Description
The Ben Yellen correspondence with Charles L. Smith files contain mainly correspondence in the form of prescription-pad notes
(1960-1970s) from Yellen to Smith regarding water rights in Imperial County (Calif.), writings and lists (1970-1999) created
by Smith about Yellen, and a small amount of miscellaneous materials such as notes and newspaper articles regarding the Imperial
Valley.
Background
Charles L. Smith, of Berkeley, California, was a self-described "sympathetic fellow pamphleteer" and self-appointed bibliographer,
who worked for the Planning Department at the Division of Highways (now Caltrans). In the 1960s, he first became acquainted
with Yellen, an activist physician pamphleteer of the Imperial Valley, California, when Smith was working on a bibliography
on rural water use and the 160 acre water limitation law. This law would later figure prominently in Yellen's lawsuits involving
the Imperial Irrigation District. As part of Smith's work duties, he would read newspapers looking for local discussion of
transportation projects, and during lunchtimes, would review these same newspapers for other items of interest to himself
and to Yellen. He would send Yellen newspaper clippings or obtain and ship article reprints to Yellen via Greyhound Express
and Yellen would reimburse him.