Chester Longwell Papers, MS 17. Special Collections, UNLV Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Donated in 1975 by Irene Longwell.
Staff, 1976.
This collection is open for research.
For permission to reproduce or publish from this collection, please contact the Director of Special Collections.
Chester Longwell was born on a farm in Ralls County, Missouri in 1887. He began his education in a rural, one-room schoolhouse and later attended high school in Quincy, Illinois, where he graduated with honors in 1904. He attended the University of Missouri from 1912 to 1915; he began studying geology in his junior year and in it discovered a lifelong passion. After graduating with honors, Longwell took one year of graduate study before heading to Yale University to study structural geology. His doctoral education was interrupted by America’s entry into the First World War in 1917. Longwell served two years in the army as an artillery officer and saw combat in France.
After the war Longwell returned to Yale, where the subject of his doctoral dissertation was the Muddy Mountains of Southern Nevada, work that he continued for many years. Longwell was appointed to the faculty at Yale and also held an appointment as associate geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. From 1921 to 1928, Longwell did his fieldwork throughout Clark County, spending his summers in the harsh desert wilderness, a challenging physical environment with few inhabitants. A keen observer of the land, Longwell recorded the geology and data on vegetation and weather. He also wrote short stories set in the area, though there was no evidence that he ever tried to have these studies published.
Longwell enjoyed a long and distinguished career at Yale; among many other offices and honors, he served as president of the Geological Society of America from 1949 to 1950. His second marriage to Irene Moffat was successful, and the couple had two daughters and a son. In 1956 Longwell retired from Yale and the couple moved to Palo Alto, California. Stanford welcomed him to its earth sciences faculty where he continued his geology research. Over his career Longwell wrote more than one hundred articles and books on geology, including the undergraduate text, Physical Geography, co-authored with Richard Flint, which was the standard textbook used in introductory geology classes at colleges and universities for more than a decade. Longwell continued his research until his death in 1975 at age 88.
References: For more detailed biographical information, see a reprint of the
The Chester Longwell Papers document his professional career and his pioneering work in Clark County, Nevada. The field notes record his first hand observations of the geologic phenomena that he subsequently turned into scholarly scientific articles. The manuscripts show the process Longwell used to turn those field notes into drafts for his articles. The subject files and correspondence show both the breadth and depth of Longwell’s scholarly and professional activities. Name files and rock specimen tags can also be found in the collection.
The collection is divided into 8 series and 2 subseries:
Over 600 photographs contained in two albums were removed from the collection to UNLV Photo Collection 0311.
In addition, there are 5 document boxes of photographs, 1 box of slides, 1 box of glass plates, and 1 record storage carton of publications retained on the Special Collections shelves (but separate from this collection). Ask a staff member to view these items.
For related topics and further information see the following collections:
Geological Society of America Collection, 1029-2
Franklin M. Murphy Collection, T-130
J.F. Spur Collection, 1010
Notes of observations and measurements taken on geological field trips.
Handwritten and typed drafts of articles, speeches, and other types of material primarily of a geological nature
Reprints, off-prints, photocopies etc. of articles mainly of a geological nature
Materials on professional geological associations and societies, financial matters, business concerns, personal and professional matters.
Primarily manuscript materials sent to Longwell by professional colleagues for his review, critique, or to keep in his reference files
Organized chronologically.
Arranged alphabetically by name.
U.S. Geological Survey and personally made tags containing information on the provenance of rock specimens found on field trips. Arranged chronologically; encapsulated.
Contains photocopies of misc. field notes from 1919 to 1925, a list of C.R.L. publications, notes on the photographs and other collection provenance and acquisition information, and misc. letters from the Smithsonian (1862), a Longwell field note in Clark County (1961), and a letter from St. Thomas, Nevada (1921)