Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Hazel W. Niendorff Scrapbooks on North Pacific Marine Casualties and Maritime History, circa 1920s-1960s
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Niendorff, Hazel W. (Hazel Wood), 1898-1991
- Title
- Hazel W. Niendorff Scrapbooks on North Pacific Marine Casualties and Maritime History
- Dates
- circa 1920s-1960s (inclusive)19151965
- Quantity
- 74 scrapbooks and 5 maps, (approximately 16 cubic feet)
- Collection Number
- 1989.83_2007.61 (collection)
- Summary
- Scrapbooks of materials about marine casualties and maritime history in the Pacific Northwest from the 16th century to the 1960s.
- Repository
-
Museum of History & Industry, Sophie Frye Bass Library
P.O. Box 80816
Seattle, WA
98108
Telephone: 2063241126 x102
library@mohai.org - Access Restrictions
-
The collection is open to the public by appointment.
- Languages
- English.
- Sponsor
- Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Biographical NoteReturn to Top
Hazel (Wood) Niendorff (1898-1991) worked in the Seattle Chamber of Commerce in the Research and Statistical Department in the 1920s. Married to Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Fred Niendorff, Hazel Niendorff had a passion for maritime history, particularly for the history of maritime disasters; she made a lifelong project of researching, collecting and organizing materials to create a comprehensive record of North Pacific marine disasters. Niendorff was considered an authority in the field, and was solicited in the 1960s to serve on the review board for Gordon Newell's The H. W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
The bulk of the collection consists of scrapbooks about marine disasters and maritime history in the North Pacific, from the 16th century through the 1960s, with the bulk of the materials concerning the period from approximately the 1850s through the 1930s. Niendorff compiled the scrapbooks beginning in the 1920s and continued through the 1960s, though only a few scrapbooks list the date of their compilation. The territory covered in the scrapbooks ranges from the coast of California, north past Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska, as well as around Siberia. The scrapbooks are comprised of newspapers clippings from the 1920s-1960s, transcriptions from earlier newspapers and transcriptions from old books on maritime history, such as Lewis and Dryden's 1895 Marine History of the Pacific Northwest and Alexander Starbuck's History of the American Whale Fishery, From its Earliest Inception to the Year 1876.
The scrapbooks also contain brochures and pamphlets, information Niendorff collected from government records, correspondence, as well as original writing by Niendorff, including lists of sailing vessels and shipwrecks, and narrative chronologies of disasters. Materials within the scrapbooks sometimes overlap, as Niendorff compiled the scrapbooks based variously on casualties, geographical location, industries such as lumber, wheat, whaling and fur trading, and individual people. Many of the geographically themed scrapbooks represent locations associated with Northwest lumber mills, such as Port Gamble, Port Blakeley, Port Ludlow, Port Madison, Port Discovery, Utsalady and Seabeck.
The collection also includes Navy pilot and current charts of the North Pacific from the 1930s and one map of British Columbia. Other materials unrelated to maritime history include a scrapbook of clippings on Salomon August Andree's 1897 fatal balloon flight to the Arctic, an index to the holdings of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce Alaska Bureau library, and a series of scrapbooks concerning the development of Seattle.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Alternative Forms Available
The following volumes of the scrapbooks are available in digital format: Volumes 1-23, 26-29, 31-36, 40-47, and 51-66.
Restrictions on Use
Digital copies must be used in place of original scrapbooks when available. Contact the repository for more information.
The Museum of History & Industry is the owner of the materials in the Sophie Frye Bass Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from MOHAI before any reproduction use. The museum does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
Preferred Citation
Hazel W. Niendorff Scrapbooks on North Pacific Marine Casualties and Maritime History, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Arrangement
Arranged into series and subseries:
- Scrapbooks
- Marine Disasters
- Pacific Northwest Maritime History
- Seattle
- Maps and charts
- Other materials
Location of Collection
12a.1.6-13 (scrapbooks)Location of Collection
Map drawers VII.a.20, VII.b.20 (maps)Location of Collection
5a.2.1 (microfilms)Acquisition Information
Gift of William W. Niendorff, September 8, 1989 (Accession No. 1989.83) and of William and Gayle Niendorff, November 26, 2007 (Accession No. 2007.31).
Processing Note
The collection consists of two accessions received from the donor several years apart, Accession No. 1989.83 and Accession No. 2007.61.
Due to the fragile condition of the scrapbooks, microfilm copies were made of most of the volumes. MOHAI received a Washington Preservation Initiative grant to preserve the scrapbooks, which were microfilmed in 2004 by OCLC Digital Collection & Preservation Services. In 2023, digital copies of these microfilms were made by Backstage Library Works.
Gaps in numbering are a result of the transfer of items (books and pamphlets) to other collections within the repository.
Separated Materials
Books and pamphlets received with Accession No. 1989.83 were transferred to the book and pamphlet collections in the repository.
Brochures, pamphlets and ephemera received with Accession No. 2007.61 were transferred to the pamphlet and ephemera collections in the repository.
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.
Scrapbooks, circa 1920s-1960sReturn to Top
The scrapbooks were compiled between the 1920s and 1960s, but contain materials about maritime history and disasters beginning in the 16th century. Dates of the described events, when known, are included in the scrapbook title; unless a more specific compilation date is known, no date is given.
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
Marine casualties
Scrapbooks may include clippings, transcriptions from newspaper articles and books, original writing and
correspondence between Niendorff and various individuals and offices regarding wrecks.
|
||
North Pacific Trade 12 volumes
|
||
| package | ||
| 1 | 1989.83.1: Volume 1: Tradition to 1845 |
|
| 2 | 1989.83.2: Volume 2: 1846-1869 |
|
| 3 | 1989.83.3: Volume 3: 1870-1886 |
|
| 4 | 1989.83.4: Volume 4: 1887-1896 |
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| 5 | 1989.83.5: Volume 5: 1897-1902 |
|
| 6 | 1989.83.6: Volume 6: 1903-1908 |
|
| 7 | 1989.83.7: Volume 7: 1909-1916 |
|
| 8 | 1989.83.8: Volume 8: 1917-1924 |
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| 9 | 1989.83.9: Volume 9: 1925-1930 |
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| 10 | 1989.83.10: Volume 10: 1931-1935 |
|
| 11 | 1989.83.11: Volume 11: 1936-1939 |
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| 12 | 1989.83.12: Volume 12: 1940-1942 |
|
U.S. Life Saving Service and U.S. Coast Guard 2 scrapbooks
The United States Life-Saving Service was a United States government agency that grew out of private
and local humanitarian efforts to save the lives of shipwrecked mariners and passengers. It began in 1848 and
ultimately merged with the Revenue Cutter Service to form the United States Coast Guard in 1915.
These two scrapbooks consist largely of the General Summaries and lists of "Marine Casualties on the
Pacific Coast" from the U.S. Life Saving Service and U.S. Coast Guard annual reports.
|
||
| Box | ||
| 2 | 1989.83.15: 1876-1899 |
|
| 3 | 1989.83.16: 1900-1930 |
|
Marine disasters -- miscellaneous |
||
1989.83.14: British Columbia wrecks
missing
|
||
| Box | ||
| 7 | 1989.83.22: St. Nicholas--1808
Copy of 1916 translation by C.L. Andrews from
Description of Remarkable Shipwrecks Suffered by Russian Mariners by
Vasili Mikhaelovich Golovnin, 1864, about the wreck of the Russian American Fur Company ship St.
Nicholas in 1808.
|
1927 |
| 7 | 1989.83.23: Wreck of the Clara Nevada, February 5,
1898 |
|
| 9 | 1989.83.26: Working lists, casualties
Includes 15 photographs.
Notes, clippings and narratives about the Oregon coast and shipwrecks.
|
|
| 9 | 1989.83.28: "Graveyard of the Pacific"
Includes approximately 110 photographs.
Scrapbook consists largely of original photographs and clipped newspaper photographs of the
"graveyard of the Pacific"--the stretch of coast between Tillamook Bay in Oregon and Vancouver Island known for its
high number of shipwrecks. Includes photos of Neah Bay, Cape Flattery, Cape Alava, James Island, La Push, Abbey Island,
Destruction Island, Cape Elizabeth, Point Granville, Cape Disappointment, Long Beach, Cape Arago and Vancouver Island.
Also includes some transcriptions about shipwrecks.
|
|
| 24 | 1989.83.51: Wrecks, 1942-1953
Clippings about wrecks.
|
|
| 34 | 2007.61.1: Correspondence regarding marine casualties |
1930s-1960 |
| 34 | 2007.61.2a-b: "Strandings and Wrecks of Vessels on the Coasts of California, Oregon
and Washington" by Lt. Commander W.A. Mason, U.S. Navy
Lists and map.
|
|
Lists |
||
| Box | ||
| 1 | 1989.83.13: "Marine Casualties of the North Pacific, 1532-1930"
List of shipwrecks compiled by Niendorff in 1931. Includes an introductory essay by Niendorff, and
is arranged chronologically, then geographically, including wrecks in Washington, Oregon, California, British Columbia,
Alaska, "at sea," and "in foreign waters."
|
1931 |
| 4 | 1989.83.17: "Shipwrecks in North Pacific Waters, 1745-1925"
Compiled by Niendorff from various sources
|
|
| 5 | 1989.83.18: "Marine miscellaneous, 1532-1921 (Casualties & Background
1821-1919)"
List of shipwrecks and lists of newspaper articles related to casualties, arranged chronologically,
then by publication.
|
|
| 6 | 1989.83.21: "Wrecks by category"--1532-circa 1930s
List of shipwrecks by category, then chronologically. Categories include whaling, Californian Gold
Rush, lumber, wheat, etc. Also includes an alphabetical index of marine casualties and an outline of a proposed book,
Lost Ships of the North Pacific, by Hazel Niendorff, 1936.
|
|
Pacific Northwest Maritime History |
||
By industry |
||
| Box | ||
| 8 | 1989.83.25: Shipbuilding, circa 1917-1945
Includes clippings of articles by John Lyman from
Marine Digest, 1941-1945; other articles; and lists of ships built in the Pacific
Northwest.
|
|
| 10 | 1989.83.29: Whaling, 1875-1950s
Include 9 photographs.
The scrapbook is divided into 7 sections: History, Dangers, North Pacific, Whaling Fleet,
Casualties, Captains, U.S. Bureau of Education Reports, and Miscellaneous. Includes transcriptions from books and late
19th century government publications on whaling, as well as clippings from the 1930s-1950s.
|
|
| 11 | 1989.83.31: Fisheries
Divided into sections: General, Oysters, Cod, Salmon, Halibut, Miscellaneous. Scrapbook consists
largely of clippings from the1930s-1960, as well as a scholarly paper on Washington fisheries by University of
Washington Dean of the College of Fisheries, John N. Cobb.
|
|
| 11 | 1989.83.32: Sealing
Includes information about vessels lost in pelagic sealing and about court cases and controversies,
particularly in regard to the decimation of seal herds.
|
|
| 12 | 1989.83.34: Fur traders
"Old South Leaflets" on the Northwest fur trade; Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada (1931)
on trading vessels in the fur trade; and "A Narrative of Voyage and Commercial Enterprise" by Richard J. Cleveland
(1842) about a typical voyage of a fur trading vessel to the Northwest coast.
|
|
| 13 | 1989.83.35: Wheat
Includes 26 photographs of ships, mostly British.
About the wheat industry and the "wheat fleet" ships. Includes an index to and histories of the
ships.
|
|
| 13 | 1989.83.36: Wheat--Pacific Coast Fleet
Lists of ships, divided into sections: Puget Sound, Oregon, California, Index.
|
|
Lumber
For more on the lumber industry, see also scrapbooks for Port Gamble, Port Blakeley, Port Ludlow,
Port Madison, Port Discovery, Utsalady and Seabeck.
|
||
| Box | ||
| 24 | 1989.83.52: Lumber fleet, 1851-1894
Divided into section by year. Includes lists and descriptions of ships, accounts of trips
transcribed from newspapers, and general information about the lumber industry.
|
|
| 25 | 1989.83.53: Lumber fleet, 1895-1924
Lists, divided into sections by year.
|
|
| 25 | 1989.83.54 : Lumber mills--miscellaneous
Clippings, transcriptions of articles and lists of vessels. Divided into sections: Seattle,
Olympia, Everett, Bellingham, Oregon, and British Columbia.
|
|
| 26 | 1989.83.55: Lumber--industry and ships
Includes 27 photographs.
Transcriptions of many articles and book excerpts from the late 19th century about the history of
lumber mills in Washington. Divided into two section: history of the lumber industry, and of sailing ships used by the
lumber industry in the late 19th-early 20th century. Also includes listings from the city directory.
|
|
| 34 | 2007.61.4: "Green Gold"
Scrapbook about the lumber industry and pioneer mills at Ports Ludlow, Blakeley, Madison, Gamble
and Discovery, and at Utsalady and Seabeck.
|
|
By location |
||
| Box | ||
| 7 | 1989.83.24: San Juan Islands
Includes 43 photographs of the San Juans, plus clippings and notes
|
|
| 9 | 1989.83.27: Miscellaneous articles, etc. (Cape Flattery and Quillayute
County)
Clippings and transcriptions with one section about Cape Flattery and another about Quillayute
County (now Clallam County) including clippings about Destruction Island, Vancouver Island, Tatoosh Island and Cape
Disappointment. Also includes an index to Clinton A. Snowden's
A History of Washington (1909), and a copy of Isaac Steven's report on exploration for
railroads.
|
|
| 12 | 1989.83.33: "Alaska--Ships of the Klondike"
Includes 5 photographs. Divided into sections: Alaska, Klondike (background), Klondike ships,
Siberian Trade, and Customs (consisting of "Annual Statement of the Commerce and Customs business of Alaska" for 1919,
1920 and 1922).
|
|
| 26 | 1989.83.56: Port Gamble (Teekalet)
Transcriptions of
Seattle Daily Intelligencer articles about Captain William C. Talbot and other pioneers
of the area.
|
|
| 26 | 1989.83.57: Port Blakeley, Alki Point and Port Orchard
Includes 16 photographs. Includes a biographical sketch of Captain William Renton as well as a list
of the lumber fleet at Port Blakeley in the late 19th century.
|
|
| 27 | 1989.83.58: Port Ludlow
Divided into sections: William Sayward biography; William Sayward, 1852-1854; Cowlitz Trail; Joshua
K. Thorndike; 1854-1858; A.A. Phinney; Puget Mill Co.; Shipbuilding.
|
|
| 28 | 1989.83.59: Port Madison
Includes 12 photographs.
Includes a history of the lumber mill, a chronology of the mill from 1853-1868, and a chronology of
ships that set sail from Port Madison circa 1930s-1950s.
|
|
| 28 | 1989.83.60: Port Discovery
Includes 12 photographs.
Includes information about the mill, the people and the history of Port Discovery, including
narrative chronologies of the history and of ships which set sail from Port Discovery. Also includes narratives about
marine casualties and clippings from the 1930s and 1950s.
|
|
| 29 | 1989.83.61: Utsalady
Includes 14 photographs.
Materials about the lumber mill, and about Whidbey and Camano Islands, including a history of Penn's
Cove, information on Whidbey Island settlers and chronologies of events, of ships sailing, and of wrecks.
|
|
| 29 | 1989.83.62: Grays Harbor
Includes 1 photograph.
Includes a history of the Simpson Logging Company, articles about Ryderwood and Longview, and
clippings about Grays Harbor from the 1920s.
|
|
| 30 | 1989.83.63: Okanogan
Consists largely of clippings, including an extensive series of articles published in the
Wenatchee Daily World and written by Alexander Ross, a fur trader who spent several
years at Fort Okanogan; and a series of
Okanogan Independent articles "Let's Say It While We're Alive" (circa 1923), featuring
recollections of local residents. Also includes other information about old Fort Okanogan, pioneer days, prospecting,
the Okanogan-Cariboo Trail, and Chief Joseph; and a 1922 map of Colville National Forest.
|
|
| 31 | 1989.83.64: Wenatchee
Clippings and booklets about apple (and other fruit) growing, including history and statistics. Also
includes a series of clippings of reminiscences of Colville's settlers.
|
|
| 31 | 1989.83.65: Yakima
Mostly clippings, about the early settlements of the Yakima Valley, and about the area's birds and
flowers. Also includes material about salmon, Native Americans and about reclamation, irrigation development and water
rights.
|
|
| 32 | 1989.83.66: Seabeck
Includes 14 photographs.
Information about Seabeck Mill and founders Marshall Blinn and J.R. Williamson, general history,
lists of sailings and narratives on shipwrecks.
|
|
By individual |
||
| Box | ||
| 10 | 1989.83.30: Coast Guard--Admiral Fred A. Zeusler, 1935-1965
Clippings about Fred A. Zeusler, who made a career in the Coast Guard. Includes supplements to the
newsletter of the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society written by or about Zeusler. Also includes transcript of
Alaska Leg: United States Army Air Service First Around the World Flight by Mudge
Ransom, 1965.
|
circa late 1960s |
Captain P.A. McDonald
Three scrapbooks consisting largely of correspondence between Hazel Niendorff and Captain McDonald,
in which they exchange information and photographs about maritime history.
|
||
| Box | ||
| 14 | 1989.83.37: 1929-1954
Includes 25 photographs of ships.
Contains a short biography of McDonald, lists the ships on which he served and the corresponding
jobs. Also includes an alphabetical index to ship references and ship photographs in all three volumes.
|
|
| 14 | 1989.83.38: 1955-1960
Includes 31 photographs.
|
|
| 14 | 1989.83.39: 1960-1972
Includes 8 photographs.
|
|
1989.83.122-.129: "Along the Waterfront" 8 volumes
Scrapbooks consisting of clippings of Hal E. Jamison's newspaper column "Along the Waterfront," one
volume for each year from 1935-1942. Scrapbooks for 1935-1939 have been bound into hardcover volumes. 1935 volume
includes a subject index for that volume.
|
1935-1942 | |
1989.83.122-.126: 1935-1939 10b.2.1
5 bound volumes
|
1935-1939 | |
| Box | ||
| 32 | 1989.83.127: 1940 |
1940 |
| 33 | 1989.83.128-.129: 1941-1942 |
1941-1942 |
| Box | ||
| 35 | 2007.61.6: Review of
Marine History of the Pacific Northwest
Binder of papers, largely correspondence, but also minutes and reports by Niendorff from period when
Niendorff served on the review board to examine the accuracy of Gordon Newell's
The H. W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest.
|
1963-1965 |
Marine-miscellaneous
Clippings, transcriptions from newspaper articles and books, and Niendorff's notes and about ships,
trade, ship captains and other individuals associated with maritime industries.
|
||
| Box | ||
| 5 | 1989.83.19: 1821-1919 |
|
| 6 | 1989.83.20: 1921-1930 |
|
| 15 | 1989.83.40: 1930-1936 |
|
| 16 | 1989.83.41: 1937-1939 |
|
| 17 | 1989.83.42: 1940-1941 |
|
| 18 | 1989.83.43: 1942-1944 |
|
| 19 | 1989.83.44: 1945-1950 |
|
| 20 | 1989.83.45: 1951-1960 |
|
| 21 | 1989.83.46: Marine miscellaneous--general
Includes 52 photographs of ships and figureheads
. Includes poems with maritime themes, clippings and transcriptions, and indexes to illustrations in
various books.
|
|
Seattle |
||
| Box | ||
| 22 | 1989.83.47: Seattle Industrial Development, 1925-1926
Includes clippings and a 1925 paper "The Necessity of Industrial Development in Seattle" by engineer
Erwin L. Weber, and other articles by Weber.
|
|
| 22 | 1989.83.48: Seattle Organization Directory
Directory compiled by Hazel Niendorff. List of clubs by subject classification; state clubs related to
Washington located in other states; and an alphabetical list of clubs giving address, phone number and list of
officers.
|
1926 |
| 23 | 1989.83.49: Seattle Foreign Trade
Trade section of
Marine Digest issues from July 28, 1928 through March 23, 1929
|
1928-1929 |
| 23 | 1989.83.50: Chamber of Commerce Reports
Copies of special reports completed by Hazel Wood (Niendorff), presumably as part of her job in the
Research and Statistical Department of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Includes reports on climate, forest resources,
mineral resources, water power, and agriculture of the Pacific Northwest; the highway system of Washington; Alaska;
Northwest ports; manufacturing; and business conditions and cost of living in Seattle.
|
1923-1926 |
Maps and chartsReturn to Top
| Description | Dates |
|---|---|
1989.83.68: Current chart of the North Pacific Ocean, Secretary of the
Navy Map drawer VII.b.20
|
1932 March-May |
1989.83.69: Pilot chart of the North Pacific Ocean, Secretary of the Navy Map drawer VII.b.20
|
1930 October |
1989.83.70: Pilot chart of the North Pacific Ocean, Secretary of the Navy Map drawer VII.b.20
|
1931 December |
1989.83.71: Pilot chart of the North Pacific Ocean, Secretary of the Navy Map drawer VII.b.20
|
1932 January |
1989.83.73: South Western Districts, British Columbia Department of Lands Map drawer VII.a.20
|
1925 |
Other materialsReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Box | ||
| 34 | 2007.61.3: Salomon August Andree Arctic Expedition, 1897
Scrapbook of clippings (1930-1931) from the
Seattle Post Intelligencer about the fatal balloon flight to the Arctic.
|
1930-1931 |
| 35 | 2007.61.5: Alaska Department Index
Index to the library of the Alaska Bureau of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Index to bound volumes,
Annual Reports, publication, maps, Resources and Products exhibit and famed photographs. Inscription: "Prepared and for
the personal use of Hazel R. Wood (Mrs. Fred Niendorff)."
|
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Fur trade--Northwest, Pacific
- Lumber trade--Northwest, Pacific
- Marine accidents--North Pacific Ocean
- Navigation--Northwest, Pacific--History
- Shipping--Northwest, Pacific--History
- Shipwrecks--North Pacific Ocean
- Wheat trade--Northwest, Pacific
Geographical Names
- United States--Washington (State)--Wenatchee
- United States--Washington (State)--Grays Harbor County
- United States--Washington (State)--Kitsap County--Seabeck
- United States--Washington (State)--Okanogan County
- United States--Washington (State)--Port Blakeley
- United States--Washington (State)--Port Discovery
- United States--Washington (State)--Port Gamble
- United States--Washington (State)--Port Ludlow
- United States--Washington (State)--Port Madison
- United States--Washington (State)--Yakima River Valley
Form or Genre Terms
- Clippings
- Photographic prints
- Scrapbooks
Finding aid prepared by Jody Hendrickson
2007
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
