William Penn Rowe papers

Collection

Identifier: WR-001

Staff Only

Collection Scope and Content Summary

The William Penn Rowe papers includes documents, publications, photographs, and other materials primarily related to the Santa Ana River and its tributaries, but includes areas throughout the state of California, including the Central Valley, Mojave River, and Los Angeles. The collection also includes most USGS Water Supply Papers from 1890-1970, California State documents published by the Department of Water Resources and its predecessor agencies, and aerial photographs documenting bodies of water.

This collection forms the cornerstone of the Joseph Andrew Rowe Water Resources Archives and was started in 1916 by William Penn Rowe who compiled historical materials dating to the 1870s. Joseph Andrew Rowe, son of William Penn, continued to add materials to the collection until the mid-1980s.

Dates

Creation: circa 1870-1985

Creator

Rowe, William Penn (Person)
Rowe, Joseph Andrew (Person)

Access

This Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Copyright Unknown: Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction, and/or commercial use, of some materials may be restricted by gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing agreement(s), and/or trademark rights. Distribution or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. To the extent other restrictions apply, permission for distribution or reproduction from the applicable rights holder is also required. Responsibility for obtaining permissions, and for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Historical Note

Joseph A. Rowe, a graduate of Stanford University, was an engineer who specialized in water resources. Together with his father, William Penn Rowe, also an engineer, they ran a consulting business in the San Bernardino Valley that included many public agencies in the region, in particular water agencies. By the end of Joe’s career he had amassed an extensive collection containing thousands of water related documents.

Extent

300.0 Linear Feet (300 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Metadata Rights Declarations

License: This record is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Creative Commons license.

Additional Description

Acquisition Information

Joseph A. Rowe initially donated the collection to the San Bernardino County Museum and it was then transferred from the musuem to California State University, San Bernardino with the Rowe's permission.