David Hewitt Miller Papers, 1946-2006


Summary Information
Title: David Hewitt Miller Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1946-2006

Creator:
  • Miller, David Hewitt, 1918-2006
Call Numbers: UWM Manuscript Collection 159; Accession 2010-019

Quantity:
  • 6.2 cubic ft. (7 boxes)
  • plus additions of .2 cubic ft. (1 box)

Repository:
Archival Location:
UW-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:
The collection contains the personal papers of David Hewitt Miller, emeritus professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The papers include Miller's doctoral thesis, research conducted during his tenure with the Cooperative Snow Investigations, and drafts of conference presentations and published articles. The collection also contains Miller's extensive collection of scholarly articles on a wide variety of subjects in the geosciences.

Language: English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Spanish

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-mil-uwmmss0159
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Biography/History

David Hewitt Miller was born in Russell, Kansas in 1918. He received his bachelor of arts from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1939. From 1939 to 1940, he was Research Fellow in Geography and Climatology at UCLA; from 1941-1943, Junior Meteorologist and Assistant Meteorologist with the United States Army Corp of Engineers, San Francisco and Salt Lake City District Offices; in 1943, Senior Instructor in Meteorology and Geography at the Air Transport Command School in Kansas City, Missouri; and from 1943-1944, Senior Forecaster, Western Division of Transcontinental & Western Air, Inc. in Burbank, California. In 1944, Miller received his master of arts degree from UCLA.

From 1944-1946, he worked in the Research and Development Branch of the Office of the Quartermaster General in Washington, D.C. as a geographer, meteorologist, and climatologist. From 1946-1950, Miller was Assistant Chief at the Processing and Analysis Unit of the Cooperative Snow Investigations, Corps of Engineers and Weather Bureau. From 1950 to 1952, he worked as Assistant Director of the Snow Investigations, also with the Corps of Engineers. From 1952 to 1953, Miller was a research fellow of the National Science Foundation at the University of California-Los Angeles. While serving in these professional capacities, Miller attended the graduate program in geography at the University of California-Los Angeles. He earned his Ph.D. in 1953.

Miller has published extensively on a wide variety of topics within the geosciences. In 1955, the University of California Press published his dissertation, Snow Cover and Climate in the Sierra Nevada, California. Other monographs include A Survey Course: The Energy and Mass Budget at the Surface of the Earth (1968), Water at the Surface of the Earth: An Introduction to Ecosystem Hydrodynamics (1977), and Energy at the Surface of the Earth: An Introduction to the Energetics of Ecosystems (1981).

Miller taught seminars and courses in hydrology, physical geography, climatology, and meteorology at the University of Georgia (1958), the University of California (1961), the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1962), the University of Hawaii (1970), and the University of Newcastle, Australia (1966, 1972, 1979). His full-time academic career began in 1964 with an appointment as professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Department of Geography (now the Department of Geosciences). He served on numerous professional committees and boards including those of the American Meteorological Society, the Association of American Geographers, the International Geographical Union, and the American Geophysical Union.

Miller received numerous honorary awards including membership in Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma XI, fellowships from the National Science Foundation, a National Academy of Sciences exchange scientist award, two Fulbright fellowships, and an honorary degree from the University of Newcastle, Australia. Miller died in 2006.

Scope and Content Note

The majority of the collection consists of scholarly articles collected by Miller on a wide variety of subjects in the geosciences. Some of these are signed presentation copies.

The personal papers include the dissertation and several unpublished essays written by Miller during his graduate studies at the University of California-Los Angeles in the 1950s. The papers also document Miller's tenure with the Cooperative Snow Investigations (SI), a joint venture of the U.S. Weather Bureau and the Civil Works Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The program was initiated in 1945 to develop methods of forecasting seasonal and short-term stream flow resulting from snowmelt or combined snowmelt and rain. The results of the snow investigations were used in the design of flood-control structures and the spillways of all types of dams, to improve flood-warning systems, and to control allocation of industrial, municipal, power and irrigation water resources. To accomplish its objectives, the SI established three field research laboratories: the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory (California), the Upper Columbia Snow Laboratory (Montana), and the Willamette Basin Snow Laboratory (Oregon). Of these three, Miller was most familiar with the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory. Assessing the importance of the program, one scholar writes that many of the "the fundamentals of snow physics and hydrology were developed during the Cooperative Snow Investigations of 1945-1952, largely at CSSL . . . Since then, most snow research has been building on those fundamentals and refining some of the details." The results of research conducted by the SI are published in Snow Hydrology: Summary Report of the Snow Investigations and various technical reports.

Miller's academic career is documented by drafts of numerous published articles and conference presentations, and by a file of course handouts. His tenure at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is documented primarily in a file of course materials.

Arrangement of the Materials

This collection was received in, and is organized in, multiple parts. Additional materials have not been physically or intellectually arranged and interfiled, and researchers may need to consult more than one part of the collection to locate similar materials.

The personal papers are organized alphabetically by subject. Whenever possible, the processing archivists used the subject headings originally assigned by Miller.

The collection contains many articles written by others and collected by Miller. These were originally published in scholarly journals, government documents, and conference proceedings; they are written in English, German, Russian, French, Spanish, Japanese, and various Scandinavian languages. Although the processing archivists arranged some articles by subject (e.g., "Articles, San Dimas Experimental Forest, California"), most are arranged by national language (e.g., "Articles, Misc., Russian"). The majority of the articles are written in English. These are arranged alphabetically at the folder-level to facilitate access (e.g., "Articles, Misc., English, A-D").

The collection contains one additional accession.

Preferred Citation

Citation Guide for Primary Sources

Separated Material in the UWM Libraries

When accessioned, the collection contained many English- and foreign-language books and serials not authored by Miller. At the time of processing, they were physically separated from the archival collection and added to the general collection of the library. The bibliographic record of each item contains a note stating "From the collection of David H. Miller."

Administrative/Restriction Information
Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on the materials, and the collection is open to all members of the public in accordance with state law.


Use Restrictions

The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright which may be involved in the use of this collection (Wisconsin Statutes 19.21-19.39).


Acquisition Information

David Hewitt Miller donated the collection to the Archives in June 2000. Jon Kahl donated additional materials in October 2010 (accession 2010-019).


Processing Information

Michael Doylen and Amy Schindler processed the collection at the Archives in August 2000. Hayley Jackson updated the finding aid to include information about accession 2010-019 in August 2013.


Contents List
UWM Manuscript Collection 159
Records, 1946-1982
Physical Description: 6.2 cubic ft. (7 boxes) 
Articles
Box   1
Folder   1-3
Albedo, undated
Box   1
Folder   4-5
Australia, undated
Box   1
Folder   6
Cloud Seeding, undated
Box   1
Folder   7
Contact Zone, undated
Box   1
Folder   8
Erosion, undated
Box   1
Folder   9
Evaporation, undated
Box   1
Folder   10
Floods, undated
Box   1
Folder   11
Fraser Experimental Forest, Colorado, undated
Box   1
Folder   12
General Circulation Model, undated
Box   1
Folder   13
Glaciers, undated
Box   1
Folder   14
Greenland, undated
Box   1
Folder   15
Ice and Snow Cover, undated
Box   1
Folder   16
Infiltration, undated
Box   1
Folder   17
Instruments, undated
Box   1
Folder   18
Interception, undated
Box   1
Folder   19
Measurement, undated
Box   1
Folder   20
Midwestern and Lake Effect Storms, undated
Miscellaneous
Box   1
Folder   21-27
English, A-D, undated
Box   2
Folder   1-21
English, E-R, undated
Box   3
Folder   1-10
English, S-Z, undated
Box   3
Folder   11-13
French, undated
Box   3
Folder   14-20
German, undated
Box   4
Folder   1-3
German, undated
Box   4
Folder   4-6
Japanese, undated
Box   4
Folder   7-19
Russian, undated
Box   5
Folder   1
Russian, undated
Box   5
Folder   2-3
Scandinavian, undated
Box   5
Folder   4-5
Spanish, undated
Box   5
Folder   6
New England, undated
Box   5
Folder   7
Predictions, undated
Box   5
Folder   8
Radiation, undated
Box   5
Folder   9-10
San Dimas Experimental Forest, California, undated
Box   5
Folder   11
Snow Accumulation, undated
Box   5
Folder   12
Snow Cover, undated
Box   5
Folder   13
Snowmelt, undated
Box   5
Folder   14
Southwest U.S.A., undated
Box   5
Folder   15
Spring Snowmelt Flood, 1969
Box   5
Folder   16
Switzerland, undated
Box   5
Folder   17
Terrain, undated
Box   5
Folder   18
Vegetation, undated
Box   5
Folder   19
Watersheds, undated
Central Sierra Snow Laboratory
Box   5
Folder   20
Diurnal Variations, 1970
Box   5
Folder   21
Example of Spatial Variation, 1974
Box   5
Folder   22
Hydrology of a Headwaters Basin, 1965, 1972, 1990
Box   5
Folder   23
Maps, undated
Box   5
Folder   24
Miscellaneous, undated
Box   5
Folder   25
Sierra Climate, undated
Box   5
Folder   26
Temperature and Wind Worksheets, undated
Box   5
Folder   27
Temperatures, undated
Cooperative Snow Investigations
Box   5
Folder   28
Landscapes, undated
Box   5
Folder   29-31
Miscellaneous, 1946-1950
Box   5
Folder   32
Program Description, 1948, 1982
Box   5
Folder   33-34
Dissertation, "Snow Cover and Climate in the Sierra Nevada, California," 1953
Box   5
Folder   35
Environmental Protection Division, Special Report #62, "An Analysis of the Environment of the Inland Ice of Greenland," 1954
Box   5
Folder   36
Graduate Work, 1951-1952
Box   5
Folder   37
Miscellaneous, 1953
Box   5
Folder   38
Reviews of Snow Cover and Climate in the Sierra Nevada, California by David H. Miller, 1956-1958
Box   5
Folder   39
Reviews of Water at the Surface of the Earth by David H. Miller, 1977, 1979, 1983
Box   5
Folder   40
San Francisco Engineer District, Storm Studies, 1938-1942
Box   6
Folder   1
Snow Bibliographies, 1940-1949
Box   6
Folder   2
Snow Cover and Snowmelt Runoff Research, 1952-1953
Box   6
Folder   3
Snow Hydrology, drawings, 1947-1954
Box   6
Folder   4
Snow Investigations [Program], Miscellaneous, 1950-1952
Box   6
Folder   5
Snow-Forest Research, 1960-1964
Subject Files
Box   6
Folder   6
Aerial Surveys of Snow Cover, 1959
Box   6
Folder   7
Albedo, AMS Presentation, 1951
Box   6
Folder   8
Albedo, AMS Presentation, undated
Box   6
Folder   9
Albedo, Buried, undated
Box   6
Folder   10
Albedo, Diagrams, undated
Box   6
Folder   11
Albedo, Post-Storm, undated
Box   6
Folder   12
Albedo, Summaries, 1946-1951
Box   6
Folder   13
Albedo Study, Final Data, 1937-1938
Box   6
Folder   14
Albedo Unburied Layers, 1950
Box   6
Folder   15
Analysis of 1948 Runoff Season, Skyland Creek, UCSL, 1948
Box   6
Folder   16
C. Spring Albedo, Thesis Study, 1953
Box   6
Folder   17
CSSL Terrain, 1972, 1984, 1990
Box   6
Folder   18
Estimating Insulation, 1950
Box   6
Folder   19
GRD Seminar, Albedo, 1956
Box   6
Folder   20
Heat Balance Albedo, 1951-1952
Box   6
Folder   21
Snow Hydrology, undated
Box   6
Folder   22
"Influence of Snow Cover," AMS Presentation, 1954
Box   6
Folder   23
Lab Comparisons for SIPRE, undated
Box   6
Folder   24
Sierra Flood, 1950
Box   6
Folder   25
Sierra Snowfall Augmentation, 1973
Box   6
Folder   26
Sierra Topography, 1951
Box   6
Folder   27
"Toward a Climatology of Incoming Longwave Radiation," AAG Presentation, 1977
Box   6
Folder   28
Watanabe, 1965
Box   6
Folder   29
500 MB. Flow, 1950, 1953
Box   6
Folder   30
University of Newcastle, New South Wales, 1979
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Box   6
Folder   31
Correspondence, 1982
Box   6
Folder   32
Course Handouts, 1955, 1974-1976, 1982-1983, 1990
Writings
Box   6
Folder   33
Conference Presentations, 1961-1962
Box   6
Folder   34-37
Drafts, 1950-1974
Box   6
Folder   38
Published Articles, 1956-1964, undated
Box   6
Folder   39-40
Snow Interception MSS, 1960s
Box   7
Folder   1
Snow Interception MSS, 1960s
Box   7
Folder   2
Snow Interception Notes, undated
Accession 2010-019
Biographical Information and Papers, 1956-2006
Abstract: Additional materials, dating from 1956 to 2006, largely consisting of biographical information, including obituary and funeral materials. Also included are copies and reprints of articles, and part of a typescript.
Physical Description: .2 cubic ft. (1 box)