Archives West Finding Aid

Dr. Harold Eugene Culver was born in 1883 at Vermillion, Dakota Territory. He received his Ph.B. in 1910 and his Ph.M. in 1911 at the University of Wisconsin, where he had studied with C.K. Leith and W.J. Mead. From 1912 to 1919, he was employed as a geologist with the Washington Geological Survey and a teacher at the University of Washington. He then became Head of the Coal Division of the Illinois Geological Survey. In 1923, he was awarded the Ph.D. degree from the University of Chicago, where he had worked with such luminaries as Salisbury, Chamberlin, and Johannsen.

In 1925, he moved to Pullman, WA, as Head of the Department of Geology, Washington State College and Supervisor (State Geologist) of the Washington Division of Mines and Geology. After retiring in 1950, he served for two years as Senior Advisor and Professor at the University of the Philippines. He died in 1970.