Garden of the Sun A History of the San Joaquin Valley, 1772 - 1939

Wallace Smith was born in Centre City, Minnesota in 1895, and emigrated with his family to California, settling in the San Joaquin Valley in 1906. He obtained a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1919, a master's degree in 1927, and a doctoral degree in 1932 (his dissertation was titled "The Development of the San Joaquin Valley, 1772-1882"). This document would, in greatly revised and expanded form, evolve into Garden of the Sun. He became a professor at Fresno State College (now California State University, Fresno) and was a leading authority on the history of the San Joaquin Valley. Wallace Smith died in 1963 William Secrest, Jr., editor of this second edition, is a librarian in the California History and Genealogy Room of the Fresno County Library, and has obtained degrees in Journalism and Library StudiesSmith, Wallace is the author of 'Garden of the Sun A History of the San Joaquin Valley, 1772 - 1939', published 2004 under ISBN 9780941936774 and ISBN 0941936775.