Archives West Finding Aid

Included within this series are both physical and digital materials pertaining to general information about the history of African Americans and railroading, specifically the histories of Pullman Porters. The digital files within the series are available for viewing in the Reading Room. Materials pertaining to Portland’s and Oregon’s African American community’s history include articles such as “A History of Portland’s African American Community (1805-to the Present)” published by the City of Portland Bureau of Planning, “The Problem of the Color Line: Civil Rights and Racial Ideology in Portland, Oregon 1944-1965”, several papers given at symposium on “The History of African Americans in Portland, Oregon,” as well as 1940s and 2000s census data. Materials pertaining to Los Angeles’s African American community’s history include an excerpt from Bound for Freedom: Black Los Angeles in Jim Crow America, along with maps of early Los Angeles, and a 2009 exhibit press release. Also included are lists of archival collections located in the state of California. The series also includes copies of Geier’s library circulation records that list a variety of books used as part of his research, the slides for the presentation “Big History and Lost Selves - Militarized Identities in Oregon", the notes for Geier's 2011 presentation, "They Always Get Their Man – Oregon State Police Seeking Real and Imagined Murders”, and a set of research articles regarding crime as well as women and World War II.

Because Geier conducted his research in a variety of archival repositories, the bulk of the series includes a number of scanned or photocopied documents. These include: the metadata information for various documents within the University of Southern California Libraries; documents from the Governor Charles Sprague Records (originally housed in the Oregon State Archives); the 1931 Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia, city directory; three folders of copies of textual documents and photographs, along with the collection guide, from the Pullman Palace Car Company Records (the original collection is housed within the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois); and documents pertaining to the trial of Richard Harry Layton, a man convicted of murder during the 1940s. Lastly, the series includes two folders pertaining to the Southern Pacific Railroad: copies of several wartime issues of the Southern Pacific Railroad Bulletin and a photocopy of the book Southern Pacific’s First Century, which covers the railroad company’s origins and development over time.

The materials within this series consist mostly of copies of primary source documents about the Robert E. Lee Folkes case that Geier used to write his book The Color of Night. The series begins with biographical information about Justice George Rossman of the Supreme Court of the State of Oregon; Harold Wilson, a train passenger and “star witness” in the case; and William H McClendon, a prominent member of Portland’s civil rights community during the late 1930s-1990s. Also included is Robert Folkes’ biographical information and employment record. The series contains case documents from the Linn County Circuit Court including, but not limited to, affidavits, motions, court orders, correspondence, and other trial related information. Other documents pertaining to the case include a list of passengers on the train, the medical examination of Martha James, various copies of photographs and diagrams of the crime scene, as well as Oregon State Police reports and testimony from California police, and a report by the Pullman conductor.

The bulk of the series consists of newspaper clippings, Pullman Company Archives materials, and witness statements. The newspaper clippings, predominately from newspapers in Oregon and California, center on the 1943 Folkes case, with some clippings dating from the 1920s-1940s that feature other murder cases. The Pullman Company Archives materials are both physical and digital. The digital files within the series are available for viewing in the Reading Room. These documents predominately include correspondence and newspaper clippings, along with copies of magazine images and photographs. The content pertaining to the witness statements include correspondence, a list of witnesses, and the statements made by the passengers and crew aboard the train. Also included is a set of statements made by Folkes. Notably, there are several statements, including his alleged “confession” of the murder, while the others profess his innocence. Other materials in the series include “The Facts in the Robert Folkes Case”, an article issued by the NAACP Portland Branch, that features the dissenting opinion of Justice George Rossman of the Supreme Court of the State of Oregon; copies of the case’s appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court; a document with Polk County, Oregon, murder trial information during the 1920s-1940s; and some of Geier’s research notes. The series concludes with a trial summary and two train floor plans: a 1934 floor plan of a tourist sleeping car, plan no 2412-U, and a 1939 floor plan of a 77 FT dining car.

The majority of the documents are photocopies from various archival collections such as the Pullman Palace Car Company Records within the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois, and the Railroad Law Enforcement Collection within the California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives. There are also materials from other repositories such as the State of Oregon Law Library, the Cottonwood County Historical Society, and the Oregon Historical Society.

This series includes both physical and digital materials related to the writing and publication process of Geier’s book The Color of Night. The digital files within the series are available for viewing in the Reading Room. The bulk of the materials are dated 2007-2016, however, the series also includes a number of scanned 1940s photographs. The series begins with various versions of Max Geier’s proposal for The Color of Night, along with his contract with the Oregon State University Press to publish the book. Also included are a number of manuscripts drafts, proofs, and reader reports. A variety of documents related to the manuscript draft include, but are not limited to, a list of characters, index information, acknowledgements, cover ideas, an style sheet, and a marketing questionnaire. Because Geier wrote The Color of Night while he was a professor at Western Oregon University (WOU), there are a number of documents related to Geier’s request for materials and funding such as information about his research, timeline, expected outcomes and budget, along with a sabbatical report, in which he details his conception of The Color of Night. This series also contains various photo citations, permissions, and scanned copies of photographs used for the book. There are photographs of the investigation, Pullman promotional photos, scans of pulp-fiction based on the murder, documents in which Geier lays out his ideal placement of photos within the book manuscript, and a list the photo citations. Completing the series are various promotional materials for the book, a draft of Geier’s 2015 reflection on writing the book, and the notes and poster for a 2016 presentation titled, “Working, Race, and Homeland: Divided Lives in the Wartime West” Geier gave at Oregon State University.