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Sidney T. Harding papers
WRCA 041
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Title: Sidney T. Harding papers
Date (inclusive): 1912-1969
Collection Number: WRCA 041
Creator:
Harding, S.T. (Sidney Twitchell), 1883-1969
Extent:
16.67 linear feet
(40 boxes)
Repository:
Rivera Library. Special Collections Department.
Riverside, CA 92517-5900
Abstract: The collection consists of correspondence; technical reports on various aspects of irrigation; reports and surveys of specific
irrigation projects throughout California, and in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and North Dakota; and miscellaneous material
relating to water costs and requirements, water rights, groundwater and surface water supply, flood control, legislation,
dendroclimatology, enclosed lakes, and the Central Valley Project and Feather River Project in California.
Languages: The collection is in English.
The collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the University of California, Riverside Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives.
Distribution or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission
of the copyright owners. To the extent other restrictions apply, permission for distribution or reproduction from the applicable
rights holder is also required. Responsibility for obtaining permissions, and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
[identification of item], [date if possible]. Sidney T. Harding papers (WRCA 041). Water Resources Collections and Archives.
Special Collections & University Archives, University of California, Riverside.
Provenance unknown.
Finding aid updated to contextualize use of a racial slur in creator-supplied description, 2022. Titles of many items in this
finding aid reflect the original titles of reports by Harding. UCR Library has chosen to retain and add context to the collection
creator's use of harmful language, in order to preserve information about how Harding labeled his own work.
Processed by Water Resources Collections and Archives staff, 1999.
Collection number updated February 2019. Legacy collection number was HARDG. This change was part of a project in 2018/2019
to update the collection numbers for collections in the Water Resources Collections and Archives.
Sidney Twichell Harding was born on October 20, 1883, in Brookfield, Massachusetts. After a boyhood spent in Texas and Kansas,
he graduated from the University of Michigan in 1905 with a degree in civil engineering.
Prior to joining the faculty of the University of California in 1914, Harding worked on irrigation projects in various capacities
in Washington, Montana, and California. His assignment in California resulted in the first comprehensive inventory of water
and land resources of the state; and it brought him into contact with Professor Bernard A. Etcheverry and the University of
California. For the next 35 years, the combination of Etcheverry and Harding brought fame to the University in irrigation
engineering and produced the graduates and concepts that sparked the development of California's agricultural land.
As Professor of Irrigation, Harding taught such subjects as Irrigation Practice, Water Rights and Organizations, and Operation
and Maintenance of Irrigation Systems. His book
Operation and Maintenance of Irrigation Systems, published in 1917, was a classic in the field, as was his 1935 treatise
Water Rights for Irrigation. Near the close of his tenure with the University he turned his talents to administrative duties, serving as Chairman of the
Department of Civil Engineering from 1944 to 1946. In 1949, at the age of 65, Professor Harding retired from the University
to devote his full attention to water problems of the West, particularly those of California.
Throughout his career, Harding maintained an extensive consulting activity, advising federal and state agencies as well as
private clients on practical and disputed matters of water resource development. Almost every important water project or adjudication
case in California and neighboring states called for his expert advice and counsel. From 1940-1954, he participated in the
preparation of the Engineer's Joint Council report on National Water Policy. In 1964 he was presented a Certificate of Honor
for service to the California Irrigation Districts Association.
Upon graduation from college in 1905, Harding joined the American Society of Civil Engineers. In later years he was President
of the San Francisco Section and served as Director of the Society from 1949-1951. He also served two terms on the Executive
Committee of the Irrigation Division, including the post of Chairman. The Society presented him with its Royce T. Tipton Award
in 1967.
Among Harding's major hobbies were studies of the confined lakes of California and of means of reducing evaporation from
water surfaces. Out of his love for California and his long familiarity with the State's struggle to develop and utilize it
water came his final book
Water in California, published in 1960. It presents a history and an analysis of water conditions in the State. Harding's oral history,
A Life in Western Water Development, was published by the Regional Oral History Office, Bancroft Library, in 1967.
Professor Harding died on April 28, 1969 in Berkeley, California.
Excerpted from:
In Memoriam, by pages H. McGaughey, J. W. Johnson, and D. K. Todd, 1970.
The collection consists of correspondence; technical reports on various aspects of irrigation; reports and surveys of specific
irrigation projects throughout California, and in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and North Dakota; and miscellaneous material
relating to water costs and requirements, water rights, groundwater and surface water supply, flood control, legislation,
dendroclimatology, enclosed lakes, and the Central Valley Project and Feather River Project in California.
The collection is arranged topically.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
Central Valley Project (Calif.)
Feather River Project (Calif.)
Irrigation -- California
Kings River (Calif.)
Lakes -- California
Lakes -- Nevada
Mono Lake (Calif.)
Tulare Lake (Calif.)
Water resources development -- California
Water resources development -- Nevada
Correspondence
Reports