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Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division records, 1892-2001

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division
Title
Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division records
Dates
1892-2001 (inclusive)
1926-2000 (bulk)
Quantity
21 linear ft.
Collection Number
XOE_CPNWS0157gp (collection)
Summary
The Georgia-Pacific Corporation (GP), Bellingham Division records date from 1892 to 2001, and consist of administrative records, publications, photographic materials, audio-visual recordings, charts and maps. The Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific Corporation (GP) acquired a mill site on Bellingham's waterfront in 1963. Operations included pulping and tissue-making, a chemical plant, and a research lab. The mill was a major employer in Bellingham, and produced hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue during its peak years.
Repository
Western Washington University, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies
Goltz-Murray Archives Building
808 25th St.
Bellingham, WA
98225
Telephone: (360) 650-7534
cpnws@wwu.edu
Access Restrictions

The collection is open to the public.

Languages
English.
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Historical Note

In 1925, Washington state businessman Ossian Anderson purchased a mill site on Bellingham's downtown waterfront, which operated as the Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Co. for the next four decades. In 1963, the Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific Corporation (GP) acquired the site and, in addition to continuing pulping and tissue-making operations, expanded to include a chemical plant and research lab. A great deal of research and innovation took place at the Bellingham mill throughout the twentieth century. For example, the Bellingham Barker was developed, allowing logs to be stripped of their bark through a hydraulic process as opposed to by hand. Furthermore, a number waste by-products created during the pulping process were found useful in other industries like agriculture, mining, and road building. The mill was a major employer in Bellingham, and produced hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue during its peak years.¹

During the 1970s and 1980s, the mill faced significant local pressure to upgrade its environmental safety standards and shut down environmentally harmful operations. In 1999, an explosion at the steam plant raised new concerns about the safety of employees at the mill as well as the surrounding community. Facing increasing pressures regarding environmental and industrial safety, and impacted by the energy crisis of 2000-2001, GP decided to terminate its Bellingham pulp mill operations in March 2001. The closure was accompanied by the loss of approximately 420 jobs.²

In 2005, GP reached agreement with the Port of Bellingham to transfer its waterfront properties to the Port in exchange for the cost and responsibility of site clean-up. In December 2007, GP (by then under the ownership of Koch Industries) terminated its remaining tissue plant operations on Bellingham's waterfront.

Sources: ¹ “Smells Like Money: The Story of Bellingham’s Georgia Pacific Plant,” documentary by David Albright in conjunction with Western Washington University and the Northwest Film School; ² G-P Press Release No. C-1665 (March 30, 2001).

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Content Description

The Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division records date from 1892 to 2001, and consist of administrative records, publications, photographic materials, audio-visual recordings, charts and maps. The collection includes some records from the Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Co., which preceded Georgia-Pacific in ownership of the Bellingham mill site.

Administrative records date from around 1917 to 2000, and include a small assortment of financial records, older equipment and machinery records, and documents relating to the mill’s history. There are also a few budget manuals, annual reports, and accounting records from the Ketchikan Pulp Company, the Fidalgo Manufacturing Company, the Mitchell Bay Lime Company, and the Puget Sound & Cascade Railway Company.

Publications span the dates 1926-2001, and include the official reports from the Bellingham mill, as well as employee newsletters and promotional items. The collection includes a nearly complete set of Puget Parade issues, which was the Bellingham Division's official publication. There are also a number of public relations materials, including commemorative and educational books, flyers, and posters. Other publications come from a variety of companies and organizations primarily associated with the timber, pulping, and tissue industries.

Photographs, negatives, and slides date from around 1892 to 2000. The collection includes both color and black & white photographs documenting plant employees, machinery, and activities. There are also a few oversized photographs depicting aerial images of the Bellingham mill site and logging operations in the Pacific Northwest. Negatives are generally labeled, and oftentimes correspond with the photographic prints. Slides are also mostly labeled, and document primarily plant machinery and equipment.

Audio-visual materials are comprised of audio cassettes, VHS and non-VHS video tapes, and 16mm film reels dating between 1960 and 1990. Most of these materials relate to pulp and paper-making processes, and logging, forestry, and conservation issues. The collection contains videos that focus on human resource enhancement and training, as well as some advertisements and news clips promoting Georgia-Pacific products and operations.

Charts and maps dated 1938-1952 document Puget Sound waterways including the Swinomish Slough, Guemes Channel, Padilla Bay, and Strait of Juan de Fuca.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

The collection is open to the public. Certain audio-visual materials require special equipment, and arrangements to use these items should be made in advance. Contact repository for details.

Preferred Citation

Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division records, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Western Libraries Archives & Special Collections, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA 98225-9123.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division records are organized according to the following series arrangement:

  • Series I. Administrative records, circa 1917-2000
  • Series II. Publications, 1926-2001
  • Series III. Photographs, negatives, and slides, circa 1892-2000
  • Series IV. Audio-visual materials, circa 1960-1990
  • Series V. Charts and maps, 1938-1952

Acquisition Information

The records were donated by the Georgia-Pacific Corporation in 2006.

Processing Note

Four nitrate film reels were removed from the collection and are awaiting transfer to a more stable format.

Processing Note

About Harmful Language and Content

To learn more about problematic content in our collections, collection description and teaching tools (including how to provide feedback or request dialogue on this topic), see the following Statement About Potentially Harmful Language and Content

Bibliography

Albright, David Michio Smells Like Money: The Story of Bellingham's Georgia-Pacific Plant. Bellingham, Wash. Northwest Film School 2006

Related Materials

The Waterfront Oral History Project records and the Pulp Friction interviews contain related archival material and are also available at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Paper industry workers--Washington (State)--Bellingham--History--Sources
  • Paper industry--Washington (State)--Bellingham--History--Sources
  • Paper mills--Washington (State)--Bellingham--History--Sources--Photographs
  • Pulp mills--Washington (State)--Bellingham--History--Sources--Photographs
  • Waterfronts--Washington (State)--Bellingham Bay Region--History--Sources--Photographs
  • Wood-pulp industry--Washington (State)--Bellingham--History--Sources

Corporate Names

  • Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division--Archives (creator)
  • Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Co. (creator)

Geographical Names

  • Bellingham (Wash.)--Economic conditions--History--Sources

Form or Genre Terms

  • Records (Documents)

Rozlind Koester
2009

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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