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Doris O. Dawdy papers
WRCA 202
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Title: Doris O. Dawdy papers
Date (inclusive): 1865-1995
Date (bulk): 1980-1995
Collection Number: WRCA 202
Creator:
Dawdy, Doris Ostrander
Extent:
6.25 linear feet
(15 boxes)
Repository:
Rivera Library. Special Collections Department.
Riverside, CA 92517-5900
Abstract: This collection represents Dawdy's research files for her book:
Congress In Its Wisdom: The Bureau of Reclamation and the Public Interest, Studies in Water Policy and Management, No. 13 (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1989).
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]. Doris O. Dawdy papers (WRCA 202). Water Resources Collections and Archives.
Special Collections & University Archives, University of California, Riverside.
Gift of Doris O. Dawdy, 1995.
Processed by Melissa McGann, 2000.
Collection number updated December 2018. Legacy collection number was MS 99/2. This change was part of a project in 2018/2019
to update the collection numbers for collections in the Water Resources Collections and Archives.
Originally from Minneapolis, MN, Doris Dawdy's first professional aspirations were very different from her present occupation
as a researcher of water rights and other historical issues in the American West. In her late-teens, Dawdy played the clarinet,
saxophone, and violin in addition to conducting her own orchestra. She attended the MacPhail School of Music in Minneapolis,
Minnesota to train as a professional music instructor, but left the school just before graduation to pursue other interests.
Dawdy began her career as an author by documenting artists in the American West. Her most notable works include
Annotated Bibliography of American Indian Painting (New York: Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, 1968), and the three volume set
Artists of the American West (Athens: Swallow Press/Ohio University Press, 1980, 1981, and 1985, respectively). She also edited two journal accounts:
A Voice in Her Tribe: A Navajo Woman's Own Story, Based on Navajo Activist Irene Stewart's Letters to Anthropologist Dr. Mary
Shepardson
(Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press, 1980), and
The Wyant Diary: An Artist With the Wheeler Survey in Arizona, 1873 (
Arizona and the West, Autumn 1980).
Her primary interests, however, are in the fields of politics and political science, with a particular focus on analyzing
government agencies and their operations. She attributes these interests to her experiences as an aid to a Minnesota senator
and as a lawyer's public stenographer. Through exposure to her husband's work, Dawdy added another dimension to her research
interests: water rights in the western United States. Dawdy's extensive research into water quality issues, particularly in
California, has given her over thirty-five years of experience and expertise with which she writes her books. Her diligent
efforts to follow and report on trends in water management arise out of a concern over water use in the West, especially in
California.
Dawdy continues to write about a variety of topics pertaining to the American West. She recently published
George Montague Wheeler: The Man and the Myth (Athens: Swallow Press/Ohio University Press, 1993), a critical look at Wheeler's explorations in the American West from
1869-1879, and has three more books in various stages of completion. The soonest to be released is an examination of the history
of the Army Corps of Engineers, which is being published by the University of Ohio Press. The second book discusses water
and land issues on Navaho/Hopi reservations and is currently under review. The third book is a work-in-progress that serves
as a follow-up to
Congress in its Wisdom: The Bureau of Reclamation and the Public Interest, Studies in Water Policy and Management, No. 13 (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1989), by further examining the actions of
the USBR.
Doris and her husband, prominent research hydrologist and consultant David R. Dawdy, currently reside in the San Francisco
Bay Area. Further bibliographical citations for Doris Dawdy are located in the
Who's Who in American Art,
Who's Who in the West,
World's Who's Who of Women, and
Contemporary Authors.
The Doris O. Dawdy Papers represent the research files Dawdy used to create her book
Congress in Its Wisdom: The Bureau of Reclamation and the Public Interest, Studies in Water Policy and Management, No. 13 (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1989).
Congress in its Wisdom "provides a critical look at the Bureau and its works, arguing for a reform of the agency and a new mandate from a constituency
of all citizens and representing all interest groups." (caption from back cover)
The collection is divided into seven series: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), Selenium, Westlands Water District (WWD),
Subject Files, Geographical Files, Clippings, and Reports. The bulk of the Dawdy Papers is arranged first by subject matter,
and then chronologically. Two additional topics prevalent in the collection but not represented by series are the Kesterson
Reservoir and the San Luis Drain.
Published and unpublished reports have been transferred to the general collection of the Water Resources Collections and Archives.
See call numbers related to the United States Bureau of Reclamation, the San Luis Drain, Kesterson Reservoir, Westlands Water
District, and selenium.
Dawdy's book,
Congress in Its Wisdom: The Bureau of Reclamation and the Public Interest, Studies in Water Policy and Management, No. 13 (Boulder: Westview Press, 1989) is also available under WRCA call number
G2045 M9
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program
United States. Bureau of Reclamation
Westlands Water District (Calif.)
Agricultural pollution -- California -- San Joaquin Valley
Drainage -- Environmental aspects -- California -- San Joaquin Valley
Kesterson Reservoir (Calif.)
San Luis Drain (Calif.)
Selenium -- Environmental aspects -- California -- San Joaquin Valley
Research notes