John Wittwer Collection. T-101. Special Collections, UNLV Libraries, University of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Gift of Ferren Bunker, 1976.
JoAnn Spair, 2002.
This collection is open for research.
For permission to reproduce or publish from this collection, please contact the Director of Special Collections.
John Wittwer was employed as the District Agricultural Agent for the University of Nevada Extension project from 1921-1954 in the area around the Moapa and Virgin Valleys in Clark County. Born on November 21, 1880, Wittwer came to southern Nevada in 1921 from Uintah County, Utah where he had been an agricultural county agent for five years. Wittwer had previously worked as a teacher in Utah; this experience would prove invaluable in his work to educate farmers and promote new agricultural and conservation programs in southern Nevada’s rural communities. In 1908, Wittwer married Anna Syphus, daughter of a prominent local Mormon family, and had two daughters and two sons. She died from influenza in 1922, one year after relocating to Nevada. Wittwer would marry his second wife, Della Parley, in 1935.
According to Wittwer, one pressing need in southern Nevada was to find a way to enhance methods of soil improvement and conservation. Wittwer’s first responsibility as an agent was to establish an experiment station in cooperation with the U. S. Bureau of Soils and the University of Nevada. Experiment stations were initially charged with finding solutions for depleted soils and improving the health of farm animals. Thereafter, Wittwer was involved with other rural experiment station projects that were put into place to provide educational assistance to farmers in gardening, livestock, farm and range, community economics, community welfare, water and sanitation.
Wittwer identified water issues such as water storage, drainage, and flood control as the second major set of problems that plagued southern Nevada. It would take decades of agent recommendations and government planning to overcome all of the monumental water problems facing southwestern states in this regard. Dam projects would take priority in the Southwest during the 1930s in the Roosevelt years with Wittwer helping to organize and set up large camps for two hundred of the Civilian Conservation Corps working on Hoover Dam. As a part of this enormous project, he also assisted in establishing another ten camps of operations for flood control.
Three additional areas within Wittwer’s agricultural responsibilities were the development of the dairy industry, vegetable production and marketing, and the 4-H Clubs in southern Nevada. The first two, the dairy industry and vegetable production and marketing development, came about as a result of the construction of Boulder (later Hoover) Dam and the effects of the Great Depression. After Congress passed the Boulder Dam Bill in 1929, Las Vegas and Boulder City became the base of operations for construction of the Dam and housed thousands of workers. As food supplies and milk were critical for feeding workers, new methods for the increased development of dairy herds and vegetable production were explored and pursued. Wittwer’s other major responsibility was the 4-H Clubs (Head, Heart, Hand, and Health). In his memoirs, Wittwer warmly addresses his pride in the accomplishments and growth of 4-H, and in the citizenship found among the boys and girls of isolated desert communities.
John Wittwer was also an accomplished illustrator and draughtsman, and many of his reports include hand-drawn maps and surveys of the Moapa and Virgin Valleys. After retiring at age seventy-one, Wittwer pursued art and higher education at universities throughout the west. He died on August 20, 1977.
The collection contains the professional papers and records of John Wittwer in his capacity as an Agricultural Extension agent for the University of Nevada from 1921 to 1954. The records are primarily annual reports containing text, photographs, news clippings, and charts that provide a rich chronicle of the conditions of agriculture and ranching in southern Nevada from 1898 to 1972. These conditions span water issues, such as flood control and irrigation to the general difficulties of sustaining agriculture and viable food production in a desert environment. The reports come from the Agricultural Experiment Stations in Clark and Lincoln counties and most contain both a Statistical Report (a combined annual report of the county extension workers stating the statistical facts) and a Narrative Summary (a descriptive written summary and interpretation of the methods and results for each project). There is also documentation regarding Wittwer’s work as a Clark County agent and that of other Nevada County Agents. Other material in the collection includes correspondence on various agricultural programs administered by Wittwer, and project files detailing progress made on rural (farming) concerns and developments such as nutrition, home health and sanitation, home gardening, home improvement, community activities and the 4-H Club.
Agents were part of the cooperative program between the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Nevada Agricultural Extension in Reno, Nevada. The purpose of these programs was to aid rural areas in more effective land conservation and farming. To achieve this goal the agents introduced better food production methods and provided information and education to assist farmers and ranchers in a variety of issues dealing with rural life and activities. Agents were responsible for over-sight and recommendations regarding irrigation and flood control, which was vital to rural farm and ranch areas in the southern Nevada area.
The collection is divided into five series and eleven subseries:
N/A
For related topics and further information see the following collections:
Ferron-Bunker Papers Mss 41
Syphus-Bunker Papers T-85
Elbert B. Edwards Papers MS 94-38
This series is comprised of the annual narrative summary and statistical report produced by agents of the University of Nevada’s Agricultural Extension program for Clark, Lincoln, White Pine, Eureka, Lander, Lyon, and Pershing, Pahrump Valley, Nye, and Churchill counties. Agents worked closely with the rural communities they served, devising projects that would benefit both agriculture and business. Yearly reports featured detailed information on the program of work performed by the agents, as well as projections and recommendations for future projects. Some of the concerns documented in the reports include: livestock, farm and range, community economics, community welfare, water and sanitation, and educational assistance. The reports are illustrated by photographs and newspaper clippings, along with hand-drawn charts, graphs, and maps of southern Nevada. Part of Subseries 1.1 also includes an Annual Plan of Work instead of a narrative summary. The annual plan of work is a fleshed out outline of the narrative summary.
This series is comprised of the annual narrative summary and statistical report produced by agents of the University of Nevada’s “Work in Agricultural and Home Economics” program for Clark and Lincoln counties. The reports provide detailed information on each agent’s yearly program of work with the rural community, including progress on various projects and their outcomes. Some of the topics featured in the reports include: nutrition, home health and sanitation, home gardening, clothing and furnishings, home improvement, community activities, 4-H, and the Keep Growing project. Educational classes and demonstrations given by the agents are also documented in these reports. Aspects of rural life and social events in southern Nevada are also documented by the photographs and newspaper clippings in these reports.
This series is comprised of the mini annual reports, in the form of memos, and project recommendations produced by the agents of the University of Nevada’s Agricultural County Agent Project for southern Nevada. The county agents worked to educate farmers and ranchers in southern Nevada in order to help them increase future production and income. Reports featured a detailed program of work that each county agent handled for that year. They document the agents’ close involvement with the farming community as they performed demonstrations and experienced first-hand the triumphs and failures of these farmers. The reports also provide information on other issues of concern to the agents such as erosion and flood control, animal production, improvement and testing. In addition, they serve to illustrate the increased needs of a rural population resulting from the depression and war years.
This series is comprised of the special project files of Wittwer and other University of Nevada extension agents working in southern Nevada (particularly the Moapa and Virgin River Valleys). The projects focused on a variety of environmental and rural concerns such as soil conservation, irrigation, water-drainage, dam construction, and flood control. Many projects were supported by the federal government (as a result of Roosevelt’s New Deal program) and were long-term. Photographs and newspaper clippings included in the reports provide an interesting snapshot of that era. The reports also include detailed hand-drawn charts, graphs, and maps of southern Nevada.
This series is comprised of the annual narrative reports produced by the University of Nevada’s Agricultural Experiment Station on food production research in Clark and Lincoln counties. The experiment stations were a part of the national system of research institutes supported by both individual states and the federal government. Some files feature yearly reports with a detailed program of work as handled by each extension agents together with correspondence updating progress and outcome results between extension agents and their director. Other files include only correspondence.
The series contains numerous brochures and pamphlets on environmental and water issues that were of interest to Wittwer in his capacity as an agricultural extension agent. There are publications focusing on water and dam projects in southern Nevada and others that concentrate on dams outside of Nevada. Other publications in the collection include pamphlets on agriculture and natural resources available in Nevada, and the Mormon religion.
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