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Gerald W. Williams Collection on the Army Spruce Production Division, 1916-2013

By Karl McCreary, Mike Dicianna, and Elizabeth Nielsen

Collection Overview

Title: Gerald W. Williams Collection on the Army Spruce Production Division, 1916-2013

Predominant Dates: 1916-1919

ID: MSS Spruce

Primary Creator: Williams, Gerald W.

Extent: 2.0 cubic feet. More info below.

Arrangement: The Gerald W. Williams Collection on the Army Spruce Production Division consists of 7 series: 1. Photographs, 1916-1996; 2. Publications, 1917-1984; 3. Oral History Transcripts, 1979; 4. Publications and Presentations by Williams,  1984-1999; 5. Reference Materials, 1918-2013; 6. Research Notes, 1983; and 7. Ephemera, 1917-1980.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

Abstract

The Gerald W. Williams Collection on the Army Spruce Production Division is made up of photographs, publications, newspaper clippings, research notes, and transcripts of oral histories documenting the Army Spruce Production Division. These materials were acquired by U.S. Forest Service historian Gerald W. Williams in support of his research and writings on the Spruce Division.

Images relating to the Spruce Production Division can also found online at Oregon Digital. Publications about the Division are available online at ScholarsArchive@OSU.

The contents of the following folders have been digitized and are available upon request: Box-folder 1.8, Box-folder 1.10, Box-folder 5.1, Box-folder 5.2, Box-folder 5.3, Box-folder 5.4, Box-folder 5.6.

Scope and Content Notes

The Gerald W. Williams Collection on the Army Spruce Production Division consists of materials acquired by U.S. Forest Service historian Gerald Williams that document activities managed by the Division as well as its administration. The photographs and publications that make up about half of this collection reflect the logging. milling, and transport of spruce lumber in Oregon and Washington coordinated by the division. Associated activities include images of logging camps, the construction of railroad infrastructure, and division members visiting nearby towns. Transcripts of interviews with Division members illustrate the daily life of the logging camps and the harvesting of the spruce trees. Notes and reference materials amassed by Gerald Williams over the course of researching the Division and its head, General Brice Disque, include photocopies of newspaper articles, magazines, book chapters, and archival collection material. A conference paper resulting from this research is also part of the collection.

Images relating to the Spruce Production Division can also found online at Oregon Digital. Publications about the Division are available online at ScholarsArchive@OSU.

The contents of the following folders have been digitized and are available upon request: Box-folder 1.8, Box-folder 1.10, Box-folder 5.1, Box-folder 5.2, Box-folder 5.3, Box-folder 5.4, Box-folder 5.6.

Biographical / Historical Notes

The U.S. Army established the Spruce Production Division (SPD) on November 17, 1917, seven months after the country entered World War I. Charged with the mission of dramatically increasing the harvest and milling of Sitka spruce for aircraft construction, the SPD coordinated the employment of troops to work in logging camps and sawmills alongside their "civilian" counterparts. By the summer of 1918, the Army decided to administer the production of aircraft lumber more directly and transformed the SPD into a government corporation which managed all aspects of the harvest and distribution of the milled spruce.

Headed by General Brice P. Disque, the SPD succeeded in its goal of boosting production of spruce lumber for the war. Between November 1917 and October 1918, spruce production jumped from 2,887,623 to 22,145,823 board feet monthly. By the end of the war, total production of aircraft lumber had reached 139 million board feet. For Oregon and Washington, the SPD left a huge impact upon the landscape with its construction of 60 temporary camps, roads, bridges, and 130 miles of rail track. Headquartered in Vancouver, Washington, the SPD operated camps and mills in and near a number of communities, including Newport, Toledo, Seaside, Coquille, in Oregon, and Port Angeles, Washington.

The Army dissolved the SPD on November 12, 1918, one day after the armistice was signed between Germany and the allies ending World War I.

An important element in the history of the SPD was the formation of the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen (LLLL). Conceived by General Brice as a response to strikes and work stoppages in the timber industry fomented by the radical union, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), the LLLL was developed as a union for those employed for the SPD, encompassing both troops and private mill workers. Administered by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, the LLLL required a loyalty oath for membership and regarded dissent among workers as wartime acts of treason. This strategy proved effective in lessening the influence of the IWW in the timber industry. Unlike the SPD, the LLLL continued to operate after the war, finally disbanding in 1938. At its height, the LLLL boasted 125,000 members and holds the distinction of being the first labor union formed by the U.S. government.

Gerald W. Williams worked for the U.S. Forest Service from 1979 until his retirement in 2005. From 1979 to 1983, he was a sociologist with the Umpqua and Willamette National Forests in Oregon; in 1993-1998 he served as the sociologist for the Pacific Northwest Regional Office in Portland; and from 1998 until his retirement in 2005 he was the national historian for the U.S. Forest Service in Washington, D.C. He has published more than 75 books, chapters, book reviews, articles, and conference papers exploring a variety of historical topics such as the Native American use of fire to manage environments, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the U.S. Army's Spruce Production Division during World War I.



Author: Mike Dicianna and Karl McCreary

Administrative Information

More Extent Information: 781 photographs; 7 boxes, including 2 oversize boxes, and 1 map folder

Statement on Access: This collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: Originally described as part of the Gerald W. Williams Collection, these materials were separated from the Williams Collection in 2016 to form this new collection.

Related Materials:

The core of Gerald Williams' research materials are maintained as the Gerald W. Williams Papers (MSS Williams). Other materials that were collected by Williams have been described as separate collections: Gerald W. Williams Collection on Forestry and Northwest History Publications (MSS WilliamsPubs); Gerald W. Williams Collection on the Civilian Conservation Corps (MSS CCC); Gerald W. Williams Moving Image and Sound Recordings Collection (FV 320); Gerald W. Williams Collection on Smokey Bear (MSS Smokey); Gerald W. Williams Prints Collection (MSS WilliamsPrints); Jason S. Elder Forest Service Diary (MSS Elder); Gerald W. Williams Lantern Slide Collection (P 319); C.C. Hall Photographs Album (P 301); J. F. Ford Photographs (P 308); Forest Service Equipment Development Center Photographs Album (P 311); Mount Hood Area Excursion Photograph Album (P 310); Gerald W. Williams Regional Albums (P 303); and Frank Patterson Photographic Postcards (P 312).

Other collections in the OSU Special Collections and Archives that document aspects of the Army Spruce Production Division include the records of the College of Forestry (RG 139) and the OSU Memorabilia Collection.

Archival collections relating to General Brice P. Disque can be found at the University of Oregon (Brice P. Disque Photographs) and the University of Washington (Brice P. Disque Papers).

Preferred Citation: Gerald W. Williams Collection on the Army Spruce Production Division (MSS Spruce) Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis Oregon.

Finding Aid Revision History: The original version of this finding aid created in 2016 has been updated in 2019 to incorporate additions to the collection.

Creators

Williams, Gerald W.

People, Places, and Topics

Disque, Brice P., 1879-1960.
Logging--Northwest, Pacific.
Lumbering--Oregon.
Lumbering--Washington (State)
Natural Resources
United States. War Department. Spruce Production Division
World War, 1914-1918.

Forms of Material

Oral histories (literary genre)
Panoramic photographs.
Photographic postcards.
Photographic prints.


Box and Folder Listing