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Ralph M. Brody papers
WRCA 121
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Title: Ralph M. Brody papers
Date (inclusive): 1959-1981
Collection Number: WRCA 121
Creator:
Brody, Ralph M., 1912-
Extent:
11.0 linear feet
(11 boxes)
Repository:
Rivera Library. Special Collections Department.
Riverside, CA 92517-5900
Abstract: The collection consists of reports,
meeting minutes, agendas, notes, speeches, legal documents, contracts, and other materials
related to California water issues in the 1960s and 1970s.
Languages: The collection is in English.
The collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the University of California, Riverside Libraries,
Special Collections & University Archives. Distribution or reproduction of materials
protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of
the copyright owners. To the extent other restrictions apply, permission for distribution or
reproduction from the applicable rights holder is also required. Responsibility for
obtaining permissions, and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
[identification of item], [date if possible]. Ralph M. Brody papers (WRCA 121). Water
Resources Collections and Archives. Special Collections & University Archives,
University of California, Riverside.
Provenance unknown.
Processed by Water Resources Collections and Archives staff, 1999.
Collection number updated December 2018. Legacy collection number was MS 86/1. This change
was part of a project in 2018/2019 to update the collection numbers for collections in the
Water Resources Collections and Archives.
Ralph M. Brody was born in Madison, Illinois, June 22, 1912 to Russian immigrants Harry and
Beckie Brody. After graduating from the State University of Iowa with a BA in Political
Science, he attended the University of Iowa where he received his JD in 1938.
Brody worked as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1938-1944, when he
received an appointment as Assistant Regional Counsel to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in
Sacramento, CA. In 1952 he left the Bureau of Reclamation to pursue private law practice,
primarily in the field of water and power law. In 1959 he was chosen by Governor Edmund
Brown, Sr. to act as the governor's
Special Counsel on Water Issues. At that
time he was also appointed Chief Deputy Director of Water Resources. Brody used his water
law expertise and political savvy to guide the governor's legislation through the California
Legislature. He also acted as a liaison for the governor in presenting the proposed
legislation to individuals and groups from one end of the state to the other. The lobbying
was successful, and the California State Water Project was authorized by the electorate in
1960.
In 1960 Brody was appointed to the chairmanship of the California Water Commission, a
position he held until the end of the Brown administration in 1966.
Brody became Manager/Chief Counsel for the Westlands Water District in 1960. Westlands, a
water district comprised of some 350,000 acres of farmland, is a prime beneficiary of water
from the San Luis Unit of the Central Valley Project. Brody remained at Westlands until his
retirement in 1977, when he became a consultant to Westlands and other water districts.
Brody died December 22, 1981 while vacationing in Washington, D.C.
The collection consists of reports, meeting minutes, agendas, notes, speeches, legal
documents, contracts, and other materials related to California water issues in the 1960s
and 1970s.
The collection is divided into ten sections, with each section representing an individual
unit within the overall collection. Each file number within each section indicates only the
information found in that specific file. There are generally no blanket files containing
information not specifically listed in the file heading.
Some larger files may have tangential information due to the scope of the file. Some
larger files may span years, while some of the smaller files may be quite date specific.
Some of the file headings were Ralph Brody's; there has been an attempt at clarification
where the file heading may have been ambiguous or incomplete.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
California. State Water Commission
California State Water Project
San
Benito County Water Conservation and Flood Control District (Calif.)
United
States. Bonneville Power Administration
Westlands Water District (Calif.)
California. Burns-Porter Act
Interconnected electric utility systems -- West (U.S.)
Irrigation farming -- California
Land tenure -- California
Reclamation of land -- West (U.S.) -- History
Water -- Law and legislation -- California
Water resources development -- California
Water transfer -- California
Contracts
Legal
documents
Minutes
(administrative records)
Notes
Reports