Walter Hale Gardner (1917-2015) was a soil scientist and soil physics expert, and a member of the faculty at Washington State University from 1950 until his retirement in 1982. He earned his bachelor's (1939), master's (1946), and Ph.D. (1950) degrees from Utah State University. He served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. His film, "Water Movement in Soil" (1960), employing time-lapse photography techniques, was an especially important contribution to the field of soil physics.
This collection of soil scientist Walter H. Gardner's papers consists of correspondence, articles, speeches and other writings by Gardner; records related to his involvement in the Soil Science Society of America; papers related to his work as a faculty member at Washington State University, particularly the Faculty Status Committee and the Department of Agronomy; photographs and films. One of Gardner's special areas of interest was the movement of water in soil, and this subject is well represented in the collection. Gardner was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1964.
Preliminary inventory:
MS.1992.58:
Alphabetical files; Washington State University Faculty Status Committee Chair files, 1981-1982; Kenite Corp. v United States files; miscellaneous Honors Program materials; C. Clement French talks; College of Agriculture minutes of meetings regarding "defection from Graduate School"; Vandecaveye files on Western Soil and Water Research Committee, 1950-1953; personal and miscellaneous materials.
MS.2011.30:
Box 1
Biographical information; Invited Lectures and Talks (largely historical and golf) binder; John Hale Gardner binder; Utah scientists and involvement in soil physics research binder; Papers presented, abstracts binder; Washington State University subjects and Gardner writings, 1981 binder
Box 2
WSU topics and American Society of Agonomy binder; University and Society Affairs, misc. binder; Correspondence, presentations, writings, collected material, circa 1970-1973 binder; 1967 Bolivia, Turkey, International Atomic Energy Commission, Amsterdam, Prague, Sofia, Istanbul, Athens, Frankfurt, return to USA binder
Box 3
Written Materials, 1934-1934 binder; 1956-1963 binder; Written Materials, 1964-1969 binder; Written Materials, 1974-1977 binder
Box 4
Written Materials, 1978-1980 binder; Written Materials, 1981-1986 binder; Written Materials, 1987-1997 binder
Box 5
Soil Science Society of America, 1950-1977 binder; Soil Science Society of America. 1985-1988 binder; Soil Science Society of America binder; SSSA Council on History binder
Box 6
Soil Science Society of America. Includes responses to historical survey of soil scientists conducted in 1991, SSSA history by J. Fulton Lutz (1973), programs, etc.; Photographs (prints, slides, negatives)
Box 7
WSU Honors Program (1960-1970) Loose, unsorted material Gardner thesis and dissertation SSSA File of papers about water movement in soil, including information about the film in Box 8
Box 8
Film: "Water Movement in Soil" (WSU Crops and Soils Department)
Boxes 9-10: two unidentified films
This is an unprocessed collection. Arrangement reflects a pre-existing order from the records’ creators or previous custodians.
This collection is open and available for research use.
Copyright restrictions may apply.
[Item description]
Preliminary Guide to the Walter H. Gardner Papers, circa 1934-2001 (MSSM.091)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
This collection was received in two installments, in 1992 and 2011. Walt Gardner donated the first installment in 1992 (MS.1992.58), and Marilyn Mortenson (daughter of Walter Gardner) donated the second installment in 2011 (MS.2011.30).
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.