Title: Walton Seymour Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1939-1973

Creator:

• Seymour, Walton, 1909-1979

Call Number: Mss 743; PH 4128 (3)

Quantity: 9.6 c.f. (23 archives boxes and 1 flat box) and 3 photographs (1 oversize folder)

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:

Papers, mainly 1947-1973, of Walton Seymour, a power rate economist and industrial development consultant, consisting of correspondence; notes; and memos, reports, and papers on energy and economic development projects in the United States, Latin America, Iran, Africa, and Vietnam. Documenting his work as director of the Division of Power at the Department of the Interior (1947-1950) are notes and papers on federal energy policies. As an independent consultant (1952-1958) and vice-president of Development and Resources Corporation (D&R, 1958-1973), Seymour's files include correspondence, memos and numerous project reports concerning negotiations with foreign governments, the United Nations, and the U.S. Agency for International Development; energy policies and development programs for regional and national governments and private companies; supervision of D&R field employees; and organization of projects. Prominent correspondents include Gordon Clapp, Julius Krug, and David Lillienthal.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00743

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

Walton Seymour, an economic development consultant specializing in energy issues, was born in Faribault, Minnesota on July 10, 1909, the son of Charles Walton Seymour and Margaret Lucinda Rugg Seymour. He received an A.B. with a major in economics from the University of Wisconsin in 1929 and went to work for the North American Company as an economist.

Seymour joined the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1934. He worked on power marketing, including negotiation of contracts, acquisition of properties, and economic studies, and moved up the ranks from rate engineer to become chief of the Rate Division and director of power utilization. During the period 1939-1940 he also served as a power rate consultant to several regional power authorities.

In 1947, Seymour joined the staff of Secretary of the Interior Julius Krug, a former Tennessee Valley Authority colleague, as director of the program staff and the power division. Seymour continued to hold both positions until he resigned in 1950 to become power advisor to the Mutual Security Administration's mission to Greece. While at the Department of the Interior, Seymour also served on an ad hoc committee studying the relationship of the power industry and the Atomic Energy Commission.

In 1952, Seymour became an independent consultant, working on several projects in Latin America and accompanying the special United Nations flood control mission to East Pakistan. From 1956 to 1973, he served as a consultant in power economics to the Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority.

In 1958, Seymour joined Development and Resources Corporation (D&R), an economic development consulting firm formed by two ex-TVA officials, David Lilienthal and Gordon Clapp. Until his retirement in 1973, Seymour served as vice president for industrial development. In that capacity he handled D&R's activities in the fields of economics and power and in industrial and minerals development. During this time, D&R conducted extensive projects with the Khuzestan [Iran] Water and Power Authority and the Ivory Coast and produced a number of smaller energy and resource studies in Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the United States. Seymour also authored several papers on energy-related issues for conferences sponsored by the United Nations and the National Planning Association.

Seymour married Katherine Rankine Denniston in November 1936. The couple had two children, Martha and Charles. Katherine Seymour died in 1960; six years later Seymour married Sonya Thorpe. Walton Seymour died on April 26, 1979.

The Walton Seymour Papers are of interest for their information on the role of American economic consultants in formulating development policy in the United States and foreign nations between 1950 and 1973. They contain material on economic programs, especially energy-related projects, developed by various American firms, the United States Agency for International Development, the United Nations, and several foreign nations. The papers also include information on economic conditions in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. However, although D&R operated in several countries during politically volatile periods, the papers contain little mention of political events. There also is very little personal material in the papers. The collection is organized in four series: Biographical and Background Materials, Chronological Correspondence, Subject Files, and Development and Resources Corporation Reports.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND BACKGROUND MATERIALS, 1944-1973, contains resumes, summaries of D&R projects, and miscellaneous biographical items.

CHRONOLOGICAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1947-1973, includes incoming and outgoing letters, memos, draft reports, and correspondence. Little personal information is contained in the correspondence, but the records give a good picture of the operations of a private economic consultant in the 1950's and of a development consulting firm in the 1960's and early 1970's, especially relations with the Agency for International Development, the United Nations, and foreign nations. The series also provides information on the applications of development theory in the decades after World War II.

From 1947 to 1958, when Seymour was an official in the Department of the Interior and a private consultant, the files consist of letters to potential clients and colleagues about business opportunities, recent activities, and projects too small to merit a separate folder in the subject files. However, the main source of information for this period is the subject files.

After 1962, when the subject files cease, correspondence becomes the chief source of information. By this time, Seymour was employed by D&R. Although not involved in actual field work at D&R, he shared responsibility for investigating possible projects, negotiating with interested parties, recruiting personnel, and supervising field operations in foreign countries. Prominent clients included the United States Agency for International Development (AID), the United Nations, the Khuzestan (Iran) Water and Power Authority (KWPA), the Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority (PRWRA), the Ivory Coast (GOIC), Western Australia, the Inter-American Bank (IDB), J.F. Pritchards Co., and SERETE (a French corporation to which D&R subcontracted services on a development project in Brazil). Other correspondents included field personnel under Seymour's supervision, D&R officials, and former TVA colleagues.

The SUBJECT FILES, 1947-1963, include notes, draft reports, and incoming and outgoing correspondence with clients. The bulk of records are concentrated in the period from 1952 to 1958 when Seymour worked as a private consultant, although Seymour's Department of the Interior correspondence is also here. Most of the material concerns the development of energy resources, especially the criteria for establishing rates for energy sales. The files are arranged alphabetically by subject (usually the name of a country, company, or conference) and then by type of material, and finally by date.

DEVELOPMENT AND RESOURCES CORPORATION REPORTS, 1963-1970, contain D&R's final recommendations for the development of agricultural, industrial, and energy resources in the United States and various third world countries. These studies were funded by local and national governments, the Agency for International Development, and various international banks and American corporations. Most of the reports concern Vietnam, Iran, the Ivory Coast, and Latin America. A few discuss energy-related issues in the United States, especially in the western part of the country, where D&R attempted to start an energy resources development program. The reports are arranged alphabetically by country, then chronologically by publication date. Only reports for projects with which Walton Seymour was involved in some capacity are included.

Also includes three group portraits of officials of D&R of New York; officials are indentified in one photograph.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Walton Seymour, New York, New York, 1973. Accession Number: M73-074, M73-229

Processing Information

Processed by Rebecca S. Williams (archives intern), 1988.

Mss 743 Box   1 Folder   1	Series: Biographical and Background Material, 1944-1973
	Series: Chronological Correspondence	⇧
Box   1 Folder   2-6	1947-1962 June
Box   2	1962 July-December
Box   3	1963-1965
Box   4	1966-1967 September
Box   5	1967 October-1969 April
Box   6	1969 May-1970 October
Box   7	1970 November-1971 October
Box   8	1971 November-1972
Box   9 Folder   1-2	1973 January-June
Box   24 Folder   1	Maps removed from correspondence, 1963, 1969
	Series: Subject Files	⇧
	Atomic Energy Commission
Box   9 Folder   3	Security clearance, 1949-1950
	Ad hoc advisory committee
Box   9 Folder   4	Correspondence, 1949-1954
Box   9 Folder   5	Drafts and notes, 1949-1951
Box   9 Folder   6	Consulting work, 1951-1954
Box   9 Folder   7	Atomic energy papers (not by W.S.)
Box   10 Folder   1	Burma, Technical assistance programs, undated
Box   10 Folder   2	Colorado, LCRA retail rate studies by W.S., 1939
Box   10 Folder   3	Council for Economic and Industrial Research, 1953-1954
	El Salvador
Box   10 Folder   4	Contract and related correspondence, 1953
Box   10 Folder   5	Correspondence, memos, notes, 1953-1957
Box   10 Folder   6	Pamphlets, circa 1949-1950s
Box   10 Folder   7	Statistical data and drafts, 1953-1957
Box   24 Folder   2-3	Oversize material
Box   10 Folder   8	“Wholesale power rates,” 1953
Box   10 Folder   9	Greece, Mutual Security Association mission, 1950-1955
	Guatemala
Box   11 Folder   1	Correspondence and contracts, 1955
Box   11 Folder   2	Draft reports, 1955
Box   11 Folder   3	“Power rate study,” 1955
Box   11 Folder   4	Statistical data, 1955
Box   11 Folder   5	India, Technical assistance programs, undated
Box   11 Folder   6	Indonesia, Technical assistance programs, undated
	Interior, Department of
	Correspondence
Box   11 Folder   7-11	1947 October-1948 October
Box   12 Folder   1-9	1948 November-1950 June
Box   12 Folder   10	Economic Cooperation Association, 1949
Box   12 Folder   11	Marshall Ford Dam, 1948
Box   12 Folder   12	Pacific Northwest Coordinating Committee, 1948
Box   12 Folder   13	Power policy, 1947-1950
Box   13 Folder   1-3	Program Committee, Office of the Secretary, 1948-1950
Box   13 Folder   4	Reorganization, Office of the Secretary, 1947-1949
Box   13 Folder   5	International education conference, 1963-1964
	Iran (D&R project)
Box   13 Folder   6	Correspondence, 1957-1958
Box   13 Folder   7	Draft reports, 1957-1958
Box   13 Folder   8	Notes and memos, 1957-1958
Box   13 Folder   9	Pamphlets and papers (not by W.S.), 1957-1958
Box   13 Folder   10	Italy, memos and notes, 1957
Box   14 Folder   1	Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation, 1954
Box   14 Folder   2	Mississippi Valley Generating Company, SEC testimony, 1954
	National Planning Association
Box   14 Folder   3	Atomic Energy Policy Committee minutes, 1954-1956
Box   14 Folder   4	Correspondence, 1954-1957
Box   14 Folder   5	Draft reports, 1955
Box   14 Folder   6	“Economic Aspects of Non-military Use of Atomic Energy,” 1954
Box   14 Folder   7	Power policy, 1955
Box   14 Folder   8	Working paper and memos, 1954-1956
Box   14 Folder   9	National Security Resources Board, Electric power survey, 1948
Box   14 Folder   10	Oldbury Electro-Chemical Company, 1953
	Pakistan, U.N. Flood Control Mission
Box   14 Folder   11	Clippings and publicity, circa 1956-1958
Box   14 Folder   12	Correspondence, 1956-1958
Box   15 Folder   1	Draft reports, 1957-1958
Box   15 Folder   2	Memoranda, 1956-1957
Box   15 Folder   3	Notes, circa 1950s
Box   15 Folder   4	Pamphlets, circa 1950s
Box   15 Folder   5	“Partnership policy in regional power planning,” 1955-1956
Box   15 Folder   6	Convention statements by others, 1953-1954
Box   15 Folder   7	Puerto Rico, Contracts and correspondence, 1955-1954
Box   15 Folder   8	Public Works and Resources Subcommittee (House), Testimony, 1948-1955
Box   15 Folder   9	“Ratemaking policies of federal power projects,” 1946
Box   15 Folder   10	“Resources for the Future,” 1953
Box   15 Folder   11	State management of power resources, circa 1950s
Box   15 Folder   12	“South Carolina Public Service Authority Recommendations as to Wholesale Power Rate Structure,” 1940
Box   15 Folder   13	Speeches, 1948-1949
	Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Box   15 Folder   14-16	Notes, data, draft reports, circa 1940s-1950s
Box   16 Folder   1	Oral history transcript, 1969-1972
Box   16 Folder   2	Trimble Company, Legislative bill, 1948-1949
	United Nations conference on technology in less developed countries
Box   16 Folder   3	Correspondence, 1962-1963
Box   16 Folder   4	“Development of power supply,” 1962-1963
Box   16 Folder   5	Energy development policy, 1963
Box   16 Folder   6	Venezuela, Correspondence, notes, memos, 1955
Box   16 Folder   7	“Water Power Utilization,” circa 1940s
Box   16 Folder   8	Water resources policy, 1950
Box   16 Folder   9	Miscellaneous notes, undated
	Series: Development and Resource Corporation Reports	⇧
Box   16 Folder   10	Colombia, Industrial development of nickel, 1967
	Ghana
Box   16 Folder   11	Pakro Dam on the Kula River, 1960
Box   16 Folder   12	Agriculture, water, transportation, telecommunications, 1968
Box   17 Folder   1-2	Agriculture, water, transportation, telecommunications (continued)
Box   17 Folder   3	Guatemala, Feasibility study of hydraulic resources in northern, 1969
Box   17 Folder   4	Guinea, Economic development of northern, 1964
Box   17 Folder   5	Haiti, Power from Peligre Dam and electric service for Port-au-Prince, 1961
	Iran
Box   17 Folder   6	Natural resources of Khuzestan, 1959
Box   17 Folder   7	Power, flood control, and irrigation, 1959
Box   18 Folder   1-2	Khuzestan sugar project, 1961-1963
	Ivory Coast
Box   18 Folder   3	Geological exploration and minerals development, 1961-1964
Box   18 Folder   4-5	Development of the southwest, 1963, 1968
Box   19 Folder   1-2	Development of the southwest (continued)
Box   19 Folder   3	Pate a papier, 1971
Box   19 Folder   4	Laos, Grain handling and storage in the Vientiane plain, 1970
Box   19 Folder   5	Latin America, Multi-national investment programs, 1966
Box   19 Folder   6	Malaysia, Development of the Labuk Valley, 1966
	Puerto Rico
Box   19 Folder   7	Power plant fuels for the U.S. market, 1969
Box   20 Folder   1	Toa Vaca Complex, Economic feasibility of, 1970
	United States
Box   20 Folder   2	Alaska, Market for Rampart power, 1962
Box   20 Folder   3	Montana Power Company, Payments for Indian lands, 1965
Box   20 Folder   4	Peabody Coal Company, Transmountain power project, 1966
Box   20 Folder   5	Pennzoil United Inc., Corporate agriculture, 1968
Box   20 Folder   6	New York City power supply, 1969
PH 4128 (3)	Developmental Resources Corporation of New York group portraits
Mss 743 Box   20 Folder   7	Oakland County (Illinois), 1970
	Vietnam
Box   21 Folder   1	Joint development planning, 1967
Box   21 Folder   2	Preliminary report to the president of South Vietnam, 1967
Box   21 Folder   3-4	Mekong delta development, 1968, 1969
Box   21 Folder   5-6	Postwar development, 1969
Box   22 Folder   1	High-yielding rice programs, 1969
Box   22 Folder   2	Urban development in the five northern provinces, 1969
Box   22 Folder   3	Labor, employment, and skills, 1969
Box   22 Folder   4	Rural rehabilitation of refugees, 1969
Box   22 Folder   5	Agriculture in the five northern provinces, 1969
Box   22 Folder   6-8	Export prospects, 1969-1970
Box   23 Folder   1	Agriculture in the five northern provinces, 1970
Box   23 Folder   2	Water resource development in Quang Tri and Thua Thein, 1970
Box   23 Folder   3	Lower Mekong basin, 1970