Gurdev S. Khush Papers, 1955-2023

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Summary

Creators:
Khush, Gurdev S.
Abstract:
The Gurdev S. Khush Papers include correspondence, speeches, travel notebooks, travel reports, gray literature and pamphlets, scrapbooks and keepsakes, photographs, and audiovisual materials related to Dr. Khush's career in rice breeding.
Extent:
7 linear feet
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Gurdev S. Khush Papers, D-751, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.

Background

Scope and content:

The Gurdev S. Khush Papers include a range of materials that support and supplement scholars of agronomy, plant sciences, and related disciplines. The collection includes correspondence, speeches, travel notebooks, travel reports, gray literature and pamphlets, scrapbooks and keepsakes, photographs, and audiovisual materials related to Dr. Khush's career in rice breeding.

The collection is arranged into five series and eighteen sub-series.

Biographical / historical:

Dr. Gurdev Singh Khush is a world-renowned rice breeder and geneticist who won the prestigious World Food Prize in 1996 for developing varieties of rice that fight hunger in Asia, Africa and Latin America. These varieties, particularly IR36 and IR64, have a higher yield, shorter growth period, and superior grain quality, and are disease- and pest-resistant.

Khush was born on August 22, 1935, at Rurkee, Punjab, India and was raised on a wheat farm. He received his BS. in Agriculture from Punjab University, India in 1955. He earned his PhD in 1960 at UC Davis, where he studied with pioneering plant geneticist G. Ledyard Stebbins. A postdoctoral position led to seven more years at UC Davis, where he was mapping and exploring the tomato genome with Charles Rick. In 1967, Dr. Khush accepted a position at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines. During the three decades that he headed the plant breeding department, Dr. Khush and his IRRI colleagues developed over 300 varieties of high-yield rice, contributing to the nearly triple-fold growth in world rice production during that period. In 2002, Dr. Khush returned to UC Davis as an adjunct professor in the Department of Plant Sciences, a position he held until his retirement in 2017.

Source:

Miller , K. (2023, May 8). Dr. Gurdev Khush, celebrated Rice Breeder, donates papers to UC Davis Library. UC Davis Library. https://library.ucdavis.edu/news/dr-gurdev-khush-celebrated-rice-breeder-donates-papers-to-uc-davis-library/

Processing information:

Vanessa Cardona-Ocegueda processed the collection and encoded the finding aid in 2025.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into the following five series and their subseries

Series 1: Awards, Prizes, and Speeches, 1966-2020

Sub-Series 1.1: Certificates, 1966-2020

Sub-Series 1.2: Honorary Doctorates, 1977-2017

Sub-Series 1.3: Ceremony Programs, 1968-2013

Sub-Series 1.4: Speeches, 1987-2009

Series 2: Correspondence, 1957-2018

Sub-Series 2.1: General Correspondence, 1957-2018

Sub-Series 2.2: Administrative, 1957-2003

Sub-Series 2.3: Awards, Prizes, or Events, 1980-2018

Sub-Series 2.4: Letters of Congratulations, 1987-2000

Series 3: Publications and News, 1960-2023

Sub-Series 3.1: General Programs and Publications, 1960-2010

Sub-Series 3.2: Publications By or About Khush, 1985-2023

Sub-Series 3.3: News, 1977-2002

Sub-Series 3.4: Scrapbooks, 1971-1987

Series 4: Travel, 1955-2023

Sub-Series 4.1: Travel Notebooks, 1968-2001

Sub-Series 4.2: Trip Reports, 1968-2001

Sub-Series 4.3: Annual Travel Folders, 2001-2019

Sub-Series 4.4: Passports, 1955-2023

Series 5: Audio Visual Materials, 1957-2019

Sub-Series 5.1: Photos, 1957-2019

Sub-Series 5.2: VHS, 1987-2002

Physical location:
This collection is stored off-site at the Northern Regional Library Facility. Researchers should contact Archives and Special Collections to request collections in advance.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

All applicable copyrights for the collection are protected under chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code. Requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California as the owner of the physical items. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Gurdev S. Khush Papers, D-751, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.

Location of this collection:
University of California, Davis, Special Collections, UC Davis Library
100 NW Quad
Davis, CA 95616-5292, US
Contact:
(530) 752-1621
speccoll@ucdavis.edu
Website