Gordon Almon Van Epps (1920-2016) was raised in Arizona, received undergraduate degrees in Botany and Pre-med, served in the Navy during World War II, the got his Masters in Agronomy from Utah State University. He spent most of his career as a research and teaching professor at Utah State, including USAID stints in Iran and Bolivia. His final two years before retirement were with Washington State University on a USAID stint in Lesotho.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was created in 1961, combining several existing foreign aid programs. Its initial two-fold charge was to reduce poverty and increase production in developing countries, and to help countries prosper under capitalism. Washington State University participated in agricultural development programs in numerous countries, include Lesotho, Pakistan, Jordan, and Mali.
The collection consists primarily of documents originating with or relating to the work of agronomist Gordon Van Epps on a WSU / USAID agronomy project in Lesotho. While it does contain work plans, project reports, and administrative materials, it also contains a 156 page diary of Van Epps’ time in Lesotho, correspondence from his preparations for going, and 10 photographs from the work in Lesotho.
The collection is foldered by subject, alphabetically, with the materials with in each folder organized chronologically.
This collection is open and available for research use.
Copyright restrictions apply.
[Item description]
Gordon Van Epps Papers, 1981-1984 (Cage 955)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
Gordon’s daughter Leone Van Epps Pearce of Mesa, AZ, donated this collection to the Washington State University Libraries on October 24th, 2022, where they were retained as MS.2022.24).
University Archivist Mark O’English processed this collection in November of 2022.
The MASC holds two Lesotho-focused collections, both from the International Project Support Office:
Preliminary Guide to the Washington State University International Project Support
Office Lesotho Project Files, 1979-1988
Preliminary Guide to the Washington State University International Project Support
Office Lesotho Reports, 1983-1984
Smaller folder-level Lesotho-related materials can be found in various collections.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.