Saved from the shredders: Water Resources Archive welcomes new collection
What appears at first glance as boxes of old papers gathering dust in an attic or taking up needed office space often prove to be priceless, hidden treasures that, when gifted to an archive, serve as essential primary research materials.
For anyone engaged in research, a professional's papers provide the evidence of events and ideas of the past that are critical to historical interpretation. It is impossible to gage the potential impact of these materials; therefore, the mention of an appointment with a paper shredding company sends shivers down any archivist's spine.
Luckily, this time, the Water Resources Archive was able to beat the blades of the shredder and recently acquired the papers of Carl F. Nordin. A part-time professor and consultant of engineering at Colorado State University, during his long career as a hydraulic engineer, Carl F. Nordin worked on research projects for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Highway Administration and was also the project director for the Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey.
His work on water took him around the world to places as far away as China, Egypt, and the Amazon.
Patricia Nordin had stored her late husband's papers in a garage storage room for some time. Like many people preparing to move, she made an appointment for a company to shred these materials. By chance, only a few days prior to the shredding appointment, Mrs. Nordin heard about the Archive's quest for materials from an acquaintance who had recently attended Water Tables: A Benefit Banquet for the Water Resources Archive. After surveying the materials, Archivist Patty Rettig knew that Carl Nordin's papers would make an excellent addition to the Archive.
The Nordin collection - which consists of slides, photographs, reports, correspondence, maps, graphs and other papers - documents Nordin's work on water in Colorado and all over the world. Water concerns highlighted in Nordin's papers include his work on alluvial river flows in Colorado, his work on Lake Nassar in Egypt, the Amazon River, and Rio Orinoco in Venezuela and Columbia. He also visited China to discuss sediment and flood control. Author and co-author of more than 100 hydraulic and hydrology reports, his papers now call the Archive home.
As part of the Archive, Carl Nordin's papers will be carefully preserved under controlled conditions, while at the same time be available for pubic study. The Archive will process the collection in the coming months and develop a finding aid.
To view the collection and study Carl Nordin's valuable contributions to water around the world, visit the Archive in Morgan Library.
Category: University Announcements
Submitted: Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Subject: CSU Libraries
Contact: Judea Franck
E-mail: Judea.Franck@colostate.edu
Phone: (970) 491-5712
