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Orson Winso Israelsen papers, 1894-1968

Overview of the Collection

Title
Orson Winso Israelsen papers
Dates
1894-1968 (inclusive)
1935-1968 (bulk)
Quantity
, (38 linear feet)
Collection Number
UUS_COLL MSS 31
Summary
Collection consists largely of research notes and texts and final manuscript reports of irrigation and drainage projects undertaken by Dr. Israelsen in his capacity as instructor at Utah State University and as a private engineer and consultant. Individual projects dealing with irrigation and drainage are from Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Canada, India, Iran, Southeast Asia, and Brazil. Heavy emphasis on projects in Cache County, Utah; Millard County, Utah; Utah Lake Drainage Basin; Salt Lake County, Utah; Upper Colorado River Basin; Malad Valley, Idaho; and Moapa Valley, Nevada. Also contains drafts and notes for the book Irrigation Practices and Principles (New York: Wiley & Sons, 1932). Manuscripts and research notes center on irrigation work in Utah, 1920s to 1950s, and drainage work, 1940s to 1950s. Extensive data on Utah canal systems and on river basins in the Intermountain West.
Repository
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives Division
Special Collections & Archives
Merrill-Cazier Library
Utah State University
Logan, UT
84322-3000
Telephone: 4357978248
Fax: 4357972880
scweb@usu.edu
Access Restrictions

Open to public research.

Languages
English.
Sponsor
Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant, 2007-2008
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Biographical Note

Orson Winso Israelsen was born December 25, 1887 in Hyrum, Utah Territory. During Israelsen's youth, he worked on the family farm and attended the local schools in the area. He enrolled in the Brigham Young College in Logan, Utah in 1906 and graduated in 1910. In 1910, he enrolled in the Agricultural College of Utah (now Utah State University) to study irrigation and drainage engineering, and he graduated in 1912 with a BS. In 1912, he enrolled in the College of Engineering at the University of California, Berkley. Two years later, he was awarded an MA in irrigation and drainage engineering. In 1925, he was awarded a PhD.in irrigation and drainage engineering from the University of California.

In 1914, Israelsen was offered a teaching position at the Agricultural College of Utah (UCA), where he taught until his retirement in 1954. During the course of Israelsen's career, he was highly involved with the UAC's Agricultural Experiment Stations and was involved in numerous research projects in Utah, the West, Canada, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, India, and South America. Israelsen was the author of hundreds of published works, and his 1932 work Irrigation Principles and Practices has become the classic treatise on the subject, with a dozen foreign language translations.

About the irrigation field, Israelsen explained that "irrigation is not a sensational science. Its experts don't come up with atom bombs. But through slow step-by-step processes, great men learn to understand basic principles which will make poor land productive and keep rich land rich. Mathematics, chemistry, physics, and hydraulics applied are but a few of the sciences which must be intelligently applied in good irrigation. It is not enough just to 'wet the land' (Forty Years of Sound and Forty Years of Silence, p.129)

In 1928, Israelsen became ill with spinal meningitis, which left him completely deaf for the remainder of his life. His consequent reliance upon the written word for communication lends a special value to his work and professional papers. Of necessity, his papers are complete to a degree matched by few other collections of personal and professional papers.

Israelsen died May 15, 1968 in Logan, Utah.

For a detailed account of his personal and professional life, researchers should see Israelsen's autobiography, Forty Years of Sound and Forty Years of Silence, published in 1968. See Merrill-Cazier Library call # HV2534.I8 A3 or Special Collections call # 920 Is7.

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Content Description

The material in this collection is largely devoted to Dr. Israelsen's professional life as a teacher, researcher, and private consultant in the dual fields of irrigation and drainage science. It includes his correspondence, class notes, research projects, and published and manuscript works. There are additional papers on irrigation and drainage science by other authors which were collected by Dr. Israelsen in the course of his own research.

The Israelsen papers cover the years 1894 to 1966 and are heavily weighted to the research notes and data from which his final publications were written. There are surveys of irrigation companies, water rights' studies, drainage reports and investigations, field notes and surveys, and reports of the many projects in which Dr. Israelsen was involved.

Geographically, the collection is heavily found in Utah, Southern Idaho, and southeastern Nevada. The vast time span assures that the collection covers the transformation from pioneer irrigation and drainage systems to the exact science outlined in Israelsen's classic, Irrigation Practices and Principles (1932).

This collection also contains an addendum that was added in January 2006. This addendum contains papers concerning Project 211 and survey-plot books concerning Project 151. Project 211 was an experimental undertaking during the 1940s which sought to find a more economical method for lining canals and ditches to prevent water loss and conserve soil. The papers concerning Project 211 consist of ten boxes of material in the form of reports, correspondence, publications, financial papers, maps, and other papers. The eleven oversized plot books concerning Project 151 are irrigation surveys conducted in the 1930s of various counties in the state of Utah, such as Cache, Salt Lake, Utah, Wasatch, and Summit Counties. These materials have been organized and placed at the end of the collection.

The addendum material in 5a contains family correspondence and personal papers of Orson Israelsen. Folders 1 and 2 contain his outgoing correspondence and folders 3-13 contain incoming correspondence from his sister Alice Gardner, father Andrew (AMI), mother Boletta, nephew Boyd, brother John A., and brother Vernon all arranged alphabetically then chronologically. Folders 13 and 14 contain miscellaneous incoming correspondence and folders 16-21 consist of materials pertaining to various Israelsen family members.

Suggested Research Use:

Because the papers cover such a vast time period, a period of seminal work in the science of irrigation and drainage, they represent a major source of research data for area studies in the field. In Utah from whence most of the data is derived, they give a good account of the change from the early pioneer irrigation distribution to the more developed, interconnected systems of the present--systems draining from State and Federal reclamation projects. The notes and proceedings of major conferences (particularly the Colorado River studies) which proceeded National Reclamation Acts might be used as basic research materials for an account of the beginnings of such projects.

Suggested research projects are listed below.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances. Permission to publish material from the Orson Winso Israelsen papers must be obtained from the Special Collections and Archives manuscript curator and/or the Special Collections and Archives department head.

Preferred Citation

Orson Winso Israelsen papers, 1894-1966. (COLL MSS 31). Utah State University. Special Collections and Archives Department.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged in the following series: I. Correspondence; II. Israelsen's published and manuscript works; III. Field books and notes; IV. Student papers and theses; V. Project notes and reports; VI. Major Studies (subseries: A. Sevier River; B. Weber Basin; C. Bar B Ranch; D. Colorado River; E. Brazil Project); VII. Clippings, papers, manuscripts by other authors, miscellany.

Acquisition Information

The papers and photographs of Dr. O. W. Israelsen were given to USU Special Collections and Archives in July 1968 by Mrs. O.W. Israelsen and the Department of Agricultural and Irrigation Engineering, represented by Dr. A. Alvin Bishop. The family correspondence and papers in box 5a were donated by Orson's brother Vernon Israelsen.

Processing Note

Guide prepared by: Special Collections and Archives staff.

Separated Materials

Israelsen's photographs have been separated from this collection and transferred to Special Collections' photograph division. Those interested in viewing these photographs should inquire with the USU Special Collections & Archives photograph curator. These photographs consist mainly of pictures taken from Dr. Israelsen's various projects. They are pictures of canals, flood channels, well drilling, examples of erosion and erosion studies, creeks, rivers, lakes, examples of irrigation and drainage, concrete ditches, demonstrations of scientific methods in the study of irrigation and drainage and dams. They also show construction of irrigation ditches.

While the photographs are representative of all the geographical and scientific areas in which Dr. Israelsen researched, fully three-quarters of the whole are devoted to his research and projects within the State of Utah.

Related Materials

Orson Winso Israelsen irrigation photographs(P0358)

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Agricultural engineers--Utah--Logan.
  • Agriculture
  • Colleges and Universities
  • Drainage--Research--Utah.
  • Drainage--Research--West (U.S.)
  • Irrigation engineering--Research--Utah.
  • Irrigation engineering--Research--West (U.S.)
  • Irrigation--Research--Utah.
  • Reclamation of land--Brazil.
  • Reclamation of land--Research--West (U.S.)
  • Water resources development--Research--Utah.
  • Water-storage--Research--West (U.S.)

Geographical Names

  • Hatchtown Dam (Utah)
  • Sevier River (Utah)--Regulation.

Finding aid created by Special Collections and Archives.
2008

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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