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Cage 376
Arthur Earl Victor
Papers, 1927-1944
Part of Idaho Photograph series
The papers of Arthur Earl Victor (b. 1900) were donated to the Washington State University Libraries in July 1977, by Mr. Victor (77-40). The papers were arranged and described by Stephen E. Balzarini. The photographs were arranged by Dave Smested. Further papers were donated in 1989 and are kept as a separate collection, Cage 594.
BIOGRAPHY
Arthur Earl Victor was born on March 30, 1900, in May View, Washington. He attended high school in Oregon and in Pullman, Washington. He served in the United States Navy from June 1918 to March 1919. Victor attended Oregon State College at Corvallis for a year after leaving the Navy. From June 1920 to March 1934 when he went to work for the Federal Government, Victor held a number of positions which primarily involved his skills with machinery and carpentry. From March to May 1934 Victor worked for the U.S. Geological Survey in Pullman; in May of that year he went to work for the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) as an engineer-foreman with duties as camp engineer in the first Soil Erosion 200-man Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp in the Pacific Northwest. Victor was in charge of developing methods of erosion control on gullies, developed springs, masonry dams, seeding, and sodding. He also developed work and cost reports and job training classes for foremen and enrollees. In June 1935 he was promoted to Assistant State Administrator of the CCC and in December of that year he was promoted again to Assistant Regional Administrator. In this position Victor assisted in the development of an organization to supervise 18 CCC camps in the three Northwest states. Victor was responsible for building construction, equipment, purchase, maintenance, and reports, and enrollee education and training. In June 1938 he was assigned to the Regional Information Division which focused his attention on training for foremen and enrollees. This position lasted for a little over a year and in November 1939 Victor returned to his administrative duties as Assistant Regional Administrator. During his tenure with the CCC, Victor traveled extensively giving educational presentations about soil erosion to farmers and CCC personnel. The documentation in the Victor papers ends in late 1942 at which time Victor was still with the Soil Conservation Service in his capacity as Assistant Regional Administrator.
The Civilian Conservation Corp was created by an act approved by Congress on June 28, 1937, as amended, to succeed the Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) which was established by Executive order number 6101 of April 5, 1933. The CCC was reorganized and made a part of the Federal Security Agency as of July 1, 1939. In May 1940 the Corps began converting to defense work on military reservations and forest protection. The Labor-Federal Security Appropriation Act of 1943 provided for the liquidation of the CCC not later than June 30, 1943.
ARRANGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION
The A.E. Victor collection includes material from 1927 through 1942, but the bulk of the material covers the period 1934 through 1942. The papers are arranged in five series: Correspondence; Subject File; Publications, Pamphlets, Reports and Guides; Notebooks; and Photographs and Slides.
The first series, Correspondence, is arranged chronologically by year from 1934 through 1942. This series contains both incoming and outgoing correspondence from Victor and is primarily to and from his superiors in the Soil Conservation Service, particularly with his immediate supervisor, A.W. Middleton. This series also contains Victor's private correspondence with friends, his applications for promotion within the CCC, job records and descriptions, and income tax records.
The second series, the Subject File, was constructed by the processor from non-correspondence material in the accession. The Subject File is arranged alphabetically by subject, and contains material related to Victor's work with the CCC. Included in the Subject File are lessons and course material for training CCC enrollees, CCC newspapers and clippings, construction information for CCC buildings, soil erosion information, and vouchers detailing Victor's travels from 1936 through 1942.
The third series consists of publications, pamphlets, reports, and guides. The bulk of this material was published by the SCS, the CCC or other government agencies. Included in this series is an article by Victor for Northwest Science, 1935, entitled: "Some Effects of Cultivation Upon Stream History and Upon the Topography of the Palouse Region."
The fourth series, Notebooks, includes Victor's notebooks during his employment with the CCC: notebooks, 1935-1939; field diaries, 1937-1942; appointment books, 1934-1937; personnel notebooks for SCS, ECW, and CCC; equipment notebook, 1942; intra-office memo notebook, 1937; telegram book, 1935; time books, 1927 and 1942; lesson notes, 1934; travel expenses, 1937-1938; and general notebooks, undated.
The fifth series, Photographs and Slides, consists of about 1100 photographs and slides of CCC personnel, camps, equipment, work, and activities in the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, and Idaho).
CONTAINER LIST