Description
Series 1 consists of papers Eleanor Shimeall ammassed while serving on the San Joaquin
County Water Action Committee (1974-1977) and its successor, the Water Advisory
Commission (1980-1990) constitute a significant element of the collection. They form a
substantial record of public water policy in San Joaquin County during the 1970s and
1980s. Series 2 consists of papers on California water issues Shimeall collected while
Water Director of the San Joaquin County League of Women Voters (1977-1981). Series 3
consists of papers on national and international water issues.
Background
Eleanor Shimeall was born and raised on a western Kansas farm. She attended Colorado
State University for three years (1941-44) and later married petroleum industry
geologist, Clark Shimeall. The Shimealls lived in Guatemala, Ohio and Wyoming before
moving to Stockton, California (1968), where Clark Shimeall was a professor of Geology at
the University of the Pacific's Spanish-language Covell College (1968-1986). While in
Ohio, Eleanor Shimeall served on a state water committee that dealt with the pollution of
Lake Erie. Eleanor Shimeall received a B.A. in Liberal Arts from the University College
program at the University of the Pacific (1973). She was active in the San Joaquin County
League of Women Voters, serving as Water Director at a time when the League was studying
the State Water Projects (1977-1981). In this role she wrote and delivered speeches at
water conferences, testified before committees of the state legislature on water issues
and maintained files of clippings and printed matter on the important California water
topics of that time. Shimeall was also a member of the San Joaquin County Water Action
Committee (1974-77) and its successor, the Water Advisory Commission (1980-1990).