Walter Millsap papers
Collection Scope and Contents
This collection contains correspondence, documents, writings, and other material pertaining to American socialist Walter Millsap. Materials document Millsap's professional life and personal interests covering a wide range of topics that include philosophical thoughts and theories, inventions, and expansion of the Llano colony. A substantial amount of both professional and personal correspondence is present in the collection between Millsap and governmental entities, professional colleagues, business industries, and friends. Of additional significance are numerous publications and articles pertaining to cooperative colonies, Millsap's personal life, photographs documenting the Llano colony, and various audiovisual materials relating to the Llano Del Rio colony and Walter Millsap. Lastly, there is select material documenting Millsap's inventions through patents, contracts and financial documents, pamphlets and booklets regarding utopian colonies, books owned by Millsap, and maps of California.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1860-1997, undated
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1915-1980
Creator
- Millsap, Walter, 1886-1971 (Person)
Languages
The collection is in English.
Access
The collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright Unknown: Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction, and/or commercial use, of some materials may be restricted by gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing agreement(s), and/or trademark rights. Distribution or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. To the extent other restrictions apply, permission for distribution or reproduction from the applicable rights holder is also required. Responsibility for obtaining permissions, and for any use rests exclusively with the user
Biographical Note
Walter Millsap was an active member of the Llano Del Rio colony from 1916 to 1919. This cooperative settlement was formed in 1914 by Job Harriman, a lawyer and politician from Los Angeles to provide an economic foundation to the ideas of socialism. Harriman appointed Walter Millsap as head of the Llano Co-Operative Association in 1916. In 1917, the colony experienced a major shortage in water; small rainfall, an insufficient reservoir, and limited rights to water from Big Rock Creek forced the colony to abandon the site and find a different location elsewhere. The colony relocated to Stables, Louisiana in 1917 and renamed the colony "New Llano". When Job Harriman died in 1925 in California, George Pickett stepped in to lead New Llano until it declared bankruptcy in 1936 and fell apart completely by 1938.
Extent
9.67 Linear Feet (17 boxes)
Abstract
The Walter Millsap papers contains professional and personal correspondence, contracts, financial documents, publications by Millsap, photographs, audiovisual materials, newspaper clippings, and other material regarding Walter Millsap and the Llano Del Rio colony, a utopian society created by Job Harriman that was utilized from 1916-1919. Materials also document the community activism and inventions of Millsap. Topics covered by the collection include philosophical thoughts and theories, patent forms and daily activities in the Llano community.
Collection Arrangement
This collection is arranged into seven series as follows:
- Series 1. Correspondence by name, 1904-1969, undated.
- Series 2. Correspondence by date, 1910-1979, undated.
- Series 3. Official documents and documents on the colony, 1905-1969, undated.
- Series 4. Writings and other personal material by Walter Millsap, circa 1860-1967, undated.
- Series 5. Newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and other material, 1908-1989, undated.
- Series 6. Audiovisual materials, circa 1916-1997, undated.
- Series 7. Publications, 1916-1969, undated.
Acquisition Information
Purchased in 1984
Processing History
Processed by Ena Hillery and Bianca Lisek, Student Processing Assistants, 2015.
Processing of the Walter Millsap papers was completed by undergraduate students from the University of California, Riverside as part of the Special Collections & University Archives Backlog Processing Project started in 2015. This project was funded by the UCR Library and administered by Bergis Jules, University and Political Papers Archivist, and Eric Milenkiewicz, Manuscripts Curator.
This collection went through a minor review process in late 2022 that resulted in some rehousing of materials for preservation concerns. This resulted in minor box and folder renumbering of the contents and moving of some materials to flat files.
Subject
- Llano Colony (Secular community) (Organization)
Genre / Form
Topical
- Title
- Walter Millsap papers
- Status
- Processed
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Ena Hillery and Bianca Lisek, Student Processing Assistants
- Date
- 2015
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English
Revision Statements
- 16 Dec 2022: Collection was reviewed by Andrew Lippert, Special Collections Processing Archivist. Minor rehousing was done: photos into proper sleeves, removing some oversized materials to flat file folders, interfiling, etc. Minor box and folder renumbering.
Repository Details
Part of the Manuscript Collections Repository
University of California
Rivera Library
P.O. Box 5900
Riverside 92517-5900 USA
specialcollections@ucr.edu