EAD Finding Aids
The Western Waters Digital Library provides access to a variety of EAD finding aids, which you can use to identify special collections of interest when you are researching water issues requiring access to primary source materials. Selected materials in these finding aids may be available online, and you can use the information contained in the finding aids to plan your visit to the particular Special Collections department holding your items of interest.
Searching the Western Waters Digital Library for Finding Aids
The Western Waters Advanced search page contains an option to limit your search to EAD finding aids. Select EAD in the type box, and type the terms you wish to search for.
The benefit of searching the Western Waters Digital Library for primary source materials is the ability to search many relevent finding aids from multiple instutions at once, for example:
Brigham Young University
Arthur V. Watkins Papers
Arthur V. Watkins was elected to the United States Senate in November 1946 and represented the state of Utah until 1959. Between 1954 and 1957, Watkins sponsored legislation supporting the Upper Colorado River Storage Project. The project included the construction of many reservoirs for water storage and conservation. These smaller projects helped bring more water to Utah, benefiting agriculture by providing a reliable source of irrigation water and protecting them against potential droughts. The Arthur V. Watkins Papers include notes, correspondence and reports that shed light on his work in shaping water policy as a United States Senator.
Wallace Foster Bennett Papers
Correspondence, speeches, bills, legislative resolutions, press releases, financial records, statistical tables, photographs, printed material, newspaper clippings, and notes document Wallace F. Bennett's activities, political matters, and office administrations during his time as a senator between 1948 and 1974 in Utah and Washington D.C. The Wallace F. Bennett papers were created and compiled by Senator Wallace F. Bennett and his staff during four six-year terms in the United States Senate from 1950 to 1974. The papers reveal the immense changes that occurred in the concerns of the United States Congress during the twenty-four years of Bennett's service.
Colorado State University
Colorado Water Congress Newsletters
The Colorado Water Congress was established in 1958 and since then has proved to be a forward-thinking organization in terms of lobbying and educating in relation to current water issues in the state. Their newsletter, published as Colorado Water Congress Newsletter (1958-1982) and Colorado Water Rights (1982-2007), has been the main mode of conveying various perspectives on significant water policy issues and covers the Colorado River and other basins. The publication, taken as a whole, shows trends, successes and failure for Colorado’s water resources for a crucial period in the state’s history.
Delph E. Carpenter and Family
The "Father of Interstate River Compacts," Delph E. Carpenter (1877-1951) served the state of Colorado as a lawyer, state senator and river commissioner. He wrote, negotiated and promoted the Colorado River Compact, among others, following his service as lead counsel in the Wyoming vs. Colorado suit. The collection documents these and other professional activities (including cattle breeding), as well as Carpenter's personal life and family. Materials from his son Weld County Judge Donald A. Carpenter, pioneer father Leroy S. Carpenter, and father-in-law and Civil War veteran Captain M. J. Hogarty are prominent in the collection, as are documents concerning the Union Colony of Colorado. Predominant material types include correspondence, minutes, legal briefs, financial papers, reports, publications, speeches, diaries, clippings, photographs, maps, certificates, scrapbooks and artifacts.
Robert E. Glover
Robert E. Glover (1896-1984), a civil engineer from Ord, Nebraska, began his life-long career as an engineer in the Denver office of the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation in 1924. Contained within the collection are reports, correspondence, diaries, publications, and calculations documenting work on the Boulder (Hoover) Dam, the Owyhee Dam, and the Glen Canyon Dam. He conducted significant research on concrete cooling, dam construction, groundwater flow, cracks in dams, and more. A smaller portion of the collection reflects Glover's personal life in terms of family activities and hobbies, including birding, photography, and environmentalism.
Ival V. Goslin Water Resources Collection
For over 50 years, Ival V. Goslin (1911-1991) worked in water resources. The bulk of the collection contains records from the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority where Goslin served as the first Executive Director and later as a consultant. The Authority (est. 1981) has conducted water project feasibility studies and created and implemented financing programs for water and wastewater infrastructures. The collection includes considerable basic engineering, environmental, hydrologic, and economic data surrounding water planning in the 1980s. Records from Goslin's career at the Upper Colorado River Commission and Western Engineers, Inc. are also included. While serving as the director of the Upper Colorado River Basin, Goslin was instrumental in obtaining Congressional funding and approval for many large Western Reclamation projects. Common subjects are the filling of Lake Powell and the effects on Rainbow Bridge National Monument, and the recreational use of Jerry Creek Reservoirs. Materials include correspondence, newsletters, reports, legislative drafts, news clippings, speeches, books, pamphlets, slides, photographs, videos, and artifacts.
James L. Ogilvie
James L. Ogilvie (1911-1995), a civil engineer from Weld County, Colorado, had a long and fruitful career with the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation in the field of irrigation and water management. Ogilvie worked his way up through the Bureau on many projects throughout Colorado, culminating in his appointment as Project Manager for the Fryingpan-Arkansas project in southeast Colorado. The collection contains professional files related to Ogilvie’s career as well as desk diaries, which provide insight into the Bureau’s work at the time.
National Water Resources Association
Formerly the National Reclamation Association, the National Water Resources Association is a federation of water users in seventeen western states whose mission is to advocate federal policies and legislation for water resources on behalf of its members. The collection highlights the changing views and tactics of reclamation leaders over crucial years in the history of reclamation, starting in the 1930s and going through the 1970s. It includes speeches, reports, photographs, correspondence and memoranda.
Northwest Digital Archives
Browse WWDL-related Finding aids
Finding aids on topics such as water rights, fisheries, and much more. NWDA provides access to Finding Aids from states such as Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Alaska, and Washington.
University of Utah
John S. Boyden Papers
The John S. Boyden papers (1929-1980) contain correspondence, biographical information, and documents relating to his dealings with Native American issues, Utah water issues, and politics. He was an attorney in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Stephen G. Boyden Papers
The Stephen G. Boyden papers (1945-1988) contain correspondence, legal files, articles, reports, studies, legislative material, pamphlets, newsletters, and news clippings pertaining to Boyden's career as legal council for various western Native American Indian tribes. Boyden received his J.D. degree from the University of Utah in 1967 and has been affiliated with various groups dealing with Indian law and tribal representation for most of his life.
C. Gregory Crampton Papers
The C. Gregory Crampton papers (1938-1979) contain research materials on western history. Included are financial records from the American West Publishing Company, maps, research on the Zuni and Ute Indians, correspondence, clippings, bibliographies and catalogs, pamphlets and publications. Also included are twenty oral history transcripts of interviews conducted by students in History593 at the University of Utah. C. Gregory Crampton (1911-1995) was professor emeritus of history at the University of Utah and an author of works on the history of Utah and the West.
Charles Eggert Papers
The Charles Eggert collection consists of slides documenting the Eggert-Hatch Filming Expedition, the purpose of which was the make the last films of the Green and Colorado Rivers before construction of the Colorado River Storage Project was begun in 1956. The collection also includes photos taken during the creation of Canyonlands National Park in Utah. Eggert was a photographer and independent filmmaker from New York.
Colorado Riverbed Case
The Colorado Riverbed Case records (1920-1931) consist of microfilm and microfilm printouts from this court case which determined who legally owned the riverbed of the Colorado River.
Dorothy Harvey Papers
The Dorothy Harvey papers (1902-2005) is a collection of materials focusing on the Central Utah Project (CUP), a water resource development program to use Utah's allotted share of the Colorado River. Includes correspondence, Harvey's writing drafts and notes for an unpublished book on the CUP, federal documents, project litigation materials, subject files, news clippings, newsletters, programs, brochures, and maps.
Flaming Gorge Dam Collection
The Flaming Gorge Dam collection consists of black and white prints of photographs taken by the US Bureau of Reclamation during the construction of Flaming Gorge Dam on the Green River.
Glen Canyon Archaeological Survey
The Glen Canyon Archaeological Survey collection contains photographs of excavations, artifacts, and cliff dwellings taken during an archaeological survey of Glen Canyon prior to its flooding. The survey was headed by Jesse Jennings of the University of Utah Department of Anthropology. Included are photographs of some of the members of the survey party.
E. Richard Hart Papers
The E. Richard Hart papers (1664-2008) contain correspondence, research files, manuscripts, news clippings, maps, publications, court exhibits, and financial documents. Hart is an author, researcher, and past director of the Institute of the American West at Sun Valley, Idaho (1979-1984). He is the co-founder of the Institute of the North American West (1984). He has also served as an expert witness in several federal court cases involving land claims by the Zuni Indians.
Institute of the North American West
The Institute of the North American West (INAW) records (1870-1993) consist of manuscripts, research materials and notes, maps, interviews, court exhibits, correspondence, and publications. This non-profit educational institution was established in 1984 by E. Richard Hart, Matthew J. Cullen, and Barry Sadler for the purpose of providing historical background, documentation, and opportunities for discussion of current thinking in regards to environmental and cultural concerns, economic development, and problems connected with these issues in the North American West, Canada to Mexico.
Floyd A. O’Neil
The Floyd A. O'Neil papers (1884-2006) contain documents from the American West Center, Western Folklife Center, Indian Self Rule Conference, and the Institute of the North American West. Included are oral histories, research files, and both published and unpublished documents related to O'Neil's position as a history professor at the University of Utah, co-chair of the Western Folklife Center, and director of the American West Center.
Washington State University
Clifford R. Koester Collection
The Clifford R. Koester collection housed at the Washington State University Libraries Manuscript, Archives, and Special Collections Department provides a unique, and sometimes overlooked, insight into the community, construction, and evolution of the Columbia Basin Project and specifically the Grand Coulee Dam. As a long-time member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and a resident of the town of Coulee Dam (WA), Clifford Koester emphasized the workers’ experience in his photograph and project history. In Koester’s A History of the Columbia Basin Project, he focused on the contributions of laborers to this monumental project. In the dedication, he observed that "the ability and achievements of the planners and engineers have often been extolled elsewhere. I wish to speak now of the craftsmen and common workmen who toiled here, and gave a part of their lives to further this great work…" Koester’s collection includes a reproduction of his unpublished three volume history focused on the laborers and their project, as well as a number of newsletters from several organizations active at the Dam site.
Frank A Banks Papers
The papers consist of project histories of several Bureau of Reclamation projects directed by Banks, ephemeral engineering publications connected with the Grand Coulee Project, printed items of restricted circulation such as engineering reports, and Banks' correspondence, notes and papers re: private consultation projects, notably the Bhakra Dam in India.
Water Resources Center, UC Riverside
Frank Adams Papers, 1889-1962
The Adams Papers document the distinguished career and professional activities of Frank Adams (1875-1967), including reports, reprints, correspondence, clippings, and notes, concerning water, irrigation, and land settlement projects in California, the Western States, and Palestine; drafts of legislation pertaining to water, water rights, and irrigation districts; minutes of meetings of various sections of the Commonwealth Club of California; historical and statistical data on California irrigation districts; and, extensive information on University of California Irrigation Investigations in California. Frank Adams was a celebrated professor of irrigation and international consultant on agriculture, who was key to the development, distribution, and use of water in the West.
John S. Eastwood Papers, 1884-1979 (bulk 1903-1924)
John Eastwood (1857-1924) developed the multiple arch dam and designed numerous dams that were constructed in the western United States. The collection includes correspondence, reports, designs, specifications, and photographs, relating to dams, dam sites, and hydroelectric power plants in Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, British Columbia, and Mexico.
Walter L. Huber Photograph Collection, 1911-1953
The Walter L. Huber Photograph Collection contains 1,500 photographs of dams, reservoirs, and other water-related structures taken by Walter L. Huber (1883-1960). His long and varied career as engineer included hydroelectric and hydraulic assignments and projects, such as: assistant to John Debo Galloway, Galloway & Markwardt Engineering Firm, 1905-1908; U.S. Forest Service, 1910-1913; the California State Department of Public Works, many projects including San Gabriel Dam No. 1 and Central Valley Project; construction engineer for the California Debris Commission on arch dams; member of the board of construction engineers of the U.S. War Department on flood control projects on the Los Angeles, San Gabriel and Santa Ana Rivers including Prado, Sepulveda, Brea, Fullerton, Santa Fe and Whittier Narrows Dams, and in Central Valley, Isabella, Pine Flat and Iron Canyon Dams; construction engineer for the City of San Francisco on Cherry Valley Dam; regional water consultant, National Resources Planning Board; and special consultant on earthquake resistant design of dams. (This collection of images supplements the Walter L. Huber Papers collection, held at the Water Resources Center Archives, University of California.)
Edward Hyatt Papers, 1924-1949
This collection includes articles, addresses by Edward Hyatt (1888-1954), and clippings, pertaining to dams, water rights, salt water intrusion, hydroelectric power, the California Water Plan, and other aspects of water in California. Hyatt began his thirty-five year career in the service of his native state as an engineer for the California Highway Commission. In 1916 he transferred to the State Water Commission, an agency created to administer state laws pertaining to water rights. In 1921 the State Water Commission became part of the Division of Water Rights of the State Department of Public Works; Mr. Hyatt was appointed deputy chief and then chief of that division. In 1927 he was appointed State Engineer of California. Mr. Hyatt directed surveys which led to the development of the State Water Plan, the basis for the water conservation program in California, and of the Central Valley Project.
Charles H. Lee Papers (bulk 1912-1955)
Charles Hamilton Lee (1883-1967) began his career as a hydrographer for the U.S. Geological Survey but resigned in 1906 to become assistant engineer for the city of Los Angeles. From 1906-1911, he was involved in design and construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. During this period his report on the groundwater basin of the Independence region of the Owens Valley was published as U.S.G.S. Water Supply Paper 294. Lee was a consulting engineer on numerous projects and he established the Pacific Hydrologic Laboratory, the first soils engineering laboratory on the West Coast. He consulted on the fill project which built Treasure Island, and from 1936-1939 he was chief of Water Supply and Sanitation for the Golden Gate Exposition. The collection contains reports, correspondence, documents, maps, photographs, clippings, etc., pertaining to projects in hydraulics, sanitation, irrigation, municipal water supply, surface water and groundwater hydrology, and soil in California and other Western states, particularly for the City of Los Angeles regarding water supply from the Owens Valley. (This collection is supplemented by the Charles H. Lee Photograph Collection, held at the Water Resources Center Archives, University of California.)
Joseph Barlow Lippincott Papers, 1882-1942
The J.B. Lippincott collection contains correspondence, reports, documents, clippings, and several descriptive photo albums (more than 5,000 photographs) pertaining to projects on dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, and other water supply works, ground water and streamflow in California, in particular for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and in Arizona and other Western States. Mr. Lippincott (1882-1942) was a topographer for the USGS in the late 1890s and became the assistant engineer for the Bear Valley Irrigation Company on the construction of an early irrigation project on the Santa Ana River. With the organization of the U.S. Reclamation Service in 1902, Lippincott became supervising engineer of all Reclamation Service activities in the Pacific Coast region from the Klamath River in Oregon to the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California. In July 1906, Mr. Lippincott left the Reclamation Service to become assistant chief engineer of the Owens River Aqueduct.
Thomas H. Means Papers (bulk 1905-1958)
Thomas Means' early career included nine years in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Soils, during which time he was in charge of soil surveys, principally in the western states. He served six years in the Bureau of Reclamation in land examination and farm unit subdivision and was in charge of a laboratory for the study of the silt-carrying capacities of western streams. In 1910, Means went into private practice in San Francisco, specializing in engineering connected with agriculture, irrigation, drainage, reclamation and water supply. He worked on the Central Valley Project and the Hetch Hetchy project, and played a key role in court battles that led to water rights. The collection includes correspondence and reports concerning the Colorado River and flooding in the Imperial Valley, the Hetch Hetchy Project, Los Angeles water supply, the Southern Sierra Power Company, the salinity of San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, flood control and irrigation projects, groundwater, and land appraisal throughout California and other western states.
Milton N. Nathanson Papers, 1855-1995 (bulk 1965-1985)
The Milton N. Nathanson Papers consists of files Nathanson (1910-2000) compiled during his work as an attorney specializing in Colorado River water issues, including his employment at the Department of Interior as Assistant Regional Solicitor and Field Solicitor and as special consultant to the Department of Interior and the Coachella Valley Water District, as well as notes and drafts written by Nathanson while he was authoring the book, Updating the Hoover Dam Documents, and materials related to his involvement in the Colorado River Board of California.
James D. Schuyler Papers (bulk 1886-1912)
The James Dix Schuyler collection consists of unpublished reports, correspondence, and other documents. The reports cover Schuyler's (1848-1912) work as a consulting engineer in the Western U.S., Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Panama, and Puerto Rico. Schuyler was the author of Reservoirs for Irrigation, Water Power, and Domestic Water Supply (John Wiley & Sons, 1901; 2nd edition, 1908), a work on dams, which for many years was a standard work on this subject.
Walter L. Huber Photograph Collection
This is a listing of photographs of dams, reservoirs, and other water-related structures taken by Walter L. Huber. The list supplements our earlier Water resources reports by Walter L. Huber: an annotated listing, Water Resources Collections and Archives Series Report No. 12, May 1962. The materials are in the collection of the University of California's Water Resources Collections and Archives, Berkeley.
