Yarbrough family papers, 1913-2000

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Yarbrough, Arline J., 1912-
Title
Yarbrough family papers
Dates
1913-2000 (inclusive)
Quantity
2.26 cu. ft. (4 boxes)
1 sound cassette (ca. 90 min.)
Collection Number
5263 (Accession No. 5263-001)
Summary
Personal papers of an African American businesswoman, civil servant and clubwoman
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Open to all users.

Request at UW

Languages
English

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

African American businesswoman, civil servant, club woman. Arline Steward Yarbrough (1912-1999), a Colorado native, came to Seattle from Salt Lake City with her family in 1928, married Letcher Yarbrough in 1932, ran a stenography and mimeograph business ca 1949-1951, and worked as a secretary for several state agencies including the UW School of Social Work. She was among the early black staff members at UW, working for Charles Brink, who was then the Dean of the School of Social Work. Before she went into secretarial work full time, she and her husband were active in Christian Friends for Racial Equality, which was trying to abolish discrimination in cemeteries. She persuaded owners of Sunset Hills to allow burials of blacks. In 1950 the Yarbroughs were an early black family who moved to suburban Kirkland. Active in numerous clubs and civic organizations, Arline joined the Business and Professional Women's Club of Kirkland, served as its president 1967-1968 and was named its Woman of the Year in 1984. She was featured in the former Radcliffe College "Women of Courage" Black Women Oral History Project of 1976. She founded Relatives of Old-Timers (ROOTS), a reunion of blacks who lived in Washington before World War II, and she also was a founder of the Black Heritage Society. She also was active in the King County Landmarks Commission, the National Council of Negro Women and the Seattle Central Area Senior Center, of which she was a past president.

Letcher L. Yarbrough came to Seattle in 1912, and after high school and one year at the UW, he worked at various jobs, then served in the Army. He then worked for the U.S. General Services Division for 31 years and was active in civil rights associations and civic groups in Seattle and Kirkland. Letcher experienced racism firsthand in the army, and, after he was discharged in 1944, he worked on assisting returning veterans in securing housing and employment. He was president of the Seattle branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the mid-1940s and later state president. With others, he helped pass the Washington State Fair Employment Practices Act of 1949. Mr. Yarbrough was active in many civil/human rights organizations and committees, including the National Conference of Christians and Jews, Seattle Army Terminal Standing Grievance Committee, Christian Friends for Racial Equality and The Urban League. He was a mayoral appointee to the Seattle Civic Unity Committee. He went to work as assistant director for the Seattle Urban League in 1976 after retiring as Regional Equal Employment Official for General Services Administration in Auburn. In later years, he worked in commercial real estate. Letcher and Arline were married for 59 years, and he died in 1992.

Their son Jim (Letcher S.) graduated from high school in Kirkland and from Central Washington University. His career was spent as a recreation director in Alaska and in Seattle for the federal government; he then served as Deputy Executive Secretary of the Washington Centennial Commission, 1987-1990.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

Personal documents, oral history interviews, photographs, scrapbook, clippings, awards, related memorabilia of Yarborough Family, especially Arline Yarbrough; ca 1913-ca 2000. Includes scrapbook of Arline Yarbrough's presidency of Business and Professional Women, Kirkland (1968) and printing samples from the lettershop (1949-1951). Also includes assorted photographs of family members and of others whose association with the Yarbroughs in unclear.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

Creator's literary rights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

Some restrictions exist on copying, quotation or publication. Contact Repository for details.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

Donated by James Yarbrough, 6/22/2000

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

 

Container(s) Description Dates
1 Bio Features: Arline Yarbrough 1984-1999
1 Arline - Writings 1964-1985
1 Tributes - Arline 1977-1999
1 Printing Sample - Yarbrough's Letter Shop undated
1 Arline - Retirement Message, UW Retirement 1972
1 ROOTS Reunion Program, etc. with Seattle/Tacoma Black Family Histories 1982
1 Museum 1977-1988
1 Photos - Arline; Membership Certificate undated; 1983
1 UW Human Rights Commission 1970
1 Will - Arline 1977
1 Clipping - Re Arline 1971, 1985
1 Interview Tape - Arline 1985
1 Black Women Oral History Project: Interview with Arline J. Yarbrough
Bound volume of Marcia Greenlee's interview with Arline Yarbrough, published by Radcliffe College. The Schlesinger Library of Radcliffe College began a project in 1976 with support from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Blanchard Foundation to record and transcribe the autobiographical memoirs of a group of black American women 60 years of age and older. "The purpose of the project is to develop a body of resources on the live of black women in the twentieth century, especially in the years prior to the Civil Rights Movement, and to make this material available to researchers and students interested in the struggles of women and racial minorities in the United States."
August 3, 1977
1 Publications with Family Background 1976-1996
1 Arline Yarborough - For Personal Scrapbook 1970-1983
1 Arline Yarborough (Data) - Misc, Correspondence, Personal 1957-1993
2 Letcher - Bio 1967-1992
2 Letcher - Letters 1977
2 Letcher - Bio 1967-1992
2 Letcher - Photos and Memorabilia 1946-1992
2 Letcher Yarbrough - Photographs and Certificates 1941-1962, photos undated
2 Letcher - Certificates 1956-1992
2 Sup. Training Class 1951
2 Miscellaneous
Clippings, articles, writings, publications, and charcoal drawing of a young Letcher
1967-1988
2 Arline and Letcher - Photos 1960-2000
2 Travel Postcards and Photos 1975
2 Clippings, Memorabilia 1934-1988
2 Financial, Property, and Legal Documents: Searle, Juanita, Burton, King - Seafirst National 1963-1968
2 Jim - Resume 1990
2 Letters - Jim to Mothers, Arline 1956-1957
2 Jim - Letters and Writing 1963-2000
2 Photos - Grandchildren, Misc. 1981-1990
2 Photos - Misc. undated
2 Photos - Unidentified or Unclear What Relation to Yarbroughs 1967-1992
2 Photos - Misc, Unidentified undated
2 Misc. Correspondence - Extended Family or Friends? undated
3 Photographs undated
3 Bound copy of "To Secure These Rights: The Report of the President's Committee on Civil Rights" 1947
3 Reports and Correspondence 1946-1988
3 Clippings 1922-1972
3 Gypsies 1962
3 Clippings 1942-1999
3 Subject Series: NW Black Pioneers 1987-1988
3 Broadway High School "Sealth" Yearbook 1913
3 Awards 1976-1981
3 Medals, Badges undated
3 Miscellaneous Ephemera
Magazine, invitations, photographs, correspondence, writings, pamphlets, a 42 star American flag
1981
4 Unidentified Photographs undated
4 Unidentified Photograph undated
4 Ephemera: Plaques 1962, 1979
4 Ephemera: Tourist Souvenir Plates undated
4 Printing Samples 1949-1951
4 Arline Yarborough, President of the Kirkland Club of Business and Professional Women - Scrapbook 1968

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Personal Names

  • Yarbrough, Arline J., 1912- --Archives
  • Yarbrough, Jim
  • Yarbrough, Letcher L

Family Names

  • Yarbrough family

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington)