Harold A. Hoffmeister

Emeritus Professor Harold Hoffmeister taught for the Geography Department from 1925-1965. 

Biographical Note from the University of Colorado, University Libraries' Harold Hoffmeister Collection: 

Harold Arthur Hoffmeister was born on January 12, 1900, in Colorado.  

Starting his studies at the University of Colorado in 1917, Hoffmeister earned his BA in 1925. In 1926, he began graduate work in geography at the University of Chicago under the supervision of Harlan Barrows (1877-1960), a key figure in developing geography as an academic discipline. Hoffmeister received his PhD in 1936. His dissertation examined the Uncompahgre Irrigation Project (published 1939). 

Hoffmeister was also a veteran of World War I. Available information on his duties is vague, but it is likely he briefly served in 1917-1918.

He worked as an assistant instructor from 1922 to 1925. In 1937, he became the first assistant professor of geography at the University, and in 1942 earned the title of full professor. His coworkers applauded his contributions to developing the newly independent geography department, which split from the geology department in 1957; he is cited by author Robert Hinshaw as the founder of the department. He remained at the University until his 1965 retirement. 

In 1946, Hoffmeister helped establish the Midwestern Division of the American Society of Professional Geographers (ASPG), now the Great Plains-Rocky Mountain Division of the Association of American Geographers (AAG). He served as President of the Pacific Coast Geographers from 1947-1948. 

An active scholar, Hoffmeister produced several books and multiple articles during and after his university career. His books include Man and the Earth, 1965; Construction of Map Projections, 1946; and a 1959 Meteorology and Climatology lab manual. As part of the American Geographical Society’s “Know Your America Program”, he wrote several volumes: The Mountain States, 1968; Salt Lake City, 1961; and Denver, 1965. Most of his academic articles were published in Economic Geography and the Geographical Review. He most often wrote pieces about water supply and Native American affairs. Likewise, his career expressed his twin concerns of people and environment, reflecting the development of the geographic field to encompass human and natural concerns in tandem. Academic geographers continue to treat this combination of human and environmental studies as a scholarly and pedagogical priority. Hoffmeister belonged to several scholarly societies: the Association of American Geographers, the International Geography Congress, the Pan American Union of Geography and History, and Sigma Xi. In 1961, the University of Colorado Associated Alumni presented Hoffmeister with the Robert L. Stearns Award for outstanding service to the University of Colorado. 

Hoffmeister passed away on November 14, 1978. His widow, Ruth Dake, a son, and two grandchildren survived him.

University Libraries link to the collection webpage