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Celebration of Carpenter Papers a Success The Colorado State University Water Resources Archive celebrated the opening of the Delph Carpenter Papers with a large, diverse audience in Morgan Library on November 18th. Numerous water resources professionals from campus and around the state attended, as did several archivists, many Carpenter family members, and quite a few people generally interested in history. Approximately 80 people joined in the celebration, enjoying the hors d'oeuvres, presentations and exhibits. Delph Carpenter served as lead counsel in the Wyoming vs. Colorado case and later wrote and negotiated several of Colorado's river compacts. His correspondence, professional papers, personal materials and those of his family were donated to the Water Re- sources Archive in May 2004. It took nearly a year and a half of work to make them available for research use. The celebratory evening's (Counter clockwise from top) Patty Rettig speaks with Colorado River Commission displayed on screen. Daniel carpenter ( Delphs grandfather) rovides backdrop for Dan Tyler's presentation. Rob- ert Ward chats with Greg Silkensen (Northern Colo- rado Water Conservancy District). M.J. Carpenter and Doris Carpenter enjoy the festivities. presentations commenced with Dean of Libraries Catherine Murray -Rust speaking about the importance of archives, fol- lowed by Archives and Special Collections Coor- dinator Janet Bishop addressing the strengths and benefits of the Water Resources Archive in particu- lar. Bishop then introduced the first of two speak- ers, CSU history professor emeritus Dan Tyler. Dr. Tyler wrote the biography Silver Fox of the Rockies: Delphus E. Carpenter and Western Water Compacts using the Carpenter Papers as well as other resources. He spoke about Carpenter and the lessons that can be learned today from Carpenter's negotiation of the Colorado River Compact. Tyler then described his upcoming book, Love in an Envelope, which relies on Delph's parents' courtship letters to tell a long - distance love story. Leroy Carpenter courted Martha Bennett from Greeley for over a year before going back to Iowa in 1872 to marry her. Their letters cover many 20 topics, including what makes a marriage work, women's rights and ir- rigation ditches. The second speaker was Patty Rettig, the archivist who prepared the Carpen- ter Papers for use by the public. Rettig briefly de- scribed and showed slides of what was in the collec- tion and then detailed the work required to make the collection usable. She demonstrated the condi- tion of the materials upon arrival, and showed the equipment purchased to facilitate the mold clean- ing process. She described the cleaning procedure as well as the sorting process needed to organize the materials, which ulti- mately came to be housed in 127 boxes, three flat files and nine tubes. Ret- tig concluded with some examples of unexpected items in the collection, including a letter writ- ten by "a youthful bovine bachelor." Following the presenta- tions, the audience had a chance to pick up a copy of the Guide to the Papers of Delph E. Carpenter and Family and purchase Silver Fox of the Rockies. A small exhibit on "Carpenter and the Compacts" was on display in the presentation space, and original materials from the collection were on view in the Ar- chives. The exhibit there was entitled "Dot Carpen- ter: The Woman Behind the Man" and was accom- panied by various materials for guests to examine more closely, including a 155- year -old photograph and original newspaper coverage of compact negotia- tions.