Washington Roadside Council photograph collection

Washington Roadside Council photograph collection, circa 1960s

Overview of the Collection

Collector: Washington Roadside Council
Title: Washington Roadside Council photograph collection
Dates: circa 1960s (inclusive)
19551975
Quantity: 1.05 cubic feet (5 boxes)
742 photographic prints
111 slides
148 negatives
8 slides : lantern
Collection Number: PH0528
Summary: Photographs documenting "visual blight" along Washington State roadways
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: The collection is open to the public.
Additional Reference Guides
Languages: English

Historical NoteReturn to Top

The Washington Roadside Council was organized to encourage the conservation of the scenic beauty of cities, countryside and highways and to promote highway safety. They lobbied for laws governing billboards and also promoted underground wiring. The organization began as a committee of Allied Arts of Seattle. Presidents were Jonathan Whetzel and Jack Robertson.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The collection consists of 742 photographs, 92 35mm negatives and 129 negatives of various size, 111 color slides, and 8 lantern slides collected by the Washington Roadside council documenting "visual blight" along Washington roadways - billboards, utility poles, powerlines, and roadsigns, the signing of legislation to regulate highway visual blight, and images of scenic, non-blighted highways. There are also 8 lantern slides of maps of city green belts around the world. There are extant negatives for about half of the prints, and about 25 negatives for which there are no extant prints (most of them were family photos on rolls of 35mm film). Various numbering sequences were given to the negatives (See boxes 3-5)

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

Restrictions may exist on reproduction, quotation, or publication. Contact Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries for details.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

Gift of Jack Robertson, 1984.

Processing Note

The photographs were relocated from the Washington Roadside Council Records, Manuscripts Accession No. 1366-003 in the repository, in 1995.

BOX 1: 617 photographs
BOX 2: 125 photographs and ephemera.
BOX 3: 111 color slides, 92 b/w 35mm negatives.
BOX 4: 73 copy negatives
BOX 5: 56 negatives, 8 lantern slides.

BOX 1: 617 photographs of Washington highway "visual blight": billboards, roadsigns, utility poles, powerlines.

Folder 1: 29 8x10 b&w photographs in a spiral-bound book entitled "Utility Pole Blight - Spring 1960." Seattle.
Folder 2: 40 8x10, b&w copies of photographs of "utility pole blight": many are copies of those in the book at Folder 1. Seattle, 1960.
Folder 3: 25 8x10 b&w "photos along highway" of billboards. "At Border", Lynnwood, Cheney, Woodland, Seattle at Aurora Ave. N and Galer, Spokane, Skagit Valley. 1960s.
Folder 4: 25 8x10, b&w photographs of billboards. Spokane, Ellensburg, Cle Elum, Moses Lake, Lynnwood, Everett, Skagit Valley. 1960s.
Folder 5: 53 21 2x3, b&w photographs "From subj. series 'visit to H'way Dept. 6 March 1961'" They show a man standing on street corners in Seattle among billboards, shop signs, and utility poles holding up a blackboard that indicates his exact location.
Folder 6: 251 3x3 and 3x4, b&w photographs in a scrapbook entitled "Washington Roadside Council, Inc. Copies of photos of non- conforming advertising signs filed with Seattle Planning Commission and Council Public Safety Committee - Feb.15 and March 21, 1962."
Folder 7: 50 3x3 and 3x4, b&w photographs in a scrapbook with the same title as that in 1/6. Seattle, 1962.
Folder 8: 22 3x3 b&w photographs. "These came from Billboard Legis - 1963 Session Surveys". Washington (one billboard mentions Chelan).
Folder 9: 30 duplicates of the photos in Folder 8.
Folder 10: 5 3x3, b&w photographs of peeling billboards "Attached to letter from M.G. Oldfield - WA state Hwy Commission". Washington, January 1968.
Folder 11: 2 3x3 color photographs of inscribed boulders "From Wash. Roadside Council Inc. Yakima Dist." One boulder is a memorial to Tow-Tow-Nah-Hee, the other to a Yakima War battle. February 1962. Slides in Box 3, Folder 3.
Folder 12: 32 3x3, b&w photographs of mileage signs, billboards, power lines. Western Washington, 1960s.
Folder 13: 17 3x5, b&w photographs of billboards, utility poles. Omak, Etc. 1960s.
Folder 14: 9 3x4, b&w photographs of billboards, utility poles. Washington, July 1963.
Folder 15: 8 4x5, b&w photographs of billboards, utility poles "Approaching Spokane". 1960s.
Folder 16: 5 3x3, b&w photographs of "Billboards blown over in Columbus Day wind 10/12/62. Photos taken 10/13/62." Two say "West Seattle" on verso.
Folder 17: 5 3x3, b&w photographs of Union 76 billboards in Seattle at E. Madison and 27th, 1960s. WITH: 1 hand drawn map of where the billboards originally stood.
Folder 18: 1 4x5, b&w photograph of utility poles, bulletin boards. Seattle(?), 1960s.
Folder 19: 5 8x10, b&w copies of a photograph of bulletin boards, utility poles, power lines, cars, Capitol Hill (Seattle), and Mt. Rainier. Seattle, 1960s.
Folder 20: 3 8x10, b&w photographs of billboards, cars, junkyard. Seattle(?), 1960s.

BOX 2: 125 photographs of the signing of documents by Governors Albert Rosellini and Daniel J. Evans, scenic and aerial highway views, and a political cartoon.

Folder 1: 23 8x10, b&w photographs of 4 photos of Gov. Albert D. Rosellini signing an unidentified document. Also pictured: Jack Robertson (president of the WA Roadside Council), and State Legislator Slade Gorton. Olympia WA.
Folder 2: 13 8x10, b&w photographs of a photo of Governor Daniel J. Evans of Washington signing what's presumably the Scenic and Recreation Highway Act of 1967 ( M.F, 12/3/97). Jack Robertson is also pictured. Olympia WA, 1967. WITH: 1 letter from Rep. Jonathan Whetzel to Jack Robertson re: photos of the signing of the Scenic and Recreation Highway Act of 1967, "which was Substitute Senate Bill 424 (HB 704)."
Folder 3: Ephemera: list of names, title, phrases, words, places concerned with highway beautification.
Folder 4: 34 8x10, b&w Highway Dept. photographs of scenic views of Washington highways, most without any visual blight. Most have detailed descriptions of their exact locations on their backs. 1960s.
Folder 5: 24 8x10, b&w Highway Dept. photographs of scenic views of Washington highways, most without any visual blight. Most have detailed descriptions of their exact locations on their backs. 1960s.
Folder 6: 17 8x10 (one 3x4), b&w photographs of an aerial photo of Los Angeles, CA. undated
Folder 7: 5 8x10, b&w photographs of aerial views of Washington highways with specific locations on their backs. 9/26/60.
Folder 8: 5 8x10, b&w photographs of aerial views of highways, and 1 aerial view of a bridge being built. Washington, 1960s.
Folder 9: 1 page cut from the May 9, 1969 issue of Argus featuring a political cartoon by Herblock.

BOX 3: 111 color slides and 92 b/w 35mm negatives of Washington highway visual blight, some family photographs.

Folder 1: 15 slides of billboards and utility poles. Seattle, March 1962.
Folder 2: 13 slides of billboards, utility poles, and powerlines, 10 of them along Hwy 99. June or July 1966.
Folder 3: 5 slides of billboards and utility, Seattle(?), 1960s.; 4 slides of ships in a harbor in "Waterfront". Washington, 10/66; 2 slides of the photographs at 1/11; 2 b&w slides of the article "Chicago: proud possessor of a fabulous front yard" from an envelope labeled "Lake Union".
Folder 4: 19 slides of billboards, roads, utility poles, and cars from a box with Ludwig Duthweiler, architect, and Jack Robertson's names and addresses on it. Specific locations written on slide sleeves. Western Washington, 2/13/67.
Folder 5: 12 slides of billboards, powerlines, utility poles, forklifts. Two are marked "Ludwig Duthweiler, architect", and 2 are clearly of Seattle. Western Washington, 6/66-4/67.
Folder 6: 9 slides of billboards, roads, and a junkyard from a box marked "Duth", one shows the Holland Hotel, Western Washington, 1967; 2 slides of billboards, Washington, 10/67.
Folder 7: 38 slides of billboards, highways, mileage signs, utility poles from "Sign Survey - 15 June 69." Washington.
Folder 8: 17 35mm negatives. Photographs in 1/12.
Folder 9: 34 35mm negs. Photographs in 1/13.
Folder 10: 20 35mm negs. Photographs in 1/14.
Folder 11: 21 35mm negs. Not printed. Of billboards, roadsigns, utility poles, looks like Western Washington, 1960s.

BOX 4: 4x5 b/w copy negatives. Negative Nos. WRC1-WRC73. (Numbered by original arranger, Jack Robertson).

Folders 1-67: 40 4x5 copy negatives. Negatives nos. WRC-1 to 67.
Folders 68A-68B: Each contains a 4x5 copy negatives of the photographs at 2/6 and the lantern slide in 5/31. Negative nos. WRC-68A & WRC-68B.
Folder 69: 1 4x5 copy negative from an envelope labeled "12/6 Jack Robertson", "12/7/1962", and "From Governor's Report on Outdoor Recreation". It's a chart of the urban and rural populations of Washington since 1900. Not printed. Negative no. WRC-69.
Folders 70-73: 4 4x5 copy negatives. Negative nos. WRC-70 to 73.

BOX 5: 57 negatives (of the 1 1/2x1 1/2, 2 1/4x2 1/4, 3x4, and 4x5 inch sizes) of highway blight and 8 lantern slides of maps of city green belts around the world.

Folders 1-18: Negative Nos. WRC-Y1 to Y36. 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 size negatives of billboards east of the Cascades.
Folders 19-21: Negative Nos. WRC-Z1 to Z7. Various size negatives of blown-over billboards, magazine article about Chicago, and portrait of Jack Robertson.
Folders 22-23: Negative Nos. WRC-X1 to X6. 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 size negatives of Union 76 billboards.
Folders 24-30: Negative Nos. WRC-B1-B7. 4x5 negatives of visual blight.

Folder 31: lantern slide of the negatives at 4/68 A&B and the photographs in Box 2, Folder 6.
Folder 32: 1 lantern slide of a map of Sydney's Green Belt. Australia.
Folder 33: 1 lantern slide of a map of "The Emerald Necklace" - the Cleveland Metropolitan Park District and Park System. Ohio.
Folder 34: 1 lantern slide of a map of the Green Belt around Birmingham and adjacent cities, West Midlands, England.
Folder 35: 1 lantern slide of a map of the Ottawa Green Belt. Canada.
Folder 36: 1 lantern slide of a map of the Santa Clara County Green Belt. California.
Folder 37: 1 lantern slide of a map of the Madison Park, Recreation, and Conservation Areas. Wisconsin.
Folder 38: 1 lantern slide of a map of the London Green Belt. England.

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