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Horace L. Scott papers

 Collection
Call Number: WA MSS S-3642

Scope and Contents

The collection documents the Milk River Project, a project which called for a system of dams, canals, and reservoirs stretching across Montana with the purpose of creating 120,000 arable acres along the Milk River. Photographs, typescript reports, and printed materials accumulated by Horace L. Scott while civil service engineer for the United States Reclamation Service track the irrigation project conditionally approved by the Secretary of the Interior on 1903 March 14 and authorized on 1905 March 25. Includes 240 photographs and 12 postcards (many with captions) in 3 photograph albums and 20 loose photographs and 2 loose postcards depicting the irrigation project works, Glacier National Park, the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and Siksikaitsitapi people, and the Flathead Indian Reservation and members of the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreilles tribes. Also present are 4 typescript reports with 69 photographs and 36 blueprints for St. Mary's Canal bound in, produced by the United States Department of the Interior; 3 printed maps of United States Reclamation Service projects and 3 printed topographical folding maps of Montana; 2 pamphlets produced by the Great Northern Railway Company; and other printed articles and booklets relating to the Milk River Project and Montana. Included in the collection are Scott's resume, list of references, and notebook from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, circa 1909-1926.

Dates

  • 1905-1939

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The Horace L. Scott Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased from William Reese Co. on the Frederick W. and Carrie S. Beinecke Fund for Western Americana, 2017.

Arrangement

Organized into five series: I. Milk River Project Reports, 1913-1915. II. Milk River Project Photographs and Postcards, circa 1909-1931, undated. III. Printed Materials, 1909-1913. IV. Maps, 1905-1908. V. Personal Papers, circa 1909-1939.

Extent

2.71 Linear Feet (4 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.hlscott

Abstract

Photographs, typescript reports, and other documents of Horace L. Scott as civil engineer for the United States Reclamation Service. Includes 240 photographs and 12 postcards in 3 photograph albums; 20 loose photographs and 2 loose postcards; 4 typescript reports with 69 photographs and 36 blueprints for St. Mary's Canal bound in, produced by the United States Department of the Interior; 3 printed maps of United States Reclamation Service projects and 3 printed topographical folding maps of Montana; 2 pamphlets produced by the Great Northern Railway Company; and other printed materials. The collection documents the Milk River Project, a project which called for a system of dams, canals, and reservoirs stretching across Montana with the purpose of creating 120,000 arable acres along the Milk River. Photographs depict the irrigation project works, Glacier National Park, the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and Siksikaitsitapi people, and the Flathead Indian Reservation and members of the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreilles tribes. Also included are Scott's resume, list of references, and notebook from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, circa 1909-1926.

Horace L. Scott

Horace L. Scott (1885-1970) of Brattleboro, Vermont, received a degree in civil engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1909. Following his graduation, he was hired as a junior engineer for the United States Reclamation Service and moved to Montana to work on the St. Mary Storage Unit of the Milk River Project in Glacier National Park and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. In 1915, Scott was promoted to assistant engineer. He returned to Vermont in 1925, working as an engineer for the Sherman Construction Company in Bellows Falls.

Processing Information

Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.

These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards. For more information, please refer to the Beinecke Manuscript Unit Processing Manual.

Title
Guide to the Horace L. Scott Papers
Status
Completed
Author
Sarah Lerner
Date
April 2019
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository

Contact:
P. O. Box 208330
New Haven CT 06520-8330 US
(203) 432-2977

Location

121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Opening Hours

Access Information

The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.