Frank Joseph Kottke Papers, 1936-1994

This collection consists of three distinct sets of materials related to Frank Kottke's role as a member of the Citizen's Advisory Committee for Pullman Public Transit, as a citizen informing U.S. senators and representatives on his position on matters of public policy, and as a husband writing his wife during his time with the Army during World War II. This collection contains correspondence, minutes and reports related to public transportation in Pullman, Washington, and clippings informing his public policy letters to U.S. political figures.

Series 1: Pullman Transit Citizen's Advisory Committee, 1985-1993. This series consists of papers relating to Kottke's position on the Citizen's Advisory Committee (CAC) for public transportation in Pullman from 1985-1993 and has been divided into two subseries.

Subseries 1: Meetings, 1988-1993. This subseries contains minutes and reports from CAC meetings.

Subseries 2: Subject files, 1984-1990. consists of special reports, correspondence, budgets, and surveys on topics including bus fare, routes, ads on buses, Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, student ridership, and a taxi service run by Pullman Transit.

Series 2: Public policy correspondence, 1975-1994. This series consists of correspondence about public policy to members of the U.S. House and Senate from 1975-1994. These letters cover a wide range of topics from taxes and deficits to Medicare and Social Security to Anti-Trust Law and banking. It contains a number of responses from the offices of Washington state politicians, including Representative Thomas Foley, Senator Brock Adams, Senator Patty Murray, and Governor Booth Gardner. It also includes articles collected by Kottke related to the topics discussed.

Series 3: Personal correspondence, 1936-1946. This series consists of the personal correspondence of Frank Kottke from 1938-1945. It includes incoming and outgoing letters between Kottke, his family and his fiancée Esther C. Hendee, who became his wife during the course of this correspondence. These letters fall into two categories: the initial exchanges between Frank and Esther during the months leading up to their marriage and letters to Frank from Esther and his family during Frank’s time in the Army (1943-1945). The latter correspondence includes commentary on wartime life, long distance relationships, and anecdotes and updates about their daughter Margaret. The letters reveal the initial apprehensions that both Frank and Esther felt regarding their age difference, thoughts concerning women in the workforce, and opinions about appropriate gender roles in 1940s America. Unlike the rest of the collection, the correspondence was not completely sorted by Dr. Kottke and its arrangement diverges significantly from its original order. The second folder includes an introduction by Dr. Kottke explaining his attempts to arrange the letters and his initial feelings regarding Esther written in 1980.