Bio of SMITH, F. A. Upsher (b.1874), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical

Vol II, pg 726-727
F. A. UPSHER SMITH
F. A. Upsher Smith, a chemist of international reputation, is director of the
Minne­sota Institute of Pharmacy, which was established in Minneapolis
thirty-six years ago and is the pioneer institution of this kind in the United
States. He was born at St. Ives, England, July 15, 1874, and acquired his
education in that country. He was a senior Bell Scholar at his Alma Mater in
London and graduated as a pharmaceutical chemist, being awarded the much coveted
Pereira medal in open competition at the end of the two years' course. He has
had considerable experience in teaching pharmaceutical subjects, serving for six
years as assistant to Henry George Greenish, professor of phar-maceutics and
materia medica in the School of Pharmacy of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great
Britain, and for two years he was lecturer on pharmacy and materia medica to
medical students at the Birkbeck Institute in London, England. He has
contributed papers of value to medical science, including "The Redetermination
of the Solubilities of the Chemical Substances of the British Pharmacopoeia," in
collaboration with Professor Greenish. Two years were required to complete the
work, which was done at the request of the British Medical Council, and the
results are incorporated and acknowl­edged in the present edition of the British
Pharmacopoeia.
In 1907 Mr. Smith came to the United States and three years later he made his
way to Minnesota. Since coming to this state he has given several courses of
lectures at the School of Pharmacy of the State University. In manufacturing
pharmacy he has had considerable experience as experimental chemist with Sharp &
Dohme and as chief chemist with the firm of Noyes Brothers & Cutler of St. Paul.
In 1913 he edited the Northwestern Druggist and he has since been in. business
for himself in St. Paul as an analytical chemist. He has devoted much time to
research and investigation and for the past five years has been growing
digitalis purpurea and lutea at Foxglove Farm, near Wayzata, Minnesota. Its
superior value has been widely recognized by pharmacologists, as a result of
which, physicians and cardiologists in the United States and Canada have used
this leaf extensively with excellent results. There is little doubt but that the
products of digitalis lutea will mark an important advance in cardiac
medication, thus demonstrating the fact that "the improvement of an old drug may
prove of more value to medical science than the discovery of a new one."
Mr. Smith has also become well known as the director of the Minnesota Institute
of Pharmacy, which was established in Minneapolis in 1886, by Dr. C. W. Drew,
and is the oldest school of the kind in this country. Since the death of its
founder Mr. Smith has been at the head of the institute and its students have
found in him a guide of exceptional ability and experience. During its entire
career the institute has maintained a high standard of work, keeping fully
abreast of the times in its methods of instruction and in its classroom and
laboratory equipment, so that it has become a household name to druggists from
the Great Lakes to the Pacific. The course as at present con­ducted is the
result of many years of experience in preparing students and the plan of
instruction comprises as thorough training in pharmacy, chemistry, materia
medica, metrology, pharmacognosy and pharmaceutical laboratory work as is
possible in the time covered. The average yearly enrollment during the past ten
years has been one hundred and twenty-five students, representing the following
states: Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan,
Illinois, New York, Kansas, Mississippi, Texas, Montana, Washington, Idaho,
Wyoming, Nebraska, Oregon and California. More than one thousand prosperous drug
stores are being conducted by graduates of this school, which has given diplomas
to over forty-five per cent of all druggists in Minnesota. The institute
represents in the highest degree the modern business school of pharmacy and is a
great asset to the city of Minneapolis, as well as to the state. Mr. Smith is a
man of notable scientific attainments, who has gained that position of
leadership in his pro­fession which follows superior ability and concentrated
effort and his contribution to the world's work is one of great importance and
value. He is a member of the American Chemical Society, the American
Pharmaceutical Association, the British Pharmaceu­tical Society and the British
Pharmaceutical Conference.