Harry B. Walker Papers, 1891-1958

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Summary

Creators:
Walker, H. B.(Harry Bruce), b. 1884.
Abstract:
The Harry B. Walker Papers include the administrative and research files of Professor Harry Bruce Walker, primarily during his tenure at the University of California, Davis. Included are research materials, maps, correspondence, manuscripts, publications, multiple committee files and professional or academic lectures. Also found in the collection are a wide assortment of farm machinery photographs and several drawings and blueprints.
Extent:
10.1 linear feet
Language:
Collection materials in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Harry B. Walker Papers , D-111, Department of Special Collections, General Library, University of California, Davis.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains Harry Bruce Walker's academic research and professional writings immediately before and throughout his tenure as a faculty member and Chair of the Division of Agricultural Engineering at the University of California, Davis.

Included in this collection are research data and reports, various committee records, publications (authored by Walker as well as others), correspondence, photographs, blueprints, maps and drawings, and manuscripts and typescripts of papers, speeches, lectures and radio talks. Also includes one series comprised of Walker's collected research material on California water use.

The collection is arranged in five series: 1. Major Research and Projects, 2. Committees and Professional Affiliations, 3. Consultant Work and Research Interests, 4. Publications, Writings and Personal Miscellaneous, 5. Water Projects

Biographical / historical:

Harry Bruce Walker was born in 1884. He began his professional career at Kansas State College where he first served as Extension Engineer before volunteering for military duty in 1917. After two years of service, he returned home and earned his Professional Civil Engineering Degree from Iowa State College. He then returned to Kansas State College in 1921 as Professor and Chair of the Agricultural Engineering Department. In 1928, he became the Chair of the Agricultural Engineering Division at the University of California, Davis.

Walker was actively involved with several important campus committees during his tenure and served in various leadership roles in professional organizations, notably the American Society of Agricultural Engineers. He was also heavily involved with two major research endeavors for the United States Department of Agriculture, and was appointed in 1928 by President Herbert Hoover as a delegate to Tokyo, Japan for the World Engineering Congress.

Walker's research interests included the mechanization and electrification of farms and machinery, the improvement of farming practices in general, water use issues and academic planning. During his tenure at UC Davis, Walker was instrumental in campus policy-making and academic curriculum planning, particularly during his involvement with the "Privilege and Tenure" Committee of the University's Academic Senate ("Loyalty Oath"), his activity in campus "Postwar Planning", and his involvement on the UC Davis committee for creating a College of Letters and Sciences. He died in 1957.

Sources

"Harry Bruce Walker." University of California: In Memoriam website. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb3r29n8f4/Accessed December 19, 2006.

Scheuring, Ann F. Abundant harvest: the history of the University of California, Davis. Davis, CA: UC Davis History Project, 2001.

Physical location:
Researchers should contact Special Collections to request collections, as many are stored offsite.
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Copyright is protected by the copyright law, chapter 17, of the U.S. Code. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections, General Library, University of California, Davis 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 researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Harry B. Walker Papers , D-111, Department of Special Collections, General Library, University of California, Davis.

Location of this collection:
University of California, Davis, Special Collections, UC Davis Library
100 NW Quad
Davis, CA 95616-5292, US
Contact:
(530) 752-1621
speccoll@ucdavis.edu
Website