Arthur Earl Victor Papers

Arthur Earl Victor Papers, 1927-1944

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Victor, Arthur Earl
Title: Arthur Earl Victor Papers
Dates: 1927-1944 (inclusive)
19271944
Quantity: 4 Linear feet of shelf space, (8 Boxes)
Collection Number: Cage 376 (collection)
Summary: Correspondence, reports, memoranda, field diaries and notebooks, photographs and printed material regarding Civilian Conservation Corps activities (particularly in combating soil erosion) in Washington, Idaho, and Oregon.
Repository: Washington State University Libraries' Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections
Terrell Library Suite 12
Pullman, WA
99164-5610
Telephone: 509-335-6691
mascref@wsu.edu
Access Restrictions: This collection is open and available for research use.
Languages: English

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Arthur Earl Victor was born on March 30, 1900, in May View, Washington. He attended high school in Oregon and in Pullman, Washington. He served in the United States Navy from June 1918 to March 1919. Victor attended Oregon State College at Corvallis for a year after leaving the Navy. From June 1920 to March 1934 when he went to work for the Federal Government, Victor held a number of positions which primarily involved his skills with machinery and carpentry. From March to May 1934 Victor worked for the U.S. Geological Survey in Pullman; in May of that year he went to work for the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) as an engineer-foreman with duties as camp engineer in the first Soil Erosion 200-man Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp in the Pacific Northwest. Victor was in charge of developing methods of erosion control on gullies, developed springs, masonry dams, seeding, and sodding. He also developed work and cost reports and job training classes for foremen and enrollees. In June 1935 he was promoted to Assistant State Administrator of the CCC and in December of that year he was promoted again to Assistant Regional Administrator. In this position Victor assisted in the development of an organization to supervise 18 CCC camps in the three Northwest states. Victor was responsible for building construction, equipment, purchase, maintenance, and reports, and enrollee education and training. In June 1938 he was assigned to the Regional Information Division which focused his attention on training for foremen and enrollees. This position lasted for a little over a year and in November 1939 Victor returned to his administrative duties as Assistant Regional Administrator. During his tenure with the CCC, Victor traveled extensively giving educational presentations about soil erosion to farmers and CCC personnel. The documentation in the Victor papers ends in late 1942 at which time Victor was still with the Soil Conservation Service in his capacity as Assistant Regional Administrator.

Historical NoteReturn to Top

The Civilian Conservation Corp was created by an act approved by Congress on June 28, 1937, as amended, to succeed the Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) which was established by Executive order number 6101 of April 5, 1933. The CCC was reorganized and made a part of the Federal Security Agency as of July 1, 1939. In May 1940 the Corps began converting to defense work on military reservations and forest protection. The Labor-Federal Security Appropriation Act of 1943 provided for the liquidation of the CCC not later than June 30, 1943.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The Arthur Earl Victor collection includes Civilian Conservation Corps material from 1927 through 1942, though the bulk of the material covers the period 1934 through 1942. The papers are arranged in five series: Correspondence; Subject File; Publications, Pamphlets, Reports and Guides; Notebooks; and Photographs and Slides.

The Correspondence series, covering 1934-1942 contains both incoming and outgoing correspondence from Victor and is primarily to and from his superiors in the Soil Conservation Service, particularly with his immediate supervisor, A.W. Middleton. This series also contains Victor's private correspondence with friends, his applications for promotion within the CCC, job records and descriptions, and income tax records.

The second series, the Subject File, was constructed by the processor from non-correspondence material in the accession. It contains material related to Victor's work with the CCC. Included in the Subject File are lessons and course material for training CCC enrollees, CCC newspapers and clippings, construction information for CCC buildings, soil erosion information, and vouchers detailing Victor's travels from 1936 through 1942.

The third series consists of publications, pamphlets, reports, and guides. The bulk of this material was published by the SCS, the CCC or other government agencies. Included in this series is an article by Victor for Northwest Science, 1935, titled: Some Effects of Cultivation Upon Stream History and Upon the Topography of the Palouse Region.

The fourth series, Notebooks, includes Victor's notebooks during his employment with the CCC: notebooks, 1935-1939; field diaries, 1937-1942; appointment books, 1934-1937; personnel notebooks for SCS, ECW, and CCC; equipment notebook, 1942; intra-office memo notebook, 1937; telegram book, 1935; time books, 1927 and 1942; lesson notes, 1934; travel expenses, 1937-1938; and general notebooks, undated.

The fifth series, Photographs and Slides, consists of about 1100 photographs and slides of CCC personnel, camps, equipment, work, and activities in the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, and Idaho).

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

Preferred Citation

[Item description]

Arthur Earl Victor Papers, 1927-1944 (Cage 376)

Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Arrangement

The papers are arranged in five series. The first series, Correspondence, is arranged chronologically by year. The second series, the Subject File, is arranged alphabetically by subject.

Acquisition Information

The papers of Arthur Earl Victor (b. 1900) were donated to the Washington State University Libraries in July 1977, by Arthur Earl Victor (77-40).

Processing Note

The papers were arranged and described by Stephen E. Balzarini. The photographs were arranged by Dave Smested.

Related Materials

Arthur Earl Victor Papers, 1882-1986 (Cage 594)

Other CCC-related archival collections in MASC:

Jay Mark Gleason Papers, 1933-1942 (Cage 26)

Robert Wesley Carroll Papers, 1938-1972 (Cage 75)

George T. Spinning Papers, 1935-1938 (Cage 252)

Elmo Richardson Papers, 1930-2011 (Cage 582)

Stuart Wright Civilian Conservation Corps Scrapbooks, 1933-1936 (Cage 784)

Civilian Conservation Corps Newsletters, Co. 554, Genesee, ID, 1937, undated (Cage 4953)

Civilian Conservation Corps Company 1312, Moscow, ID Roster, 1934-1935 (Cage 4960)

Civilian Conservation Corps Ephemera Collection, 1935-1940 (Cage 4992)

Civilian Conservation Corps, Camp Willow Creek, Co. 2524 Papers, 1936-1937 (Cage 5022)

Civilian Conservation Corps Educational Program Literature Collection, 1935-1936 (Cage 5033)

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Series 1: CorrespondenceReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description	Dates
Box	Folder
1	1	Correspondence 55 items	undated
1	2-9	Correspondence 415 items	1934-1942

Series 2: Subject FileReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description	Dates
Box	Folder
1	10	Camp buildings 2 items	1938
1	11	Certified lists--Washington, Oregon, and Idaho 8 items	1935
		Course Material
Box	Folder
1	12	Soil Conservation and Natural Resources 5 items	undated
1	13	SCS Lessons, Units 1-6 20 items	undated
		Directories
		Regional Office Personnel; Project and Camp Personnel; Washington D.C. Personnel
Box	Folder
1	14	20 items	1937-1939
1	15	40 items	1938-1939
Box	Folder
1	16	SCS, Pacific Coast Region 1 items	1944
Box	Folder
1	17	ECW Personnel 20 items	undated
1	18	Educational Conference, CCC 1 items	Nov. 1-3 1939
1	19	Erosion talk--Northwest Scientific Association, Dec 15 items	1934
1	20	Essays on Soil Conservation by Lewis-Clark High School Students 25 items	1938
		Film Strip Project
Box	Folder
1	21	Correspondence 1 items	1941
1	22	Lessons (list of slides and text) 70 items	1938
Box	Folder
1	23	Forms 3 items	1940
1	24	Gully Control 6 items	1934
1	25	Meteorology notes 25 items	1935
		Newspapers
Box	Folder
1	26	CCC Review 5 items	Oct-Dec 1935
1	27	Clippings 25 items	1934-1938
1	28	Clippings--CCC participation in winter of 1936 30 items	1936
1	29	Lewis-Clark Trail Blazer 10 items	Oct 1935-Nov 1936
1	30	Contributions to the Northwester (newsletter) 25 items
1	31	Northwester, Vol. 1, Nos. 4, 5; Vol. 2, Nos. 1-7, 12; Vol. 3, Nos. 1, 2, 5. 13 items
		Nursery Buildings
Box	Folder
1	32	Blueprints 25 items	1936
1	33	Correspondence with Consulting Architect 95 items	1936
Box	Folder
1	34-36	Organizational Charts 20 items	1938; 1941
1	37	Sagehen Dam, Gem Co., Idaho, Plans and Specs. 1 items	1937
1	38	Side Camps, Notes on 7 items	1940-1941
2	39	Training Specifications, Committee on CCC 50 items	1941
2	40-41	Travel Vouchers 115 items	1936-1942
2	42	Washington D.C. Trip 40 items	Sept-Oct 1941
2	43	Work schedules 3 items	undated

Series 3 Publications, Pamphlets, Reports, and GuidesReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description	Dates
Box	Folder
2	44	Farm Planning and Management Handbook 1 items	1941
2	45	Field Instructions, SCS, Region 11 1 items	1936
2	46	Instructions, CCC, 9th Corps Area 1 items	1935
2	47	Lord, Russell. "To Hold This Soil." SCS 1 items	1938
2	48	Pamphlets, Reports and Guides--SCS, CCC 20 items
2	49	Pamphlets 12 items
2	50	Victor, A.E. "Some Effects of Cultivation Upon Stream History." Northwest Science 1 items	1935

Series 4: NotebooksReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description	Dates
Box	Folder
2	51	Notebooks 12 items	1935-1939
2	52	Field Diaries 23 items	1937-1942
2	53	Appointment Books 4 items	1934-1937
2	54	Personnel Notebooks--SCS, EWC, CCC 2 items
2	55	CCC Equipment Notebook 1 items	1942
2	56	Intra-Office Memo Notebook 1 items	1937
2	57	Western Union Telegram Book 1 items	1935
2	58	Time Books 2 items	1927; 1942
2	59	Lesson Notes 1 items	1934
2	60	Traveling Expenses 5 items	1937-1938
2	61	General Notebooks 4 items	undated

Series 5: Photographs and SlidesReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description	Dates
Box	Folder
3	62	Idaho, black and white photographs 5 items
3	63	Oregon, black and white photographs 16 items
3	64	Washington, black and white photographs 31 items
3	65	Aerial photographs, 8 x 10 black and white, taken Dale Sevarty, National Guard Pilot 37 items	1937-1938
3	66	Happy Canyon Dam, Oregon, black and white photographs (plus contact prints from nitrate 12-80) 69 items	1938
3	67	Equipment, black and white photographs 58 items
3	68	People (identified), black and white photographs 9 items
3	69	Unidentified, black and white 72 items
3	70	CCC Camps (Goldendale) and Soil Erosion, 35 mm negatives and unmounted transparencies (black and white) 120 items
3	71	Correspondence related to photographs 3 items
3	72	Photograph album of Soil Erosion Service, Project 6 (black and white photographs) 195 items
3	73	Description of slides in boxes 5-8 4 items
		Panoramas and oversized photographs
Box	Folder
4	74	Dayton Camp 1 items	1936
4	75	Educational Advisors Meeting, Ft. Wright 1 items	1938
4	76	Garfield Camp, Pomeroy, WA 1 items	1936
4	77	Genesee Camp 1 items	1936
4	78	McConnell Camp, Boise, Idaho 1 items	1939
4	79	Moscow Camp 1 items	undated
4	80	Moscow Camp 1 items	1936
4	81	Moscow Camp 1 items	1938
4	82	Moscow Camp 1 items	1938
4	83	Moscow Camp 1 items	1940
4	84	Sagehen Camp, Emmett, Idaho 1 items	undated
4	85	Walla Walla Camp 1 items	1936
		35 mm slides (for index, see: Folder 73)
Box
5		Color slides of CCC related activities in the Pacific Northwest, taken by CCC photographer Mead 116 items
6		Color and black and white slides taken in Idaho 169 items
7		Color and black and white slides taken in Oregon 189 items
8		Color and black and white slides taken in Washington 168 items

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

Soil conservation -- Northwest, Pacific

Personal Names

Victor, Arthur Earl -- Archives.

Corporate Names

United States. Soil Conservation Service
Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S.) -- History -- Sources.
Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S.) -- Records and correspondence.

Archives West Finding Aid

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