A published guide to the collections is in preparation.
Resources (25)
Anna Louise Strong (1885-1970)
Papers, 1885–1967, ca. 20 ft. Journalist and political activist, author of books about China and the USSR. In 1921 she went to Moscow with an American Friends relief committee. There she began and edited the English-language daily Moscow News. She married the Russian journalist Joel Shubin and lived with him in Siberia until ca. 1941. She was often back in the U.S., promoting leftist causes like the Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War. In 1949 L. V. Beria had her expelled from the USSR as a spy. For a time she lived in Los Angeles but eventually went to China, where she died. Correspondence, 1900–30 and 1942–58; notebooks on the Soviet Union, China, and the Spanish Civil War; diary for 1896–99; and typescripts of her published and unpublished writings. Among the subjects covered: the John Reed Colony for children in Russia, 1925, and the Moscow spy charges, 1949–50. Correspondents include her husband Shubin, Raymond Robins, and Eleanor Roosevelt. The collection is restricted; information available at the repository. 2 unpublished finding aids. (NUCMC 76–798)
Bert G. Mitchell
Papers, 1926-1932. 1.33 cubic feet. Correspondence, documents, clippings, and memorabilia, relating to Mitchell's activities as YMCA leader in the U.S.S.R. in the 1920s. Bertram Grant Mitchell was born in Saint Louis, Missouri in the late 19th century. He attended a Christian co-ed liberal-arts college in Parksville, Missouri (near Kansas City) called Park College (now Park University). During his years at Park, he was active in music, theater, sports, and the YMCA. He graduated in 1906, and the quote in his yearbook suggests that he might have been the class clown. By Halloween, he was living in Metlakatla, Alaska with his wife, Faye. In 1907, they had their first child, Eleanor. By the end of 1912, they had their second child, Louise. During this period, Bert worked for the YMCA in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. Bert was interested in Eurasia, and in late 1918, he traveled to Vladivostok, Russia. Soon, the Mitchell family was living in Harbin, China and Bert was the General Secretary of the local YMCA. Harbin was a busy railroad city with an international flavor. According to a newspaper article published circa 1919, “He (Bert) and his wife have rendered valuable service in assisting citizens of many different lands and have had many experiences and adventures.” Russia was in the midst of a civil war, and among other things, Bert assisted anti-Bolshevik refugees who were trying to get to America. He witnessed many historic events including a ceremony in Omsk, Russia in the summer of 1919 involving the Cossack Army and Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak, an Anti-Bolshevik dictator who was executed in February 1920. The Mitchell family left Asia in 1922 and traveled through Europe in 1923 and 1924. Finding aid available: http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv86026
Carl Mattson
Papers, 1919–52, 3 ft. Labor leader. Letters, clippings, and printed matter. Information about Russian industry, politics, and government. He was involved with the Industrial Workers of the World and the International Association of Machinists.
Charles S. Bulkley
Papers, 1867. 1 item (5 pages). Engineer in chief for the U.S. Russo-American Telegraph Expedition. Letter copied from his journal, June 20, 1867, written by Daniel B. Libby. Finding aid available: http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv19372
Charles S. Hubbell (d. 1954?)
Collection, ca. 1866–1948, 1.5 ft. Alaskan materials, including Hubbell's private correspondence, 2 folders, 1935–50; diaries of Lieutenant George R. Adams, 1866–67, Captain F. M. Smith, 1865–67, and others in the Western Union Telegraph Company expedition to Alaska, in typescript by Hubbell with his introductory note; list of Alaska shipwrecks, 1786; 1 folder of photostats of Alaska cession documents; a Clarence L. Andrews translation of the life of Aleksandr Andreevich Baranov, typescript; and a copy, 115 pp., typed, of the diary of Stepan M. Ushin, a Sitka resident. Original of the Ushin diary is held by the Library of Congress. Unpublished inventory record and guide (NUCMC 66–1037).
Communist Party of the United States of America
Records, 1956-1960. ca. 100 items. Correspondence, writings, newsletters, and position papers, relating to the idealogical division of the party (1956) over de-Stalinization and the Hungarian Revolution. Includes material relating to the party's Washington State Committee. Persons represented include William L. Cumming and Stanley O. Iverson. Photocopies were made from originals loaned by various ex-members of the Communist Party of the United States of America. Finding aid available: http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv78295/op=fstyle.aspx?t=k&q=WAUCommunistPartyoftheUnitedStatesofAmerica0464.xml
Edwin William and Mary Hopkinson
Papers, 1923–64, 2 ft. and 1 microfilm reel. Mr. Hopkinson was a farmer, chicken rancher, and chairman of the Communist Party of Pierce County, Washington. Mrs. Hopkinson was an osteopathic physician, politically active in leftist movements. Notebooks, letters, documents, and articles concern the Autonomous Industrial Colony in Kuznetsk Basin, Kemerovo, Siberia, where Hopkinson was the colony's timber expert, in 1923 (microfilm). Among those associated with this Siberian colony were Tom Barker, Simon Hahn, William D. Haywood, Dr. William H. Mahler, Alfred Pearson, Jr., S. J. Rutgers, Samuel Shipman, and William A. Warren. There are also minutes and other materials on the Pierce County Communist Party in the 1940s. Unpublished inventory (NUCMC 66–976).
Frank A. Golder (1877-1929)
4 microfilm reels. American historian of Russia. Collection of photostat copies of documents in Russian archives. Covers Russian international relations, travel, exploration, Alaska, Russian politics and government, commerce, and the Imperial Archives. Original photostats are in the Library of Congress.
George Russell Adams (b. 1845)
1 microfilm reel. Copy of Adams's "The First American Exploring Expedition to Russian America 1865–1867," which concerns the Russian-American Telegraph Expedition. (In Charles S. Hubbell Collection)
Henry E. B. Ault (d. 1961)
Papers, 1918–53, 6 ft. Journalist, politician, and labor leader. Material, primarily correspondence, concerns the Washington (state) Branch of Russian Relief. Among his correspondents were William Z. Foster and Anna Louise Strong. 2 unpublished finding aids. (NUCMC 65–1031)
Hulet M. Wells
Papers, 1909-1964. 1.09 cubic feet (3 boxes, 2 microfilm reels). Autobiography, letters, writings, clippings, and ephemera, relating to Wells's 1921 trip to Russia, his activities as chairman of the Socialist Party of Washington, president of Seattle Labor Council, administrative assistant to U.S. representative Marion Zioncheck, and founder of National Federation of Post Office Clerks. Finding aid available: http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv03677/op=fstyle.aspx?t=k&q=WAUWellsHuletM0422%2f
Hulet M. Wells (b. 1878)
2 items. Labor leader and chairman of the Socialist Party of Washington. Traveled to the Soviet Union in 1921. Typed account of the trip, 70 pp., and his autobiography, typescript, 311 pp.
Jacob Ilitowitz (b. 1878)
1 reel of tape. Lithuanian immigrant, tailor, laborer, and furniture refinisher. 45-minute interview, conducted by Karyl Winn in 1971, touches on the Russian population and an agricultural cooperative society in Washington (tape 51).
Jacob Kaplan
Papers, 1909-1975; (bulk 1920-1950). 2 ft. and 1 audio tape. Correspondence, financial records, legal documents, paper samples, and other material, relating to Kaplan and his activities as a leader of the Seattle Jewish community; together with tape-recorded interview (1972) concerning his family's emigration from Russia to the U.S., his training and career as a printer, and Seattle Jewish organizations. Includes material relating to Congregation Bikur Cholim, Federated Jewish Fund, Seattle Talmud Torah Hebrew School, and Young Men's Hebrew Association.
Jesse Epstein
Papers, 1926-1989. 0.79 cubic feet (2 boxes). Jesse Epstein (1910-1989) was a lawyer and served as the first director of the Seattle Housing Authority from 1939 to 1945. Epstein emigrated with his family from Russia to Great Falls, Montana in 1913. In 1927 he moved to Seattle, Washington to attend the University of Washington where he received a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1932 and a law degree in 1935. After graduating, the Bureau of Governmental Research, part of UW’s political science department, hired Epstein as a teaching fellow and research assistant. In 1939 Epstein was appointed director of the Seattle Housing Authority, a position he held until 1945. As director, Epstein oversaw the creation of Seattle’s first housing project, Yesler Terrace. The project was innovative because Epstein rejected government guidelines for design and insisted that Yesler Terrace be racially integrated. In 1945 Epstein was appointed the regional director of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) in Seattle and in 1947 was promoted to the position of West Coast director of the FHA. He resigned from the FHA in 1948 and returned to Seattle in 1949 to practice law. Epstein was active in the Seattle community, as president of the Mountaineers Club, and served on the boards for the Seattle Indian Center, REI, Keep Washington Green, Washington Wilderness Association, and Neighborhood House. The Jesse Epstein Papers include reports, essays, and newspaper clippings that document Epstein's professional career. Finding aid available: http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv90429/
John Rosene (1861-1918)
Papers, 1901–10, 2 f t., ca. 1,760 items. Business and railroad executive. Involved in operations of the Northwestern Commercial Company (a successor to the Alaskan Commercial Company, formed in 1867 to replace the Russian-American Company). Materials relating to the North Eastern Siberian Company include general and interoffice correspondence, financial statements, and inventories, 1902–10; ca. 100 items. Correspondents include N. Matunin, Count Constantine Podhorski, and Count V. M. Wonlarlarsky. There is a scrapbook of articles, pamphlets, and promotional material for the Northern Exploration and Development Company, another Rosene venture, 1910. A book of survey maps and other items pertains to the Alaska Midland Railroad Company, a subsidiary of Northern Exploration. Rosene also had dealings with the Alaska Mercantile Company, the East Siberian Syndicate Ltd. (London), and the Transalaska-Siberian Railway Company. Unpublished inventory record and guide (NUCMC 66–982).
Papers, 1940-1997. 37.84 cubic ft., including textual materials and audiocassettes (39 boxes). The papers document Schroeter's work as a Seattle area civil rights activist and as an advocate of the rights of Soviet Jews to emigrate to Israel. Included are correspondence, case files, writings, clippings, minutes, newsletters, audiocassettes, and subject files. Accession No. 5036-001 documents Schroeter's early involvement with Jewish organizations, especially the Northwest Regional Office of the Anti-Defamation League, and his work with various civil rights/civil liberties organizations, most notably the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington. Accession No. 5036-002 also includes documentation of Schroeter's work with the ACLU of Washington, particularly concerning police brutality and corruption in Seattle during the early 1960s. It also contains materials relating to Schroeter's interests in social and political conditions in the Soviet Union, repression of Soviet Jews, U.S. and international efforts to win their freedom to emigrate, and resettlement of Soviet Jews in Israel. Accession No. 5036-003 primarily contains materials from or related to his activities in Israel, 1970-1972. Collection materials are in English, with some German, French, Hebrew, and Russian materials included. Catalogue record available: https://alliance-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=CP71180830290001451&context=L&vid=UW&search_scope=all&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US
Mark M. Litchman (1887-1960)
Papers, 1914–60, 3 ft. Lawyer and politician. Letters, court papers, speeches, and writings, some concerning the Russian-American Industrial Corporation. Unpublished inventory record (NUCMC 65–1042).
Nazary V. Kochergin (b. 1887)
Papers, 1905–73, 3.5 ft. Former governor of Kamchatka. Correspondence, legal documents, notes, photographs, and clippings. Information on Russians in Seattle and American fisheries (salmon) in Alaska, 1924–52. Unpublished inventory.
Richard E. Fuller
Papers, 1927-1962. 2.22 cubic feet. Correspondence, minutes, financial records, photos, reports, notes, and drafts of speeches and writings, relating to Fuller's geological, banking, and art interests, together with materials documenting his involvement in agencies such as Institute of Pacific Relations, Pacific Science Center Foundation, Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Seattle Committee of Russian War Relief, Inc., and National Council of the Metropolitan Opera. Finding aid available: http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv83636/op=fstyle.aspx?t=k&q=WAUFullerRichardE2039%2f
Richard J. Carbray
Papers, 1950-1994. 14.85 cubic feet including oversize material (2 microfilm reels, 65 videocassettes, 1 audio disc, 11 reel to reel sound tapes plus 3 items). Correspondence, writings, clippings, photos, audio tapes, video tapes, and ephemera. Includes material relating to Carbray's activities as teacher of college courses on dissent; his attendance at Vatican II Ecumenical Council in Rome; work as peritus to Archbishop Thomas D. Roberts at Vatican Council II (1964-1966); participation in the 4th International Seminar of Young Researchers on Problems of Cooperation in the Pacific Basin, at Nakhodka, Soviet Union (1977); work as consultant to the University of Washington Chapter of American-Soviet Friendship Council; activities as chairman of Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam; and to other anti-Vietnam War issues, including the Nguyẽ̂n Thái Bình incident, Catonsville 9, Chicago 15, D.C. 9, Evanston 4, and Milwaukee 14. Finding aid available: http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv21182/op=fstyle.aspx?t=k&q=WAUCarbrayRichardJ3073.xml
Robert E. Burke
Collection, 1892-1994. 60.43 cubic feet (68 boxes plus two oversize folders and one oversize vertical file).The Robert E. Burke collection consists mainly of records of the Washington Commonwealth Federation, including correspondence, convention and legislation files, and other material (1934-1945). Also included is a set of ephemera, newsletters and other serial publications, clippings, and scrapbook, whose subjects include: Franklin D. Roosevelt, the New Deal, labor, the Communist and Socialist parties and the Spanish Civil War. Burke's own records include correspondence, minutes of meetings, reports, notes, conference and convention files, speeches, writings, and research files (1947-1990), as well as research notes and other material, particularly on Hiram Johnson, U.S. Senator from California.
Stephen F. Chadwick (b. 1894)
Papers, 1919–45, 15 ft. Seattle lawyer, politician, and civic leader. Information on Russian war relief, 1942–44. (NUCMC 64–1260)
Thomas Burke (1849-1925)
Papers, 1875–1925, 26 ft. Lawyer and judge. Letters, documents, speeches, writings, and financial miscellany. He corresponded with, among others, the Russian Club of Seattle, 1916–17, 1920, 5 letters; the Russian Student Fund, Inc., 1923–25, 38 letters with 20 non-letter enclosures; and the Polish Victims Relief Fund, 1916, 5 letters. The last 15 years of his life the judge was a trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The reference division has issued The Thomas Burke Papers, 1875–1925 (1960). (NUCMC 62–1028)
