Arthur Earl Victor Papers, 1927-1944

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.