Description
Correspondence, notes, manuscripts of his writings, speeches, memoranda, clippings and scrapbooks, mainly relating to the
Marshall Plan for water development, conservation, Hetch-Hetchy, roads, Yosemite National Park and other parks. Family correspondence
and personal papers also included.
Background
Robert Bradford Marshall, geographer and father of the Marshall Plan for irrigation and water conservation of the Central
Valley in California, was born in Amelia County, Virginia in 1867. He entered the U.S. Geological Survey as a geographer in
1889, became Geographer of the Pacific Division in 1907 and was appointed Chief Geographer of the U.S. Geological Survey in
1910. This position he held until 1915 when he was appointed Superintendent of Parks. He resumed the position of Chief Geographer
in 1917. In 1919 he resigned his government post to devote himself fully to developing and publicizing his Marshall Plan of
irrigation and water control of the Central Valley of California. Due in part to his extensive and intensive schedule of speeches,
he developed a severe throat irritation requiring the removal of his larynx in 1927. He thereby lost power of speech and was
able to converse only with the aid of an artificial larynx. In 1928 he was appointed State Landscape Engineer in the California
Division of Public Works where his duties related to highway beautification and safety. At this time he also did considerable
research for the California State Planning Board concerning California and her natural resources. He retired at the age of
70 in 1937 and died in 1949 after several years of ill health, shortly before the completion of one of his dreams, the Shasta
Dam.
Extent
Number of containers: 23 boxes, 4 scrapbooks, 1 portfolio, 1 volume
Linear feet: 12
Restrictions
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft
Library 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.
Availability
Collection is open for research.