October 2025, Issue #68
Inspiring water wisdom
Our future is built on our past. As an archivist charged with safeguarding original documentation of Colorado’s water past, I work toward an improved understanding of our history. This takes several forms. One is educating future historians. This semester I am working with a class of history majors who have an assignment to use the Water Resources Archive. The time I dedicate to their education helps lay a foundation for careers as interpreters and storytellers.
Another form my work takes is talking to the media when they need some historical background. The latest example is KUNC’s newest podcast series, The Colorado Dream: Growing the Future.
A more standard form is creating research guides. These provide pathways into water history through book suggestions, website links, and archival collections. Read on for information about our newest guide, on the Colorado River.
For additional approaches, find more below about a returning event, our Water Scholar grant, new collection descriptions, and the ever-popular puzzler.
It may be lofty to imagine that the work of the Water Resources Archive inspires water wisdom through understanding historical impacts. But surely encouraging people to think, without telling them what to think, paves the path toward the wisdom we need in this world.
– Patty Rettig, archivist, Water Resources Archive
Save the date: Water Tables is back!
We are thrilled to announce that Water Tables, our distinctive fundraising dinner, will be held March 26, 2026, at the Lory Student Center on CSU’s Fort Collins campus. We are very excited to partner with the Colorado Water Center to hold this event! Watch for details coming soon. In the meantime, if you would like to sign up as a sponsor, please contact us.
Water puzzler
Sixty years ago, a statewide organization was formed to further water research, collaboration, and training. Based at Colorado State University, the entity originally had a lengthy name which has since been shortened to just three words. The organization is authorized under 1964 federal legislation as well as subsequent state legislation. It has had only seven directors over its six decades, with the current one being the first woman. All of the directors have worked hard connecting Colorado’s higher education system with water professionals and users across the state to meet educational and research needs (pictured: a 2018 cover of their former newsletter, “Colorado Water”). This organization partnered with the CSU Libraries to create the Water Resources Archive in 2001. We appreciate their partnership!
What is this organization?
Now online: two new collection descriptions
Many in the water community will remember Diane Hoppe, who served Colorado’s northeastern counties of District 65 in the state House of Representatives. After she passed away in 2016, her family donated her collection, which we have now finished organizing and describing. Along with campaign materials (for herself, Hank Brown, and Don Ament), the collection contains documents from her time on the Colorado Foundation for Water Education’s board and the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
On the other side of the state, Butch Clark is well known in the Gunnison Valley. As a philanthropist and environmental planning consultant with an interest in water projects, he proposed several ideas and founded or was a member of a number of water-related organizations, including POWER (People Opposing Water Export Raids). His collection documents these and related activities.
Water Scholar
Over the summer Water Scholar Jane Mize, an assistant professor of liberal arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, visited us. She conducted research in several Water Resources Archive collections on the history of the allotment, damming, and management of the Colorado River. Professor Mize intends for the research to contribute to a chapter of her book examining “settler industrialization” of water across the twentieth century.
The Water Resources Archive annually offers the Water Scholar Award, funded through the support of generous donors. Review the Water Scholar Award criteria, and tell your colleagues about it! The annual application deadline is January 31.
Thank you! And now…
Several of you surprised us after the last issue with a monetary contribution, matching the theme of the unexpected. Now, those of you who want to support inspiring water wisdom in the world, please step up! Sending a few dollars our way will help us visit more donors, employ our essential student assistants, and educate more individuals. Simply go to our online giving page and select Water Resources Archive from the dropdown menu.
Water wisdom
Puzzler answer:
The Colorado Water Center, originally known as the Colorado Water Resources Research Institute. Learn more through the Records of the Colorado Water Resources Research Institute, the Papers of Norman A. Evans and the Papers of Robert C. Ward.
This electronic newsletter provides updates about the Water Resources Archive. To be added to this distribution list, please send an e-mail that includes your name and a request to subscribe.
This newsletter is created by Patty Rettig.
Designed by Demi Connelley
All images courtesy of CSU Libraries Archives & Special Collections