California Water Collection, 1880-2009

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Title:: California Water Collection
Dates:: 1880-2009
Creators:
Abstract:: At the start of the Twentieth Century, California witnessed burgeoning infrastructural and technological transformations in the irrigation, treatment, and distribution of its water. With most of the state’s resources in the north and a majority of its population residing in the south, circumstances necessitated a reassessment of water management to address these disparities. Therefore, from the New Deal to post-World War II eras, efforts of local organizers in San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco sought strategic methods of inter-county and state water management to create a dependable network of cooperation, ensuring California’s continued growth. By utilizing reservoirs, aqueducts, and treatment plants as checkpoints for generating power and mitigating flooding, California implemented a generation system of water facilitation which remains in place today.
Extent:: 7 Boxes, 2.98 cu. ft.
Language:
Preferred citation:: California Water Collection. San Diego Public Library

Scope and content:: Brochures, Pamphlets, Postcards, Reports, Pictorials, and Textbooks from 1898-2009 detailing the history of water in California from multiple institutions and municipalities. Boxes 1-3 describe local irrigational developments within San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco respectively, specifying pioneering water districts, mutuals, and planners in each region. Box 4 consolidates these locales into a state-wide narrative by outlining the construction of the Hoover Dam and Colorado River Aqueduct which created common cause for inter-municipal cooperation. Boxes 5-7 collectively demonstrate the growth and promotion of California irrigation, emphasizing technological advancements, major landmarks and water ways as sources of shared investment across the American Southwest. See attached for item level description.

Collection Guide Author:: Finding aid created by San Diego Public Library staff.
Date Prepared:: 1880-2009
Date Encoded:: This finding aid was produced using Record Express for OAC5 on Dec. 13, 2025, 1:42 p.m.

Access and use

Location of this collection:: San Diego Public Library

330 Park Blvd.

San Diego, CA 92101, US