Palmer DeLong papers, 1950-1975

This collection consists primarily of reports for the United States Bureau of Reclamation and other government agencies on water and land resource projects in Central Utah and Wyoming with which DeLong was involved through the 1950s and the 1970s. The collection is divided between a physical collection, housed in the Merrill Cazier Library Special Collections and Archives, and a digital collection accessible through the online finding aid at the library’s digital collections page. The digital material is scanned from original documents retained by the donor.

The physical half of this collection contains reports and plans regarding water resource projects, such as the Central Utah Project, that Palmer DeLong was involved with throughout his career.

The digital collection is divided into three series. Series I, “Central Utah Project” contains reports and journals that belonged to DeLong during his involvement with the Central Utah Project in the 1960s and 1970s. The two “Talks Binders” (title given by creator) contain a variety of materials relating to the Central Utah project including reports, photographs, speaking notes, and correspondence. The Central Utah Project progress reports and meeting talks contain detailed construction information about the process of constructing various dams, tunnels, and aqueducts. These items are divided into distinct files but remain in the original order as they appeared in the binder.

Series II, of the digital collection, called “Scrapbook,” contains correspondence relating to Palmer DeLong’s employment with the Bureau of Reclamation in Wyoming. This section also contains three journals written by Palmer DeLong between 1963 and 1965 in which he describes his duties and daily activities as the Project Manager of the Central Utah Project. Additional materials include letters, reports, and newspaper clippings relating to Palmer DeLong’s work with the Bureau of Reclamation and, more specifically, the Central Utah Project. They are divided into subsections based on year and the stage of the project. Each subsection title within the “Scrapbooks” specifies what project the materials in that section are focused on, as well as DeLong’s position in the project. The material was kept in original order.

Finally, Series III of the digital collection is the “Photographs and Ephemera” section which contains photographs collected by DeLong during his work with the Bureau of Reclamation. This section also has photographs from Palmer DeLong’s college days at the Utah State Agricultural College.