything we have ever received. It includes such a rich assortment of family history and is quite a comprehensive collection. We are grateful that John and Solveig and their sons consider Stetson to be the right caretakers of their family history.”

This was John B. Stetson IV and his wife’s first official visit to the university. About 10 years ago, they drove through DeLand and stopped unannounced at the college. As they walked around, a nice professor came outside and pointed out a few buildings for them, they recalled.

“My impression of the students is they look very happy. They’re clean cut,” Solveig Stetson said of Monday’s visit. “We just talked to one student and it blows my mind everything she’s doing.”

Added John B. Stetson IV, “I couldn’t agree more. Everyone we’ve meet has seemed very friendly.”

-Cory Lancaster