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This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the FAQ section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 6.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 825 items) |
| Abstract | Hugh H. (Hugh Hammond) Bennett (1881-1960), a native of Wadesboro, N.C., was a soil scientist and conservationist with the United States Department of Agriculture, 1903-1951. This collection contains professional correspondence and other materials of Bennett, concerning soil conservation surveys and projects in the western United States, Latin America, South Africa, and the West Indies; the Association of American Geographers, 1943-1945; and Bennett's writings. Also included are a diary, 1949, of a conservation survey trip to France, Italy, Tunisia, and Algeria; technical articles; biographical data; photographs; and clippings covering Bennett's life and work, 1935-1955, Included are four scrapbooks, of which Volume 3 concerns Bennett's trip to South Africa, and Volume 4 contains clippings concerning "Hugh Bennett Day" in Anson County, N.C. |
| Creator | Bennett, Hugh H. (Hugh Hammond), 1881-1960. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Biographical
Information
Hugh H. (Hugh Hammond) Bennett (1881-1960), a native of Wadesboro, N.C., was a soil scientist and conservationist with the United States Department of Agriculture, 1903-1951.
Bennett graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1903, and from 1903 to 1909, he served as a soil scientist with the Soil Survey Division of the Bureau of Soils. In 1909 Bennett was an inspector in a special soil survey as well as a member of an agricultural expedition to what was probably the Panama Canal. He was in charge of an explorative expedition to Alaska in 1914; a member of the Chugach National Forest Commission in 1915; the Guatemala-Honduras Boundary Commission in 1919; the Rubber Commission sent to Central and South America and the West Indies, 1923-1924; in charge of an agricultural survey of Cuba during the winters of 1925-1932; in charge of a soil erosion and moisture conservation investigation for the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, 1929-1933; assisted the Department of the Interior from September 1933-March 1935, where he organized and headed the Soil Erosion Service before its transfer to the Department of Agriculture as the re-named Soil Conservation Service; and he was chief of the Soil Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture, 1935-1951. On 1 November 1951, he was appointed special assistant to the secretary of agriculture to advise on conservation and resource matters.
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Scope and Content
This collection contains professional correspondence and other materials of Hugh H. Bennett (1881-1960), concerning soil conservation surveys and projects in the western United States, Latin America, South Africa, and the West Indies; the Association of American Geographers, 1943-1945; and Bennett's writings. Also included are a diary, 1949, of a conservation survey trip to France, Italy, Tunisia, and Algeria; technical articles; biographical data; photographs; and clippings covering Bennett's life and work, 1935-1955, Included are four scrapbooks, of which Volume 3 concerns Bennett's trip to South Africa, and Volume 4 contains clippings concerning "Hugh Bennett Day" in Anson County, N.C.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
This series contains correspondence pertaining to Bennett's career in soil conservation. There is very little personal correspondence, and the bulk of the material consists of official letters; Department of Agriculture memorandums; correspondence regarding soil conservation surveys and projects in the western United States, South America, South Africa, and the West Indies; documents regarding the publication of his book Soil Conservation, published in 1939; articles written by and about Bennett; and correspondence during his time as the president of the Association of American Geographers, 1943-1945; and a diary, 1949, of a conservation survey trip to France, Italy, Tunisia, and Algeria.
| Folder 1a |
Original finding aid #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 1a |
| Folder 1 |
1923-1932 #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 1Correspondence from 1923 is from the Canal Zone; letter from 9 July 1930 contains some genealogical information about Bennett's family. |
| Folder 2-3 |
1933 #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 2-3Contains some letters concerning projects in Idaho, Texas, Washington, and other locations. Folder 2Folder 3 |
| Folder 4-5 |
April 1934-October 1934 #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 4-5Letter from 24 August 1934 contains autobiographical information on Bennett. Folder 4Folder 5 |
| Folder 6 |
1935 #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 6Contains letters regarding Bennett's book Soil Conservation. |
| Folder 7 |
1936-1937 #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 7Contains letters regarding Bennett's book Soil Conservation. |
| Folder 8-10 |
1938 #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 8-10Contains letters regarding Bennett's book Soil Conservation. Folder 8Folder 9Folder 10 |
| Folder 11-14 |
1939 #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 11-14Contains letters regarding Bennett's book Soil Conservation; an article entitled "Relation of Entomology to Erosion" is dated 25 February 1939. Folder 11Folder 12Folder 13Folder 14 |
| Folder 15-16 |
1940 #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 15-16Includes article dated 28 February-12 April 1940 concerns work in Venezuela; article from 28 November 1940 entitled "Thirty Years of Vertical Farming." Folder 15Folder 16 |
| Folder 17 |
1941 #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 17Contains several letters concerning work in Venezuela and correspondence from Puerto Rico; letters from 17 September 1941 and 14 October 1941 from Ernest E. Maes, field representative in South America, writing from Lima, Peru. |
| Folder 18-19 |
1942 #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 18-19Contains several letters concerning work in Venezuela and correspondence from Puerto Rico. Folder 18Folder 19 |
| Folder 20-22 |
1943 #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 20-22Contains some correspondence in connection with Bennett's presidency of the Association of American Geographers; 25 May 1943 article "Don't Forget the Soil"; 15 June 1943 article "War and Postwar Food Production." Folder 20Folder 21Folder 22 |
| Folder 23 |
1944 #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 23Contains some correspondence in connection with Bennett's presidency of the Association of American Geographers, and Bennett's trip to the Union of South Africa. |
| Folder 24-26 |
1945 #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 24-26Contains some correspondence in connection with Bennett's presidency of the Association of American Geographers, and a trip to Venezuela. Folder 24Folder 25Folder 26 |
| Folder 27-28 |
1946-1949 #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 27-28Contains mimeographed booklet by Bennett from 1 July 1948 entitled "Bibliography: Books, Articles, Technical Publications;" and 65 typed pages of a diary dated September-October 1949 kept during trip Bennett and Glenn E. Riddell, an extension Soil Conservation Service conservationist, took to France, Italy, Tunisia, and Algeria to observe and gather updated information on land conditions, soil and water conservation measures, and causes and effects of land deterioration in order to advance soil and water conservation in the United States. Folder 27Folder 28 |
| Folder 29 |
1950 #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 29Contains letters from foreign countries regarding various projects. |
| Folder 30-37 |
1951 #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 30-37Contains several letters concerning a biography of Bennett entitled Big Hugh, his retirement, 70th birthday, and his appointment as special assistant to the secretary of agriculture on conservation and resource matters, and several articles. Folder 30Folder 31Folder 32Folder 33Folder 34Folder 35Folder 36Folder 37 |
| Folder 38-40 |
1952, 1955-1956 #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 38-40Contains a few letters regarding a trip to Cuba in 1956. Folder 38Folder 39Folder 40 |
| Folder 41-42 |
Undated #03527, Series: "1. Correspondence, 1923-1956 and undated." Folder 41-42Contains mostly articles, birthday cards, and memoranda on book sales. Folder 41Folder 42 |
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Series 2. Clippings, 1935-1955.
Arrangement: chronological.
This series contains clippings regarding Bennett's career and related topics. Included are four scrapbooks, of which Volume 3 concerns Bennett's trip to South Africa, and Volume 4 contains clippings concerning "Hugh Bennett Day" in Anson County, N.C. Additionally, there is a collection of pictures.
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Items Separated
Processed by: SHC Staff
Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007
Updated by: Adam Fielding, Kate Stratton, and Jodi Berkowitz, January 2011
This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
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