Title: Geological Survey (U.S.). Lake Superior Division: Records
Inclusive Dates: 1882-1912

Creator:

• Geological Survey (U.S.). Lake Superior Division

Call Number: U.S. Mss S

Extent: 9.0 c.f. (5 record center cartons and 13 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Correspondence of three geologists, Roland D. Irving, Charles R. Van Hise, and Charles Kenneth Leith, who successively conducted the work of this survey from their offices at the University of Wisconsin. The principal object of the survey was to make detailed studies of the ore-bearing regions bordering on Lake Superior, but in 1890 the general direction of a study of the pre-Cambrian rocks of North America was given to Van Hise, and from time to time special investigations or scientific supervision of additional projects were required of the division. Since the incoming correspondence of the survey and of the university department of geology was filed as one unit, much of it deals with university affairs, as well as with other professional and personal interests of Van Hise. Monthly reports of University of Wisconsin Science Club meetings are present as are papers on Leith's work preparing an exhibit of ores for the St. Louis Exposition of 1903.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us00000s

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In 1883 a branch of the United States Geological Survey, designed to make a special study of the geology of the Lake Superior region, was established with headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. Roland D. Irving, who had distinguished himself by his work on the Wisconsin State Geological Survey, was put in charge of the division. After Irving's death in 1888, Charles R. Van Hise took over the direction of the survey and continued in that position until it was discontinued as a separate unit in 1905, although the work was carried on intermittently thereafter. During the last few years of the existence of the survey, and particularly after Van Hise's promotion to the presidency of the university, a great part of the management devolved upon Charles K. Leith, the assistant geologist. All three of these men were faculty members of the University of Wisconsin and conducted the work of the survey from the science building on the university campus.

During these years detailed studies were made of each of the ore-bearing regions bordering on Lake Superior and on different phases of the general geology of the entire area, resulting in a series of monographs and maps and culminating in a comprehensive treatise on the Lake Superior region as a whole, prepared by Van Hise and Leith. In 1890 a general study of the pre-Cambrian rocks of North America was added to the lines of work directed by Van Hise. From time to time other responsibilities for special investigations or scientific supervision were placed upon members of the division.

From this collection the reader can see the whole scope of the work of the survey. There are letters between the director in Washington and the geologist in charge in Madison outlining plans of procedure and discussing appropriations, cooperation with other surveys, technical problems, personnel, examination of specimens, printing problems, and countless other details. For many years a monthly report was sent to the Washington office in which achievements were summarized and aims formulated. Annual sets of instructions were issued specifying the particular areas and problems to be studied by each section or division, and suggesting the stages of accomplishment that were expected from time to time.

Much correspondence took place with other division heads and directors of state surveys, with fellow scientists in allied fields, editors of scientific journals, and instructional forces of other colleges. An especially close connection was maintained with the University of Chicago, where Van Hise served as non-resident professor of structural geology from 1892 to 1903. Mineral land agents, mining companies, ore distributing concerns, and manufacturers were all interested in the progress of the survey and extended aid in the matter of supplying maps and statistical data and in permitting inspection of property. These organizations as well as curators of museums and private individuals frequently sent in ore specimens for analysis and sought technical advice from the survey.

Necessarily there was much exchange of correspondence with field workers, a great deal of which dealt with routine matters of interest to one studying particular localities or reconstructing a plan of a representative survey. The problem of securing satisfactory assistants was always a pressing one, as evidenced by the great bulk of letters on the subject, especially since there was a never ceasing drain of trained geologists to other divisions, other universities, and to private industry.

The university department of geology was closely allied with the work of the survey, and since the incoming correspondence was filed as one unit, a considerable amount of it deals with university affairs. Appropriations for the department, faculty appointments, curricula, students' qualifications and positions, and academic affairs in general are touched upon in the letters. In 1898-99 Van Hise was a member of the university athletic council and a lively correspondence took place with other university boards over intercollegiate athletics. In the series of letter books where he segregated the more informal of his letters to the federal survey and his other professional and personal affairs are to be found Van Hise's replies. Here too are copies of letters to his colleagues, some expressions of views on civic and educational matters, a few business letters, and a number of articles on non-technical subjects.

Several other letter books are grouped in separate subseries. In the two volumes entitled “Lake Superior Survey” are letters to assistant geologists surveying the Crystal Falls and Iron River areas in Michigan in the early 1890's. A volume labeled “Carnegie Institution” contains Van Hise's letters for the year 1903-04 when he served as adviser on geo-physics to that institution. Dr. Leith's letters written while collecting and preparing an exhibit of Lake Superior ores for the St. Louis exposition of 1903 are in a separate volume. Another group of six volumes contains his letters dated from 1899 to 1905, the early ones dealing predominantly with his study of the Mesabi iron range in Minnesota and the publication of his monograph on the subject, but taking on more and more the nature of administrative work and the management of the survey. In the same series are several letters to Van Hise during the latter's frequent and prolonged absences, discussing departmental and survey work, and such miscellaneous items as monthly reports of meetings of the University Science Club and several brief articles relating to his on investigations.

The correspondence consists of fifteen file boxes of letters received at the Madison office, dating from 1882 to 1912, and thirty-two letter press books containing copies of letters sent, grouped in series by the writers. The letter books have indexes to the names of persons to whom letters were addressed; they are all in a good state of preservation and fairly legible.

Several volumes of letter books containing manuscripts of articles published by the survey and available in printed form were not preserved; likewise five file boxes of bills and receipts largely for equipment and supplies used on field trips were destroyed. The correspondence, however, has been preserved intact. Notebooks kept by geologists in the field are on file in the geology department of the university.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Charles Leith, May 1938.

U.S. Mss S	Series: Incoming Correspondence
Box   1	1882-1891, June
Box   2	1891, July-1893, April
Box   3	1893, May-1895
Box   4	1896-1897
Box   5	1898-1899, June
Box   6	1899, July-1900, June
Box   7	1900, July-1901, April
Box   8	1901, May-1902, January
Box   9	1902, February- July
Box   10	1902, August-1903, January
Box   10	1903, February-September
Box   11	1903, October-1904, April
Box   12	1904, May-December
Box   12	1905, January-May
Box   13	1905, June-1912; undated
	Series: Letter Books (Outgoing Correspondence)	⇧
	Subseries: Official Correspondence
	Irving and Van Hise
Box   14 Volume   1	1882, October-1884, June
Box   14 Volume   2	1884, June-1885, September
Box   14 Volume   3	1885, September-1886, June
Box   14 Volume   4	1886, June-1888, January
Box   14 Volume   5	1888, January-1889, September
Box   14 Volume   6	1889, September-1890, October
Box   15 Volume   7	1890, October-1891, July
Box   15 Volume   8	1891, July-1892, July
Box   15 Volume   9	1892, July-1894, March
Box   15 Volume   10	1894, March-1896, November
Box   15 Volume   11	1896, December-1898, December
Box   15 Volume   12	1899, January-1900, April
Box   15 Volume   13	1900, May-1901, February
Box   16 Volume   14	1901, February-1901, December
Box   16 Volume   15	1901, December-1902, November
Box   16 Volume   16	1902, November-1905, July
	Leith
Box   16 Volume   17	1899, April 10-1901, December 17
Box   16 Volume   18	1902, February 11-1903, February 6
Box   16 Volume   19	1903, February 7-1904, January 12
Box   16 Volume   20	1904, January 13-October 22
Box   17 Volume   21	1904, October 25-1905, April 19
Box   17 Volume   22	1905, April 13-June
	Subseries: Private Correspondence, Van Hise	⇧
Box   17 Volume   23	1892, January-1894, January
Box   17 Volume   24	1894, February-1897, April
Box   17 Volume   25	1897, April-1899, January
Box   17 Volume   26	1899, January-1900, June
Box   18 Volume   27	1900, June-1902, January
Box   18 Volume   28	1902, January-1903, April
	Subseries: Correspondence on Lake Superior Survey, Van Hise	⇧
Box   18 Volume   29	1891, May-1892, August
Box   18 Volume   30	1892, September-1896, March
Box   18 Volume   31	Subseries: Correspondence on Carnegie Institution, Van Hise, 1903, March-1904, July	⇧
Box   18 Volume   32	Subseries: Correspondence on St. Louis Exposition, Leith, 1902, July-1904, October	⇧