Charles Clarence Sheldon [RG3704.AM]

HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID

RG3704.AM:  Charles Clarence Sheldon, 1871-1964

Newspaper clippings, etc.:  1933-1961

Columbus, Platte County, Nebraska:  Farmer, businessman, hydro-electric promoter

Size:  1.25 cu.ft.; 3 boxes

BACKGROUND NOTE

Charles C. Sheldon, son of Chauncey H. and Mary McDill Sheldon, was born in Clifton, Illinois, in 1871.  His family moved to Columbus, Platte County, Nebraska, in the 1880’s, and he graduated from Columbus High School in 1888.  Sheldon then returned to Illinois to attend Monmouth College.  Afterwards he entered business with his father, as well as farming and stockraising.  In 1901 C.C. Sheldon and Blanch Patrick were married at Blair, Nebraska, where they made their home.  The Sheldons had four children.

C.C. Sheldon had worked in banking briefly and in 1917 was elected a director of the Central National Bank, but he still maintained an active interest in agriculture and resource conservation. However, Sheldon became most prominent as a promoter to hydro-electric power.  His was one of the principal voices heard when the Nebraska Legislature discussed authorizing the formation of public power districts, which was approved in 1933.  That same year he helped in organizing the Loup River Public Power District.  Sheldon served on its board and as its first treasurer.  He also played a leading role in the establishment of the consumers Public Power District, serving as an original director and as its treasurer from the year of its origination, 1939, until he stepped down in 1960.  Known for his expertise on Nebraska’s power needs, Sheldon appeared before many Senate and House Committees in Washington, D.C. as an advisor about the nation’s natural resources and productivity.

Sheldon Station at the Hallam nuclear power plant was named in his honor in 1958.  This housed the world’s first full-scale sodium graphite nuclear power reactor.  It began transmitting atomic-powered electricity on May 29, 1963, Sheldon’s 92^nd birthday.  C.C. Sheldon died in 1964.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection consists of three boxes of manuscript material arranged in two series:  1) Public Power Newspaper Clippings, 1933-1961; and 2) Miscellany.  This material relates to the organization, history, and development of public power facilities in Nebraska, with particular emphasis on the Loup River Public Power District and the Consumers Public Power District.

Series 1 consists of public power newspaper clippings, 1933-1961.  This material is arranged in either scrapbooks or folders and nearly every item is dated and its source noted.  These clippings provide historical context as well as information on plans and actions of public power districts, facts and figures, and legislative bills affecting the growth of public power districts.  Sheldon’s collection of clippings provides an excellent chronology on the public power movement in Nebraska, while particularly highlighting the Loup River and Consumers Public Power Districts.  The miscellany of series 2 provides an essay entitled “History, Organization, and Development of the Loup River Public Power District.”  Also included is a scrapbook of World War II newspaper clippings, 1942.  A letter about the Horse Creek Indian Treaty of 1851 is also included.

INVENTORY

Series 1 – Public Power newspaper clippings, 1933-1961

Box 1

Folder

1. 1. Clippings, 1933

1. 1. Clippings, 1933-1936

1. 1. Clippings, 1934

1. 1. Clippings, 1934

1. 1. Clippings, 1935

1. 1. Clippings, 1937

1. 1. Clippings, 1938

1. 1. Clippings, 1938-1939

Box 2

Folder

1. 1. Clippings, 1939

1. 1. Clippings, 1939-1940

1. 1. Clippings, 1940

1. 1. Clippings, 1941

1. 1. Clippings, 1941

1. 1. Clippings, 1941-1944

1. 1. Clippings, 1942

Box 3

Folder

1. 1. Clippings, 1943

1. 1. Clippings, 1944

1. 1. Clippings, 1947-1954

1. 1. Clippings, 1955-1961, undated

Series 2 – Miscellany

1. 5. Essay entitled “History, Organization, and Development of the Loup River Public Power District”
      
      Letter about Horse Creek Indian Treaty in 1851

1. 1. Scrapbook of World War II newspaper clippings, 1942

Subject headings:

Consumers Public Power District (Nebraska)

Electric power plants — Nebraska

Hydroelectric power plants — Nebraska

Indians of North America — Treaties, 1851

Loup River Public Power District (Nebraska)

Nuclear energy — Nebraska

Nuclear power plants — Nebraska

Public power districts — Nebraska

Public utilities — Nebraska

Sheldon, Charles Clarence, 1871-1964

World War, 1939-1945

AIF/psw                02-21-1980

Revised TMM      05-30-2019