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Thomas Caldwell Adams papers, 1905-1971

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Adams, Thomas C. (Thomas Caldwell), 1901-1965
Title
Thomas Caldwell Adams papers
Dates
1905-1971 (inclusive)
Quantity
35 linear feet
Collection Number
MS 0043
Summary
The Thomas Caldwell Adams papers (1905-1971) consist of the personal and professional papers of Thomas Caldwell Adams (1901-1965), a professor of civil engineering at the University of Utah who specialized in hydrology.
Repository
University of Utah Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library
University of Utah
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City, UT
84112-0860

Telephone: 8015818863
special@library.utah.edu
Access Restrictions

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Languages
English
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Historical Note

Thomas Caldwell Adams was born in Salt Lake City on May 12, 1901. He was the only son of Thomas and Emily Caldwell Adams. His father, an attorney, died of typhoid fever on October 11, 1905 at the age of 45. Thomas attended school in Salt Lake City, including the LDS High School from 1915-1918. In the latter year he began studies in Civil Engineering at the University of Utah. His summers were spent working for various engineering firms engaged in drainage surveys around the state of Utah. He graduated from the University in 1922 and went to Cornell University in Itahca, New York for his graduate studies. He received his Ph. D. from there in 1926 and spent one year working on a special investigation for the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

From 1927 to 1941 he was a professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Utah. In 1934, he was made president of the Utah Society of Engineers, an indication of the high standing in which he was held by his colleagues. He spent 1934 and 1935 as the director of the Great Salt Lake Diking Investigations, which were done under the auspices of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. In 1935 he was made a member of the Great Salt Lake Authority. Other professional organizations in which he held office during this time were the American Geophysical Union, the Utah Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Letters and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

His growing expertise in the field of hydrology was reflected by his position as Hydraulic Engineer for the National Resources Planning Board from March to September 1941. In October of 1941, Adams joined the Office of Production Management of the federal government, and was employed there until February of 1942, when he moved to another federal agency, the War Production Board. He stayed with the latter organization until the end of the war in 1945. In that year, he decided to leave both government and teaching and went into business for himself as a private consulting engineer until his death in 1965. During this time, in 1955, he was named president of the Utah Building and Construction Congress.

Besides his busy professional life, Dr. Adams had other interests, many of which centered around the Great Salt Lake. He was a founding member of the Great Salt Lake Yacht Club, and served as its Commodore for several years. He published papers about the lake, and was considered one of the state's foremost authorities on it. His interests also included the history of Saltair Resort, and he was an administrative officer of the Saltair Restoration Division of the Yacht Club. Adams strongly advocated the restoration of the resort. Other activities included serving as Executive Secretary of the Great Salt Lake Lands Association, acting as a leader in the Great Salt Lake Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and membership in Kiwanis and the Timpanogas Club. He never married.

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Content Description

The Thomas Caldwell Adams papers (1905-1971) are extremely varied in content as they represent the accumulation of papers and files resulting from Adams' lifetime of work as a student, teacher, and consulting civil engineer. In each phase of his career, Adams seemed to concentrate on different fields of civil engineering and the broad nature of his chosen profession ensured a variety of projects and, consequently, a variety of subject matters in his personal files.

Adams' favorite field, and his earliest choice, was Hydrology. Although, in later years as a consulting engineer he became involved in electrical engineering, sanitary engineering, and city planning, the major portion of his work involved various aspects of hydraulic engineering. Consequently, a large part of the collection concerns related topics such as his early work on irrigation and drainage of irrigated lands. His work in these areas led him to additional studies such as the inflow and evaporation rate of Lake Mead. However, his most important contribution, and one of the most useful parts of the collection, was in the field of Great Basin limnology particularly his studies of the Great Salt Lake which he carried on over a 30 year period. Adams supervised one of the first modern surveys of the lake participating in the planning for the creation of a fresh-water embayment on the east side of the lake, detecting the first indications of salt migration into the north arm and conducting extensive studies of Saltair Resort. His papers relating to these topics are included in the collection.

The versatility of Adams was noticeable in the broad scope of his work. His career as a teacher is documented by the good records covering curricula, lecture notes, intradepartmental squabbles, as well as notes and papers regarding subjects he taught. In later years, after he left teaching, Adams worked as a consulting engineer, specializing in rural electrification projects. His records from this period are quite extensive and provide an excellent picture of the planning and work involved in remodeling or building a rural electric system.

In addition to his many projects, Adams also accumulated an extensive collection of papers, notes, and correspondence relating to various professional organizations with which he was associated, such as the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education. He was quite involved in the subject of curriculum planning for engineering education during the late 1930s. Adams also kept copies of other individuals' studies, reports, and evaluations. For example, many mining property reports and evaluations by E. B. Young are included in the collection.

Other topics covered to a lesser degree in this collection include Adams' drawings and designs for equipment, earthquake studies of Utah, sewage treatment, and the operations of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in Utah in the 1930s. Studies of Adams' collection can be further enhanced by his extensive photograph collection pertaining primarily to the geography and engineering developments in Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Wyoming and California.

In spite of Adams' seeming desire to save all material pertaining to his professional life, there is vary little relating to his personal life save one brief journal, a handful of correspondence, and some of his financial records.

Also included are a number of maps, charts, and other oversize items related to Adams' studies and projects. These include the Great Salt Lake Diking Project; charts of the Great Salt Lake; and miscellaneous maps and charts.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library's Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.

Preferred Citation

Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

This collections is arranged into the following series: I. Personal Papers; II. American Society Of Civil Engineers (ASCE); III. Colorado River; IV. Drainage and Irrigation; V. Earthquakes; VI. Education; VII. Electrical Power; IX. Great Salt Lake; X. Mining--Utah and The West; XI. City Planning; XII. Sewage Treatment; XIII. Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education (SPEE); XIV. United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS); XV. University Of Utah; XVI. Water Systems; XVII. Miscellaneous; XVIII. Addendum--Saltair

Acquisition Information

Boxes 1-71 were donated in 1975 (23 linear feet).

Box 72 was donated in 1986 (0.5 linear feet).

Box 73 contains oversize materials from the 1975 donation that were removed from the map case.

Separated Materials

Photographs were transferred to the Multimedia Division of Special Collections (P0043).

Processing Note

Processed by John Bourne and Roy Webb in 1975 and 1987.

Click here to read a statement on harmful language in library records.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Earthquakes
  • Earthquakes--Utah
  • Electric power-plants--Utah

Corporate Names

  • Great Salt Lake Authority
  • Great Salt Lake Yacht Club

Geographical Names

  • Great Salt Lake (Utah)
  • Saltair Resort (Utah)

Finding aid created by John Bourne and Roy Webb.
1975 (last modified: 2019)

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