Overview of the Collection
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Repository Name:
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City of Seattle
Seattle
Municipal Archives
PO Box 94728
600 Fourth Avenue, Floor 3
Seattle, WA 98124-4728
Phone: 206/233-7807
Email: archives@seattle.gov
http://www.seattle.gov/cityarchives
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Collection Number:
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1201-08
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Collector:
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Park,
Thomas (b.1894)
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Title:
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Seattle City Light Scrapbooks
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Dates:
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1874-1959 (inclusive)
1932-1959 (bulk)
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Quantity:
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3 volumes
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Languages:
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Collection materials are in
English
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Summary:
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Scrapbooks assembled by a City Light
employee, containing photographs, newspaper clippings, and other ephemera
related to the organization and its employees.
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Historical Note
City Light provides electricity and electrical and conservation services
to its public and private customers. It is the largest public utility in the
Pacific Northwest. Public responsibility for electrical energy dates to 1890
with the creation of the Department of Lighting and Water Works. In 1902,
Seattle voters passed a bond issue to develop hydroelectric power on the Cedar
River under the administration of the Water Department; electricity from this
development began to serve Seattle in 1905. A City Charter amendment in 1910
created the Lighting Department. Under the leadership of Superintendent James
D. Ross, the department developed the Skagit River hydroelectric project, which
began supplying power in 1924. Ross, sometimes called the “Father of City
Light,” developed the vision of extensive hydroelectric projects that guided
the department for decades.
Both public and private power were supplied to Seattle until 1951 when
voters approved a buyout of the private electrical power supply operations.
This made the City’s Lighting Department the sole supplier of the City’s
electricity. The department continued to build and expand facilities through
the 1950s and 1960s. The Boundary Project in northern Washington began
operation in 1967 and currently supplies over half of City Light's power
generation. Droughts in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as increasing
environmental awareness, led to a new emphasis on conservation. City Light
began offering free energy audits, as well as financial incentives for using
energy-efficient appliances and systems. The current name of the agency was
adopted in 1978 when the Department was reorganized.
City Light employee Thomas Park assembled these three scrapbooks. Park
was born in 1894 and worked for the City of Seattle for 37 years. He worked
briefly for the Fire Department and the Department of Streets and Sewers before
moving to City Light, where he spent the bulk of his career until his
retirement in 1959. Park edited the City Light News from 1936 to 1945.
Content Description
The three volumes contain photographs, employee newsletters,
correspondence, clippings, brochures, departmental memoranda, and other
material. The majority of the items are related to Seattle City Light
activities and employees, although some seem to relate to Mr. Park’s personal
interests. There is a fair amount of material relating to J.D. Ross, especially
from around the time of his death in 1939. While there are a few early items,
the bulk of the material is from the late 1930s through the 1950s. Each
scrapbook is described in more detail below.
Use of the Collection
Restrictions on Access Records are open to the public.
Preferred Citation [Item, date, and volume number], Seattle City Light Scrapbooks, Record
Series 1201-08. Seattle Municipal Archives.
Subjects
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online
catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or
places should search the catalog using these headings.
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| Ross, J.
D. (James Delmage), 1872-1939 |
| Seattle
City Light |
| Seattle
(Wash.) |
| Electric power--Washington
(State)--Seattle |
| Employees--Washington
(State)--Seattle |
| Public
utilities--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Clippings |
| Photographic
prints |
| Scrapbooks |
| Other Creators : |
| Seattle
City Light |
Detailed Description of the Collection
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in
the collection.
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Seattle City Light
Scrapbooks, 1874-1959
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Description
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Dates
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Volume 1
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1905-1958 |
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This volume contains a wide variety of materials, including
photographs, clippings, brochures, publications, organizational charts,
newsletters, and speeches. Photographs are mainly employee portraits and
depictions of City Light facilities and equipment. Items of note include a
22-year series of City Light Employees’ Association membership cards,
editorials and tributes to J.D. Ross written after his death, and a 1937
booklet called “The Romance of City Light,” originally published in the
Seattle Star.
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Volume 2
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1909-1958 |
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Volume 2 also holds a diverse assortment of items, including
photographs, employee newsletters, clippings, correspondence, brochures,
memoranda, speeches, manuscripts, union information, and forms. Photographs
document employee gatherings, City Light projects and facilities, and employees
at work. Some items of interest include a 1956 map of electric power plants in
the Northwest, the City’s loyalty oath and a list of organizations designated
to be subversive, and a file of employees’ personal memories of J.D. Ross
collected after his death in 1939.
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Volume 3
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1874-1959 |
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The bulk of this volume consists of photographs of
individual employees, most identified, and some of whom are in WWII military
uniforms. Many of these photos are indexed in the front of the book. Other
photos depict employee picnics and parties, the 1909 City Light & Water
baseball team, City Light facilities, and crowds at the funeral of J.D. Ross.
Also in this volume are clippings, correspondence, newsletters, brochures, and
a postcard with an 1874 view of Seattle.
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