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Inventory of the Frank Adams Papers, 1889-1962
ADAMS
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Title: Frank Adams Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1889-1962
Collection number: ADAMS
Creator:
Adams, Frank, 1875-1967
Abstract: The Frank Adams papers consist of files regarding his work in the subjects of irrigation, agriculture, and land settlement
projects. The materials include the following formats: reports, reprints, correspondence, clippings, and notes, and historical
and statistical data. The content includes materials from his projects in Palestine, the western United States with a particular
focus on California. There is extensive information on University of California Irrigation Investigations in California.
Physical Description: 16 linear feet
Physical location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Extent:
ca. 16 linear ft. (35 boxes)
12 online items
ead
Repository:
Water Resources Collections and Archives
Riverside, CA 92517-5900
Shelf location: This collection is stored off-campus at NRLF. Please contact the Water Resources Collections and Archives staff for access
to the materials.
Language:
English
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Water Resources Collections and Archives. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the Water Resources Collections and Archives as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
[Identification of item], The Frank Adams Papers, ADAMS, Water Resources Collections and Archives, University of California,
Riverside.
Irrigation--California--History
Water resources development--West (U.S.)
Irrigation districts--California
Irrigation laws--West (U.S.)
Reclamation of land--West (U.S.)
Land settlement--California
Water-rights--California
Water--Law and legislation--California
Irrigation--West (U.S.)
University of California, Riverside. Division of Irrigation Investigations and Practice
Commonwealth Club of California
Frank Adams was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 19, 1875. He attended Cogswell High School in San Francisco until 1892,
when his family moved from San Francisco to a farm near the Santa Cruz Mountains. He entered Stanford University in 1896 and
graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1901. In 1906, he received his master's degree from the University of Nebraska.
Adams worked as a field investigator for the U.S. Office of Experiment Stations in Washington, D.C. for several years between
his Stanford and Nebraska degrees. From 1906 to 1910 he worked with his brother in a successful lighting-fixture venture.
In 1910 Adams again became affiliated with the Office of Experiment stations, through which he had a great deal of contact
with the University of California. In 1916, he received an official appointment with the University of California as the head
of the Division of Irrigation Investigations and Practice in the College of Agriculture, a position he held for 29 years.
Adams also served as an irrigation economist for the California Agricultural Experiment Station and the Giannini Foundation
of Agricultural Economics. From 1926 to 1940 he served as a consulting engineer and economist for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
and in 1927 went to Palestine as a member of the Advisory Committee on Agricultural Colonization. In 1928, Adams was an advisor
to the International Water Commission for the United States and Mexico, and also advised the National Resources Committee
in the Rio Grande Joint Investigation. He retired from UC in 1945 and in 1947 received the John Deere Gold Medal for outstanding
achievement in agriculture, given by the American Society of Agricultural Engineers.
In 1949, the University of California awarded Adams with an honorary doctorate in laws and letters. At that time, University
of California president Robert Gordon Sproul described Adams as a "pioneer in the application of engineering and economics
to the problems of agriculture."
In 1959, Adams' oral history
, Frank Adams, University of California, on Irrigation, Reclamation, and Water Administration, was published by the Regional Cultural History Project, General Library, University of California, Riverside.
Frank Adams was a distinguished professor of irrigation and an international consultant on agriculture, who was key to the
development, distribution, and use of water in the West. He died on January 26, 1967 at the age of 91.
Reports, reprints, correspondence, clippings, and notes, concerning water, irrigation, and land settlement projects in California,
the Western States, and Palestine; drafts of legislation pertaining to water, water rights, and irrigation districts; minutes
of meetings of various sections of the Commonwealth Club of California; historical and statistical data on California irrigation
districts; and, extensive information on University of California Irrigation Investigations in California.
Library has unpublished subject index to individual items.
Note: There are no items numbered: 75, 159, 166, 187, 192, 211, 243, 412, 470, or 491.