Gerald W. Williams Regional Albums, 1875-2000

By Finding aid prepared by Ruth Vondracek, Amy Ortwein Woosley, Ross Sutherland, and Geoff Somnitz..

Collection Overview

Title: Gerald W. Williams Regional Albums, 1875-2000

Predominant Dates: 1900-1960

ID: P 303

Primary Creator: Williams, Gerald W.

Extent: 11.8 cubic feet. More info below.

Arrangement: The collection is arranged into 37 regional albums; each is designated as a series. Of these albums 19 are focused on Oregon regions, 7 on Washington State regions, 3 on California regions, and then one each for Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. Additionally, there are general albums for other regions across the United States and one for Canada. The 37 series are: 1: Lower McKenzie River Region - Oregon, 1875-1976; 2: Rogue Valley Region - Oregon, 1890-1985; 3: Upper McKenzie River Region - Oregon, 1885-1980; 4: Crater Lake Region - Oregon, 1874-2000; 5: Eugene/Springfield Region - Oregon, 1860-1990; 6: Santiam Valley Region - Oregon, 1886-1980; 7: Southern Willamette Valley Region - Oregon, 1880-1990; 8: Willamette Valley Region - Oregon, 1890-1970; 9: Columbia River Region - Oregon, 1890-2000; 10: Portland/ Oregon City Region - Oregon, 1850-1987; 11: Southern Coast Region - Oregon, 1857-1970; 12: Mohawk (Lane County) Region - Oregon, 1890-1980; 13: Central Coast Region - Oregon, 1900-1980; 14: Northern Coast Region - Oregon, 1903-1990; 15: Umpqua River Region - Oregon, 1888-1979; 16: Southeastern Region - Oregon, 1897-1966; 17: Central Region - Oregon, 1903-1987; 18: Northeastern Region - Oregon, 1900-1989; 19: General - Oregon, 1890-1993; 20: Western, Southern and Seattle Region - Washington, 1898-1975; 21: Coast and Olympic Peninsula Region - Washington, 1904-1980; 22: North Puget Sound and Western Region - Washington, 1895-1980; 23: Cascades Region - Washington, 1902-1991; 24: Central Region - Washington, 1906-1960; 25: Eastern Region - Washington, 1900-1985; 26: General - Washington, 1890-1970; 27: Northern Region - California, 1890-2000; 28: Central Region - California, 1904-1986; 29: Southern Region - California, 1906-1953; 30: General - Idaho, 1902-1963; 31: General - Montana, 1908–1988; 32: General - Alaska, 1898-1988; 33: Great Basin, Colorado and Southwestern Regions - United States, 1898-1982; 34: Eastern and Southern Regions - United States, 1890–1980; 35: Central States and Pennsylvania - United States, 1874-1984; 36: General - United States, 1892-1949; 37: General - Canada, 1902-1996.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

Abstract

The Gerald W. Williams Regional Albums consist of images and ephemera assembled by geographical regions. They were acquired and compiled Williams in the course of his work as a Forest Service sociologist and historian and due to his avocational interest in the history of forestry and the history of the United States, especially that of the Pacific Northwest region. The albums document popular tourist destinations, national parks, the natural environment, prominent natural and architectural landmarks, forests and forest operations, mining, trains and railroads, early towns and cities, prominent citizens, and human activities, such as public events, hunting and fishing, and everyday life. Gerald Williams worked for the U.S. Forest Service from 1979 to 2005 as a sociologist (1979-1998) and historian (1998-2005).

Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

Images found in Series 6, Santiam Valley Region, have been digitized and are available upon request.

Scope and Content Notes

The Gerald W. Williams Regional Albums consist of 11053 images, 89 percent of which are postcards, and ephemera assembled by geographical regions the majority of which document the early half of the 20^th century. Each album (series) description includes information about formats, photographers, and prominent place names, and a narrative description of the photographs and their context. The albums are organized by geographic regions, and especially for the Pacific Northwest albums follow prominent highways or river basins. Of the 37 albums, 19 are focused on Oregon regions, 7 on Washington State regions, 3 on California regions; the remaining albums cover other western states, regions in the United States, and Canada. A smattering of other countries, such as Australia, are represented in the album on Canada. The postcards and photographs are predominately black and white. The postcards include some color lithography, sepia tone, stereoscopes, drawings and others made from unusual materials, such as wood. Photographs in the collection include black and white, sepia-toned and color snapshots, professional photographs, professional portraits, and some mounted images. Photographers and photographic studios are not identified on many of the images. Prominent photographers and studios that are identified include: J.H. (Jervie Henry) Eastman, Frank Patterson, Ralph I. Gifford, Benjamin A. Gifford, Asahel Curtis and others.

Ephemera include election tickets, state memorabilia, newspaper clippings and pamphlets, among others.

The images were acquired by Williams in the course of his work as a Forest Service sociologist and historian and due to his avocational interest in the history of forestry and the history of the United States, especially that of the Pacific Northwest region. The albums document popular tourist destinations, national parks, the natural environment, prominent natural and architectural landmarks, forests, trees and forest operations, mining, trains and railroads, early towns and cities, public events, prominent citizens, and human activities, such as hunting and fishing, and everyday life.

Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

Images found in Series 6, Santiam Valley Region, have been digitized and are available upon request.

Biographical / Historical Notes

Gerald W. Williams worked for the U.S. Forest Service from 1979 until his retirement in 2005. From 1979 to 1993, he was a sociologist with the Umpqua and Willamette National Forests in Oregon; in 1993-1998, he served as the regional 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. Williams designed and implemented a regional and national history program for the Forest Service which culminated in his appointment as national historian and his authorship of the centennial history of the Forest Service, The USDA Forest Service -- The First Century, in 2000. He has published more than 75 books, chapters, book reviews, and 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.

Williams is a native of Oregon and earned degrees from Southern Oregon University (B.A., Sociology; M.A. General Studies Social Science) and Washington State University (Ph.D., Sociology).

Author: Chris Petersen

Administrative Information

More Extent Information: 32 boxes; 11,053 images

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Related Materials:

Thematically, the content in the Regional albums complements and in some cases overlaps with other Williams' image collections such as the Gerald W. Williams Lantern Slides Collection (P 319) , Gerald W. Williams Prints Collection (MSS WilliamsPrints); Mount Hood Area Excursion Photograph Album (P 310); J.F. Ford Photographs (P 308); C.C. Hall Photograph Album (P 301); Frank Patterson Photographic Postcards (P 312); Forest Service Equipment Development Center Photograph Album (P 311)and the Gerald W. Williams Postcard Collection (P 323).

The core of Gerald Williams' research materials are maintained as the Gerald W. Williams Papers (MSS WilliamsG).

Another collection containing regional postcards and images is Roland G. Holmes Collection of Oregon and Washington Postcards (P 283). Other collections by well-known photographers represented in the Regional Albums that are held by OSU include Benjamin A. Gifford Photographs, circa 1885 - circa 1920 (P 218) and Ralph I. Gifford Photographs, circa 1910s - 1947.

Preferred Citation: Gerald W. Williams Regional Albums (P 303), Oregon State University Special Collections & Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Processing Information: The Gerald W. Williams Regional Albums Collection was processed and described over the course of four years. This collection was acquired as part of the larger Gerald W. Williams collection in 2007. Variations in the style of album descriptions reflect the number of individuals involved in processing and describing the collection. Following the acquisition of the Gerald W. Williams collection in 2007 a preliminary container list was completed that listed the regional albums as part of the general collection. At that time the album pages were removed from their binders and placed in folders. In 2013 the first 11 albums were described (series 1-11) at the album level. In 2014 an intern described several series and the regional albums were separated from the larger Williams collection and reboxed to form the current collection. During 2015-2016 various student workers, interns and staff participated in describing the remaining series.

Creators

Williams, Gerald W.
Britt, Peter, 1819-1905
Curtis, Asahel (1874-1941)
Eastman, Jervie Henry, 1880-1969
Eastman's Studio (Lakeview, Or.)
Ellis, J. Boyd
Gifford & Prentiss (Firm)
Gifford, Benjamin A.
Gifford, Ralph I.
Kinsey, Darius (1869-1945)
Kiser, Fred H.
Lowman & Hanford Company (Seattle, Wash.)
Matsura, Frank, 1873-1913
Moorhouse, Lee (1850-1926)
Pacific Novelty Co.
Pacific Photo Company (Salem, Or.)
Patterson, Frank, 1883-1961.
Patton Post Card Co. (Salem, Or.)
Prentiss, A. M. (Arthur M.)
Smith-Western Inc.