Guide to the Homer A. Halverson Collection

Special Collections & Archives
University Library
California State University, Northridge
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330-8326
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Contributing Institution: Special Collections & Archives
Title: Homer A. Halverson Collection
Creator: Halverson, Homer A., 1903-2002
Identifier/Call Number: URB.HAH
Physical Description: 1.46 linear feet
Physical Description: 1 Gigabytes
Date (inclusive): 1915-1994
Abstract: Homer Halverson worked for the City of Los Angeles as an Engineer in the 1920s, on his family's orange grove in the San Fernando Valley in the early 1930s, and as a structural draftsman in the US Army Corps of Engineers from the mid-1930s to his retirement in 1965. The Homer A. Halverson Collection documents water history and related infrastructure in the greater Los Angeles area in the early- to mid-20 th century, especially the construction of containment and runoff systems within urban and suburban areas in the city. The Collection also documents Halverson family history, and the family's move from Oklahoma to California as well as other travels across the United States and Mexico. It consists primarily of photographs.
Language of Material: English.

Biographical Information:

Homer Halverson, son of Ole and Laura Halverson, was born in 1903 in Minco, Oklahoma. After attending the University of Oklahoma, he moved to California in 1924, settling in the San Fernando Valley with his family. He met and married his wife, Millicent Scoltock, shortly after, with whom he had two daughters, Gail and Karen.
Halverson worked for the City of Los Angeles as an Engineer in the 1920s, but spent the early 1930s working on his family's orange grove in the San Fernando Valley. By 1936 he had become a structural draftsman in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers based out of Glendale, California. During his many decades with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Halverson worked to address flooding in the valley and greater Los Angeles, designed structures to channel water and streams into larger river beds, constructed dams and reservoirs, and designed and built reinforced concrete flood control across Los Angeles.
In the early 1950s the Halverson family sold their San Fernando Valley citrus grove to the state of California, which used the land to build a satellite campus of California State University, Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. The satellite campus eventually became San Fernando Valley State College, now called California State University, Northridge. Homer Halverson retired in 1965, and passed away in 2002.

Scope and Contents

The Homer A. Halverson Collection documents water history and related infrastructure in the greater Los Angeles area from the early- to mid-20 th century, especially the construction of containment and runoff systems within urban and suburban areas in the city. The Collection also documents Halverson family history, and the family's move from Oklahoma to California as well as other travels across the United States and Mexico. It consists primarily of photographs, but also includes magazine and newspaper articles, pamphlets, brochures, flyers, and other materials. The collection consists of two series: Los Angeles Water Infrastructure (1915-1976) and Personal Files (1925-1994).
Series I, Los Angeles Water Infrastructure, documents the construction of water management systems and water-related infrastructure in the city of Los Angeles from the early- to mid-20 th century, as well as existing water systems in the city and outlying areas, especially the Los Angeles River. It consists of photographs, negatives, color transparencies, and slides documenting various water-related construction projects and sites, in addition to those of numerous rivers, creeks, channels, reservoirs, and dams around Los Angeles. It also includes photographs of other Los Angeles infrastructure, especially freeways. The series dates from 1915 to 1976 and is filed alphabetically.
Series II, Personal Files, documents Halverson family history and Homer's personal interests. The material includes two family histories authored by Homer in 1915 and 1924 and transcribed at a later date with accompanying photographs. Also included are travel photographs, photographs of the Halverson family and their home, as well as ephemera documenting Halverson's interests outside of the water supply to Los Angeles, especially literature, drawing, and the western United States. It includes detached magazine covers, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, brochures, flyers, and other materials. The material also includes digital copies of photographs taken by Homer along with printed indexes including titles and descriptions for all of the photographs. The series dates from 1925 to 1994, and is filed alphabetically.

Arrangement of Materials:

Series I: Los Angeles Water Infrastructure, 1915-1976
Series II: Personal Files, 1925-1994

Electronic Format:

Digital reproductions of selected items in this collection are available electronically as a part of the San Fernando History Digital Library  and Water Works  project.

Related Materials

Oklahoma Son  by Homer Halverson

Conditions Governing Access:

The collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use:

Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of this collection has been transferred to California State University, Northridge. Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Karen Lenker, 09/11/2003.

Preferred Citation:

For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual, or see the Citing Archival Materials  guide.

Processing Information:

The collection was described in a preliminary finding aid that was completed in 2013 and updated in 2024 with the addition of material received in 2003.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Ephemera
Documents
Photographs

 

Series I: Los Angeles Water Infrastructure, 1915-1976

Box 1, Folder 1

Caballero Creek, 1961 March 19

Box 1, Folder 2

Carbon Creek

Box 1, Folder 3

Cerritos Pump Station

Box 1, Folder 4

Chino Creek, 1956

Box 1, Folder 5

Chino Creek

Box 1, Folder 6

Chino Creek

Box 1, Folder 7

Chino Creek

Box 1, Folder 8

Chino Creek

Box 1, Folder 9

Chino Creek

Box 1, Folder 10

Chino Creek

Box 1, Folder 11

Chino Creek

Box 1, Folder 12

Chino Creek

Box 1, Folder 13

Chino Creek Power Towers

Box 1, Folder 14

CSUN site, Northridge Silverlake Dam

Box 1, Folder 15

CSUN site, Northridge Silverlake Dam

Box 1, Folder 16

Gorey Ave

Box 1, Folder 17

Higgins and Coldwater

Box 1, Folder 18

Isabella Lake

Box 1, Folder 19

Jones Brothers Breeding Stables

Box 1, Folder 20

Lopez Resevoir

Box 1, Folder 21

Los Angeles Downtown

Box 1, Folder 22

Los Angeles Freeways

Box 1, Folder 23

Los Angeles River

Box 1, Folder 24

Los Angeles River, Army Corps of Engineers

Box 1, Folder 25

Los Angeles River, Army Corps of Engineers

Box 1, Folder 26

Los Angeles River Flood Damage and Installation of Cut Off

Box 1, Folder 27

Los Angeles River Freeway crossing near Hazelhurst, Upper Los Angeles River near Lancaster

Box 1, Folder 28

Los Angeles River Left Bank at PE Bridge Station 252, 1956 January 23

Box 1, Folder 29

Los Angeles River, Upper

Box 4, Folder 1

Los Angeles Water Infrastructure Gathered Photographic Index, ca. 1936-1976

Digital Folder

Los Angeles Water Infrastructure Gathered Photographs And Index, ca. 1936-1976

Physical Description: 192 Megabytes
Digital Folder

Los Angeles Water Infrastructure Gathered Photographs And Index, ca. 1936-1976

Physical Description: 51.3 Megabytes
Box 1, Folder 30

Maddock Channel

Box 1, Folder 31

Marshall Creek

Box 1, Folder 32

Marshall Creek

Box 1, Folder 33

Marshall Creek , Army Corps of Engineers

Box 1, Folder 34

Marshall Creek and Freeways Flood Control

Box 1, Folder 35

Marshall Creek and Hillcrest Debris Barn

Box 1, Folder 36

Northridge

Box 1, Folder 37

Northridge Aerial Photos

Box 1, Folder 38

Pacoima Wash

Box 1, Folder 39

Pacoima Wash

Box 2, Folder 1

Rio Hondo

Box 2, Folder 2

San Antonio

Box 2, Folder 3

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 4

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 5

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 6

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 7

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 8

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 9

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 10

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 11

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 12

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 13

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 14

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 15

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 16

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 17

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 18

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 19

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 20

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 21

San Antonio Dam

Box 2, Folder 22

Santa Fe Dam

Box 2, Folder 23

Silver Lake Dam

Box 2, Folder 24

Unidentified

Box 2, Folder 25

Unidentified color transparencies

Box 2, Folder 26

Unidentified photos and negatives

Box 2, Folder 27

Upper San Gabriel

Box 2, Folder 28

Walnut Creek

Box 2, Folder 29

Wilson Mansfield

 

Series II: Personal Files, 1925-1994

Box 3, Folder 1

Easy Landscape Drawing, Grade 1

Digital Folder

Family, Home, and Travel Photographs, 1925

Physical Description: 172 Megabytes
Digital Folder

Family, Home, and Travel Photographs, 1926

Physical Description: 133 Megabytes
Digital Folder

Family, Home, and Travel Photographs, 1927

Physical Description: 140 Megabytes
Box 4, Folder 2

Family, Home, and Travel Photographs and Index, 1925

Box 4, Folder 3

Family, Home, and Travel Photographs and Index, 1926

Box 4, Folder 4

Family, Home, and Travel Photographs and Index, 1927

Box 3, Folder 2

Flyers

Box 4, Folder 5

Homer Halverson memoir, Travels with Papa: 1915 , Photographs, Story and Index, 1977

Box 3, Folder 3

Literary Digest Covers, 1928-1977

Digital Folder

Move from Oklahoma to California Photographs, 1924

Physical Description: 45.2 Megabytes
Box 4, Folder 6

Move from Oklahoma to California Photographs and Story, 1924

Box 3, Folder 4

The Nash News, 1928-1929

Box 3, Folder 5

Newspaper Clippings, 1928-1929

Box 3, Folder 6

Notes

Box 3, Folder 7

Owensmouth High School Commencement Program

Box 3, Folder 8

Pamphlets and brochures

Digital Folder

Personal Photographs Gathered, Gallery For CSUN, 1915-1994

Physical Description: 115 Megabytes
Box 4, Folder 7

Personal Photographs Gathered, Gallery For CSUN, Photographic Index, ca. 1915-1994

Box 3, Folder 9

Touring Topics Covers, 1929

Box 4, Folder 8

Travel to Colorado Photographs and Index, 1927

Digital Folder

Travel Photographs, 1928

Physical Description: 173 Megabytes
Box 4, Folder 9

Travel Photographs and Index, 1928

Box 3, Folder 10

Union Oil Bulletin cover, February 1928