Archives West Finding Aid

The collection is organized first by the initial donation, and the subsequent accession in 1980.

The collection contains the working files of Knight as assistant to Secretary of the Interior.

Each file title corresponds with a category of responsibility or activity as they are listed and described in the outline for the publication, "General Responsibilities as Staff to Secretary: Resources Program Staff, 1961-1966," a copy of which is included in the collection.

The collection has been kept as originally organized, and there is a paper finding aid in the Reading Room that contains a list of the folder titles. The paper finding aid also notes the corresponding page number of the "General Responsibilities" publication where more information about a project or responsibility can be found.

Files of projects and programs include Ecological Task Force Report, Grand Canyon, pesticides, Water Resources Council, environment and ecology, public lands, Senator Kennedy-Udall pollution trip, and Senator Montoya briefing material on New Mexico.

There are also chronological files (1962-1966) that consist of outgoing correspondence to citizens on behalf of the Secretary or President. Material also includes memoranda to and from the Secretary and staff, summaries, reports, and addresses by Secretary Udall.

Another section of files consists of the General Year Files (1963-1968). These files are like supplements to the chronological files. They contain further outgoing correspondence to citizens, memoranda, interdepartmental correspondence regarding department assignments, reports, official statements, reports and articles from sources on conservation, pollution, etc. Much of this correspondence is between governmental departments and sources regarding inquiries, briefs, and reports.

Accession 85.221.M consists of resource planning material (1962-1968), and a partial manuscript of a book edited by Knight titled, "The Evolution of Conservation in North America: A Documentary History." Resource planning material includes subject files on pesticides, ecology, environmental contamination, Supreme Court decisions, legislative and administrative decisions, newsletters of the Conservation Foundation (1970s), and also an envelope of photographs of a White House conference on preservation in May of 1962.