Archives West Finding Aid

In March of 1981, Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to create a collection of study prints selected from 122 boxes containing approximately 200,000 negatives donated by Hutchison Studio. The result of the project is this collection of 1,600 photographic prints. Several sets of Hutchison's original alphabetical indexes are with the collection (due to condition these have not been digitized), but many of the negatives are not included in these, and many indexed items are actually missing. In addition, many of the negatives are undergoing "vinegar syndrome," in which the cellulose acetate negatives shrink and their emulsion layers crack and warp, leaving those negatives marginally viewable, but unreproducable. As a result, the entire collection was re-housed in 2011 and 2012. Those negatives with vinegar syndrome which had become damaged to the point of illegibility were discarded. The negatives with vinegar syndrome that were kept were re-housed in acid-free envelopes, as were the majority of the oldest negatives. The guides were removed from their three-ringed binders and foldered. The entire collection was re-housed into higher quality boxes.

The campus of Washington State University (including campus architecture, sporting events, campus activities, and administrators) is extensively documented, as is the city of Pullman and the surrounding Palouse communities. The collection records the changes on the campus of WSU and in rural communities between the 1920s and the 1970s. Agricultural photographs trace the shift from the use of horses in harvesting to modern combines. New technologies are also represented: the arrival of the first model T, the introduction of electric washers and dryers, people standing proudly by their new home freezers and air-conditioners. Though many of the photographs depict the town and farms of the Palouse region of southeastern Washington and northern Idaho, neighboring geographic areas are also represented. These include the Columbia River gorge, the heavily forested areas of northeastern Idaho and the semi-arid deserts of central Washington. In addition to the campus of WSU and wheat farming, there are scenes of pea processing, logging, shipping, and construction. Also included in this collection are pictures of many community members who used Hutchison as their senior, graduation, and passport photographer.

Included in this collection, in box 205, are a small number of negatives from Artopho Studios, which began in Pullman, circa 1906, and was purchased by R.R. Hutchison in 1925.

The collection consists of six series. When the collection was in the beginning stages of being re-housed, it came to light that part of the collection had been taken out of order and put into a second parallel series, though whether this was done at MASC or prior to the collection coming to MASC is unknown. Due to this, there are two main sequences of negatives, Series 1 and Series 2.

Series 1: Boxes 1-10 (00001-19927) primarily (but not exclusively) consists of images of the following: Palouse area scenes and events, Pullman buildings and events; portraits; WSU sports teams, WSU events and buildings; Greek houses, buildings, and faculty; Native Americans, and copies of papers such as marriage and birth certificates, discharge papers, and diplomas.

Series 2: Boxes 42-203 (2233-10070) contain the majority of Hutchison’s studio portraits. This includes sittings, weddings, and graduation photos. Boxes 204, 205, and 206 contain a variety of photos including local scenes. Most of the images in these three boxes are either undated and/or un-numbered.

Series 3: Box 207 contains the guides that were removed from the binders, prints primarily of local scenes, and a football photo scrapbook.

Series 4: Box 208 is unsorted nitrate film.

Series 5: Boxes 209-221 are lantern and glass slides. They are numbered 1-30002; Lantern Slides: 1A-209.

Series 6: Boxes 222-224 are prints from nitrate film, created in MASC, primarily circa 1981. Subjects of these prints include farming, WSU arterial photographs, WSU buildings, faculty, staff, and students. They also include photos of Pullman, surrounding area, advertisements, and farming scenes. Boxes 225-233 are print series. These prints include rolled film and prints; scenes from Pullman, WSU, and surrounding Palouse.