Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Olaf Pitt Jenkins Geology Lantern Slides, 1910s-1928
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Jenkins, Olaf P. (Olaf Pitt), 1889-1983.
- Title
- Olaf Pitt Jenkins Geology Lantern Slides
- Dates
- 1910s-1928 (inclusive)19101928
- Quantity
- 1 Linear foot of shelf space, (3 Boxes (242 images))
- Collection Number
- PC 190 (collection)
- Summary
- Instructional and research lantern slides (photographic images) dating from about the 1910s to 1928 and documenting the geology of the Pacific Northwest, focusing on Washington state.
- Repository
-
Washington State University Libraries' Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections
Terrell Library Suite 12
Pullman, WA
99164-5610
Telephone: 509-335-6691
mascref@wsu.edu - Access Restrictions
-
This collection is open and available for research use.
- Languages
- English
Biographical NoteReturn to Top
Olaf Pitt Jenkins (1889-1983) was a professor of Economic Geology at the State College of Washington from 1916-1918 before leaving during wartime due to low enrollment, he returned again from 1920-1925. During his final year at WSC, he was acting head of the Department of Mines and Geology. Born and raised on the campuses of Stanford University, he received his Bachelors (1913), Masters (1915), and Ph.D. (1929) there. After leaving WSC to work in the oil industry in Indonesia for a few years, he returned to Stanford. After finishing his Ph.D., he was faculty at Stanford until he was appointed state geologist for California and head of the state Division of Mines and Geology in 1947, a position he held until his retirement in 1958.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
The collection consists of lantern slides primarily tied to geology in the Pacific Northwest, most created in the 1910s to 1930s. They include both commercial lantern slides and personally created lantern slides; the majority of the latter, where dated, seem to be from 1921 and from 1928, and bear the initials O.P.J. This was almost certainly Olaf Pitt Jenkins, a professor of Economic Geology in what was then known as Washington State College’s School of Mines and Geology.
Sources of commercial lantern slides include Asahel Curtis; Seattle; Arthur M. Prentiss, Portland (primarily in the Columbia River series); Keystone View Co., Meadville, PA; and others. Only between 5 and 15 percent of the images were commercially produced.
The slides were likely created and organized either for instruction or for personal research. They include series on northwest rivers and gorges; waterfalls; the Columbia River; lakes; mountains; the Palouse region, scablands, and basalt; and what appears to be a hiking trip (or trips) in the North Cascades.
The majority of the images are undated, but almost all are labeled.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Restrictions on Use
Original unpublished Olaf Pitt Jenkins materials either remain within the copyright of his heirs until 70 years after his 1983 death, or if created in the course of his employment, then in copyright of that employer until 120 years after their date of creation. Commercially published materials moved into the public domain 95 years after their date of original publication; as these were most likely all obtained before Olaf Pitt Jenkins left WSC is 1925, the commercial images all are probably now in public domain, but, it remains the responsibility of the user to verify that.
Preferred Citation
[Item description]
Olaf Pitt Jenkins Geology Lantern Slides, 1910s-1928 (PC 190)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Arrangement
The lantern slides are retained in their original order, as each sequence of numbers appears to relate to a subject of some sort. Any information on what that subject actually was is lost to history, and so in describing these series we are hypothesizing on and approximating the original subjects. The series are not complete, as not all materials were retained in the archives – materials both commercially produced and not pertaining to the northwest were not retained.
Acquisition Information
Peter Larson of the WSU department of Geology donated this collection to the Washington State University Libraries’ Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections on January 9, 2020, where they were retained as UPC 2020-01. The materials had been in storage in his department for decades before that.
Processing Note
This collection was processed by University Archivist Mark O’English processed this collection in September of 2020.
Separated Materials
During processing, the decision was made to retain only lantern slides that were either original (e.g. non-commercial) or else strongly tied to the Pacific Northwest. The remaining slides, probably about 500 in number, were returned to the donor.
Related Materials
The Manuscripts division at Stanford University holds a small (.5 linear feet) collection of Olaf Pitt Jenkins Papers, 1929-1973 (bulk 1946-1958) as collection M0531.
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description |
|---|---|
| Box | |
| 1 | Irrigation ditch near Oroville 1 item
Original Number Range: 129
|
| 1 | Squaw Saddle rhyolite, Wenatchee. 1 item
Original Number Range: 131
|
| 1 | Hanford district, well number 60. 1 item
Original Number Range: 500
|
| 1 | Petrified stump in basalt, Vantage Ferry grade 1 item
Original Number Range: 800
|
| 1 | Whatcom Co., rognon (sp.?) deposit 1 item
Original Number Range: 902
|
| 1 | Snoqualmie Pass, coming up west side 1 item
Original Number Range: 1006
|
| 1 | Rivers and gorges. Includes Snake, Similkimeen, Oneonta, L Canyon on Clark's Fork, and Pend d'Oeille. 9 items
Original Number Range: 1015 - 1046
|
| 1 | Waterfalls. Includes Snoqualmie, Skagit pot holes, Twin, Kettle, Franklin, Long Lake, Little, Bonnie Lake, and Shoshone. 11 item
Original Number Range: 1106 - 1133
|
| 1 | Columbia River, and Columbia River Gorge. 34 items
Original Number Range: 1700 - 1742
|
| 1 | Lakes. Primarily Lake Chelan, also includes Katchess, Okanogan, Osoyoos. 20 items
Original Number Range: 2200 - 2224
|
| 1 | Coastal scenes. Includes Hoodsport, Chuckanut, Newport, Whatcom Co. 5 items
Original Number Range: 2803 - 2807
|
| 2 | Mountains. Includes Mt. Hood, Gunn's Peak, Glacier Peak, Wapta Glacier, Victoria Glacier, Mt. Lee, Mt. Bonnie, Whatcom Co. 16 items
Original Number Range: 3006 - 3071
|
| 2 | Alaskan gold fields. Haines and Chilkoot Pass. 3 items
Original Number Range: 3077 - 3080
|
| 2 | Mt. Rainier. Glaciers, and Buck Creek. 4 items
Original Number Range: 3083 - 3118
|
| 2 | Canadian mountains. Includes Emerald, Sir Donald, Illecillewaet Valley. 4 items
Original Number Range: 3132 - 3164
|
| 2 | Grand Coulee. 33 items
Original Number Range: 3400 - 3442
|
| 2 | Palouse region. Includes Palouse Falls and canyon, scablands, loessal hills near LaCrosse and Hooper, basalt. 17 items
Original Number Range: 3501 - 3541
|
| 3 | Basalt and scablands geology. Near Lamont, Spokane, Davenport, Moses Lake, Quincy, and Bonnie and Rock Lakes. 14 items
Original Number Range: 3602 - 3621
|
| 3 | North Cascades. Rattlesnake Trail, Hart's Pass, Bonita Trail, Ruby Creek, Slate Creek, Azurite Trail and Pass. 59 items
Original Number Range: 3900 - 3959
|
| 3 | Crater Lake (Oregon). 7 items
Original Number Range: 4007 - 4032
|
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Geology -- Northwest, Pacific -- Photographs.
Personal Names
- Jenkins, Olaf P. (Olaf Pitt), 1889-1983 -- Archives.
Finding aid prepared by Mark O’English
2020
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
