Hugh G. Hansen papers
Finding aid prepared by Randal Brandt, WRCA Technical Services Librarian, and Erica
Nordmeier.
Special Collections & University Archives
The UCR Library
P.O. Box 5900
University of California
Riverside, California 92517-5900
Phone: 951-827-3233
Fax: 951-827-4673
Email: specialcollections@ucr.edu
URL:
http://library.ucr.edu/libraries/special-collections-university-archives
© 2001
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Hugh G. Hansen papers
Date (inclusive): 1930-1971
Date (bulk): 1946-1959
Collection Number: WRCA 159
Creator:
Hansen, Hugh G.
Extent:
4.08 linear feet
(8 boxes)
Repository:
Rivera Library. Special Collections Department.
Abstract: This collection is composed primarily
of research files compiled for Hansen's study of federal-state relations in the Central
Valley, which resulted in his dissertation, The Central Valley Project: Federal or
State?(also published by the California State Assembly Interim Committee on Conservation,
Planning and Public Works as Volume 13, no. 6, of the Committee's reports). Includes
extensive interview notes, correspondence, reports, and detailed annotations of sources
consulted.
Languages: The collection is in English.
Access
The collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
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.
Preferred Citation
[identification of item], [date if possible]. Hugh G. Hansen papers (WRCA 159). Water
Resources Collections and Archives. Special Collections & University Archives,
University of California, Riverside.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Hugh G. Hansen, July 1996.
Processing History
Processed by Randal Brandt, WRCA Technical Services Librarian, and Erica Nordmeier,
2001.
Collection Number
Collection number updated February 2019. Legacy collection number was MS 96/7. This change
was part of a project in 2018/2019 to update the collection numbers for collections in the
Water Resources Collections and Archives.
Biographical Note
Hugh Groves Hansen was born on August 25, 1917 in Chico, California. He earned an A.B.
degree from Oberlin College in 1938, a M.P.A. from University of Michigan in 1946, and a Ph.
D. in Economics from the University of California, Riverside, in September 1955.
From July 1951 to July 1952, Hansen was employed as an economist in the U.S. Office of
Price Stabilizationin San Francisco. The OPS was established in 1951 as part of a price
control law intended to restrain inflation during the Korean War. While not empowered by law
to regulate public utility rates, the OPS could appear as a "friend of the court" -- or in
this case, the California Public Utilities Commission -- in the national interest, which the
San Francisco office undertook to do in opposing a rate increase requested by Pacific Gas
& Electric Companyin November 1951. Hansen was intending to present his arguments before
the PUC, but was unable to do so when the hearing was established on short notice and he was
out of San Francisco on another assignment at the time. Another OPS staff member presented
Hansen's findings to the Commission, which acknowledged, but rejected, his arguments in
their final decision.
In 1952, Hansen obtained a research fellowship grant from the John Randolph Haynes and
Dora Haynes Foundation of Los Angeles to undertake a study of Central Valley water
development. In the summer of 1953, he joined the staff of the Bureau of Public
Administration at the University of California, Berkeley,as a Public Administration Analyst.
His initial assignment was to conduct a brief study of federal-state relations in the
Central Valley. The study lasted over two years and resulted in a detailed report submitted
to the California State Assembly Interim Committee on Conservation, Planning, and Public
Works.The report, Central Valley Project: Federal or State?, also served as Hansen's
dissertation.
After receiving his Ph. D., Hansen served as Professor of Economics at the University of
North Dakota and the State University of Iowa.
From February 1958 to October 1959, Hansen worked as Chief of the U.S. Census of
Irrigation,a division of the U.S. Census of Agriculture,under Ray Hurley.He was primarily
responsible for the direction of reorientation of the 1960 Census and for the working out of
new concepts for statistical data gathering and tabulation of irrigation water data. The
direction of reorientation was toward an emphasis on quantities of water diverted, used for
irrigation, and transferred between drainage basins, and a de-emphasis on the previous
practice of measuring characteristics of irrigation organizations. The 1960 Census
emphasized "acre feet of water flows" rather than the previous emphasis on "acres
irrigated."
Hansen died on June 25, 1998 in Laramie, Wyoming.
Collection Scope and Contents
This collection is composed primarily of research files compiled for Hansen's study of
federal-state relations in the Central Valley, which resulted in his dissertation, The
Central Valley Project: Federal or State?(also published by the California State Assembly
Interim Committee on Conservation, Planning and Public Works as Volume 13, no. 6, of the
Committee's reports). Includes extensive interview notes, correspondence, reports, and
detailed annotations of sources consulted.
Also includes materials on electric power rates (compiled by Hansen as an economist at the
Office of Price Stabilizationfor submission to the California Public Utilities Commissionin
the "PG & E rate case" of 1951), the irrigation districts movement in California, and
the 1960 Census of Irrigation.
Material Cataloged Separately
- Central Valley Project studies, 1942-1947. Reports integrated into pre-existing
collection. Filed under call number WRCA MS 95/2.
- United States. Bureau of Reclamation. Central Valley Federal Reclamation Project :
letter from the acting Secretary of the Interior transmitting a report presented to
Secretary Krug ... on the Central Valley Federal Reclamation Project in California,
February 24, 1947. Washington, D.C., 1947. House document / 80th Congress, 1st Session ;
no. 146. WRCA G4316 G7-6
- Hansen, Hugh G. Central Valley Project : federal or state? Sacramento, Calif. :
Assembly of the State of California, May 1955. Assembly Interim Committee reports
1953-1955 ; v. 13, no. 6. WRCA G4316 H5-1
- Baker, Clyde C.,and Hugh G. Hansen. The Central Valley Project : federal or
state?Berkeley : Bureau of Public Administration, University of California, June 1955.
1955 legislative problems ; no. 8. WRCA G4316 H5-3
- United States. Bureau of Reclamation. Region 2. Advance power program 1954-1963 :
program of power development, fiscal years 1954 through 1963. Sacramento, Calif., 1953.
WRCA G266 G6-1 1954-63
- United States. Bureau of Reclamation. A study of future power transmission for the
West. Washington, D.C., 1952. WRCA 26.3 H2-1
- United States. Bureau of Reclamation. United Western Investigation : interim report on
reconnaissance. California section. Salt Lake City, Utah, 1951. Report ; UWI-2. WRCA G407
H1-2
- United States. Congress. House. Committee on Public Works. Sacramento-San Joaquin
Basin streams, California : letter from the Secretary of the Army ... on preliminary
examinations and surveys of Sacramento-San Joaquin River Basin streams, California, for
flood control and allied purposes .. Washington : U.S. GPO, 1950. House document / 81st
Congress, 1st Session ; no. 367. WRCA G430 H-1
- United States. Bureau of the Census. United States census of agriculture, 1950. Volume
3, Irrigation of agricultural lands. Washington, D.C. : U.S. GPO, 1952. WRCA 77 Y 1950
v.3
Collection Arrangement
The collection is arranged into 5 series as follows:
- Series 1. Central Valley Project, 1943-1971
- Series 2. Electric Power Rates, 1951-1956
- Series 3. Irrigation District Movement, 1950-1954
- Series 4. Census of Irrigation, 1930-1964
- Series 5. Research Notes, circa 1952-1956
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Central Valley Project (Calif.)
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
United
States. Bureau of the Census
Electric utilities -- California -- Costs
Electric utilities -- Rates -- California
Irrigation districts -- California
Irrigation water -- United States -- Statistics
Water resources development -- Government policy --
California
Genres and Forms of Materials
Correspondence
Reports
Research
notes
Series 1. Central Valley Project
1943-1971
Series Scope and Contents
Research files compiled for Hansen's study of federal-state relations in the Central
Valley.
Series Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by subject.
Box 1, Folder 3
Attorney General
1953-1959
Box 1, Folder 6
Bureau of Reclamation
1951-1953
Box 1, Folder 7
California Farm Reporter
1953-1954
Box 1, Folder 8
California Farm Research and Legislative Committee
1953-1954
Box 1, Folder 10
Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the
Government,
1954-1957
Box 1, Folder 11
Cost allocation
1947-1954
Box 1, Folder 13
Engelbert, Ernest
1953-1954
Box 1, Folder 14
Excess lands provision
1946-1954
Box 1, Folder 15
Feather River Project
1950-1953
Box 1, Folder 16
Federal - state relations
1953
Box 1, Folder 19
Huffman, Roy E. Economics of irrigation development, June 27,
1951
Box 1, Folder 20
Interview notes
1953-1957
Box 1, Folder 21
Iowa Water Resources Seminar
1956
Box 2
Irrigation Districts Association
1947-1954
Box 2
Irrigation techniques
1943-1952
Box 2
Ivanhoe Irrigation District,vs. All Parties and Persons
1952-1954
Box 2
Marts, M. E. Use of indirect benefit analysis in establishing repayment
responsibility for irrigation projects, January 16, 1952
Box 2
National Council on Agriculture Life and Labor
1954
Box 3
Rasmussen, Jewell J. Criteria for determining the economic justification of
water development projects, September 8, 1955
Box 3
Sacramento Municipal Utility District
1951-1954
Box 3
Salt water barriers for San Francisco Bay
1951-1953
Box 3
State of California proposed acquisition of the Central Valley
Project
1953-1954
Box 3
State water agencies reorganization
1953-1957
Box 3
State Water Resources Board
1953
Box 3
United Farm Workers
1970-1971
Box 3
United States Congressional bills
1953-1955
Box 3
University of California
1953
Box 3
Veihmeyer, Frank J.
1951-1953
Box 3
Water conservation
1948-1956
Box 4
Water Project Authority of the State of California
1953-1954
Box 4
Water resources development planning
1953
Series 2. Electric Power Rates
1951-1956
Series Scope and Contents
Compiled by Hansen as an economist in the U.S. Office of Price Stabilization and
presented to the California Public Utilities Commission.
Box 4
Pacific Gas and Electricrate case
1951-1956
Box 4
Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Electric Dept. Rate of return tables and
charts accompanying testimony of E. J. Beckett. San Francisco, November 14,
1951
Box 4
Sacramento Municipal Utility District brief
1952 February 6
Box 4
California Public Utilities Commission. Report on the results of operation of
Pacific Gas and Electric Company Electric Department : years 1950 and 1951 recorded,
1951 adjusted and 1952 estimated. San Francisco, June 12,
1952.
Box 4
California Public Utilities Commissiondecisions
1951-1952
Box 4
Power - General
1951-1954
Box 4
Power - Marketing
1953-1954
Series 3. Irrigation District Movement
1950-1954
Box 5
Hansen, Hugh G. The Irrigation District Movement in California,
1951
Box 5
Correspondence and background materials
1950-1954
Series 4. Census of Irrigation
1930-1964
Series Scope and Contents
Correspondence, memoranda, analyses, etc., compiled by Hansen as Chief of the U.S.
Census of Irrigation.
Box 5
Census of Irrigation notebook
1958-1959
Box 5
Outgoing correspondence
1958
Box 5
Census of Irrigation, 1961
1959
Box 5
Special Federal Agency Committee for 1959 Censuses of Irrigation and
Drainage
1957-1959
Box 5
Census of Irrigation enumerator's instruction book
1959
Series 5. Research Notes
circa 1952-1956
Series Scope and Contents
Arranged in card files according to subject. Compiled by Hansen during his research on
federal-state relations in the Central Valley.
