Homer A. Halverson Collection, 1915-1994

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Summary

Creators:
Halverson, Homer A., 1903-2002
Abstract:
Homer Halverson worked for the City of Los Angeles as an Engineer in the 1920s, on his family's orange grove in the San Fernando Valley in the early 1930s, and as a structural draftsman in the US Army Corps of Engineers from the mid-1930s to his retirement in 1965. The Homer A. Halverson Collection documents water history and related infrastructure in the greater Los Angeles area in the early- to mid-20th century, especially the construction of containment and runoff systems within urban and suburban areas in the city. The Collection also documents Halverson family history, and the family's move from Oklahoma to California as well as other travels across the United States and Mexico. It consists primarily of photographs.
Extent:
1.46 linear feet and 1 Gigabytes
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual, or see the Citing Archival Materialsguide.

Background

Scope and content:

The Homer A. Halverson Collection documents water history and related infrastructure in the greater Los Angeles area from the early- to mid-20th century, especially the construction of containment and runoff systems within urban and suburban areas in the city. The Collection also documents Halverson family history, and the family's move from Oklahoma to California as well as other travels across the United States and Mexico. It consists primarily of photographs, but also includes magazine and newspaper articles, pamphlets, brochures, flyers, and other materials. The collection consists of two series: Los Angeles Water Infrastructure (1915-1976) and Personal Files (1925-1994).

Series I, Los Angeles Water Infrastructure, documents the construction of water management systems and water-related infrastructure in the city of Los Angeles from the early- to mid-20th century, as well as existing water systems in the city and outlying areas, especially the Los Angeles River. It consists of photographs, negatives, color transparencies, and slides documenting various water-related construction projects and sites, in addition to those of numerous rivers, creeks, channels, reservoirs, and dams around Los Angeles. It also includes photographs of other Los Angeles infrastructure, especially freeways. The series dates from 1915 to 1976 and is filed alphabetically.

Series II, Personal Files, documents Halverson family history and Homer's personal interests. The material includes two family histories authored by Homer in 1915 and 1924 and transcribed at a later date with accompanying photographs. Also included are travel photographs, photographs of the Halverson family and their home, as well as ephemera documenting Halverson's interests outside of the water supply to Los Angeles, especially literature, drawing, and the western United States. It includes detached magazine covers, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, brochures, flyers, and other materials. The material also includes digital copies of photographs taken by Homer along with printed indexes including titles and descriptions for all of the photographs. The series dates from 1925 to 1994, and is filed alphabetically.

Biographical / historical:

Homer Halverson, son of Ole and Laura Halverson, was born in 1903 in Minco, Oklahoma. After attending the University of Oklahoma, he moved to California in 1924, settling in the San Fernando Valley with his family. He met and married his wife, Millicent Scoltock, shortly after, with whom he had two daughters, Gail and Karen.

Halverson worked for the City of Los Angeles as an Engineer in the 1920s, but spent the early 1930s working on his family's orange grove in the San Fernando Valley. By 1936 he had become a structural draftsman in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers based out of Glendale, California. During his many decades with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Halverson worked to address flooding in the valley and greater Los Angeles, designed structures to channel water and streams into larger river beds, constructed dams and reservoirs, and designed and built reinforced concrete flood control across Los Angeles.

In the early 1950s the Halverson family sold their San Fernando Valley citrus grove to the state of California, which used the land to build a satellite campus of California State University, Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. The satellite campus eventually became San Fernando Valley State College, now called California State University, Northridge. Homer Halverson retired in 1965, and passed away in 2002.

Acquisition information:
Karen Lenker, 09/11/2003.
Processing information:

The collection was described in a preliminary finding aid that was completed in 2013 and updated in 2024 with the addition of material received in 2003.

Arrangement:

Series I: Los Angeles Water Infrastructure, 1915-1976

Series II: Personal Files, 1925-1994

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Ephemera
Documents
Photographs

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research use.

Terms of access:

Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of this collection has been transferred to California State University, Northridge. Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Preferred citation:

For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual, or see the Citing Archival Materialsguide.

Location of this collection:
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330, US
Contact:
(818) 677-4594
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