Archives West Finding Aid

The Asahel Curtis Papers are comprised of three accessions. Accession no. 4058-003, a single box that dates from approximately 1909 to 1932, includes speeches, writings, letters, clippings, and a stock certificate. The speeches and writings promote highway building and access to scenic attractions in Washington, especially Mt. Rainier National Park. Many of the writings were published.

The bulk of the Asahel Curtis Papers are in Accession no. 4058-004. The accession is comprised primarily of Curtis's correspondence from 1908 to 1941. The correspondence documents Curtis's work as a civic leader and businessman. Most letters concern his activities as a regional booster in the various groups in which he served. Many others are simply correspondence with patrons who ordered photos. Curtis almost never discussed his photographic philosophy or techniques in his letters. Many letters regarding the administration of Mt. Rainier National Park were pasted into the seven Mt. Rainier scrapbooks also included in the accession. The inventory of this accession is accompanied by an extensive name index of the individuals and organizations represented in the general correspondence, but the letters in the Mt. Rainier scrapbooks are not indexed. The scrapbook letters, which range from 1911 to 1921, are largely, but not entirely, in chronological order. While the years 1910-1911 and 1913-1920 are sparsely represented in the general correspondence, the years 1913-1915 and 1918-1920 are extensively documented by the scrapbooks. The scrapbooks also contain a few scattered newspaper clippings about the park. Three other scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings but no correspondence. The subject of one is Mt. Rainier (1924), another covers the Olympic Peninsula (1924), and the third scrapbook documents Frederick Cook's expedition to the North Pole (1908-1910). This accession also contains a diary of Curtis's trip to the Yukon in 1898 and financial records from 1932-1940.

Major correspondents of accession 4058-004 include Homer T. Bone, Clarence Cleveland Dill, Lindley Hoag Hadley, Knute Hill, Samuel B. Hill, Wesley Livsey Jones, Clarence Daniel Martin, Edmond Stephen Meany, Lewis Baxter Schwellenbach, Monrad C. Wallgren, Marion Anthony Zioncheck, the Rainier National Park Advisory Board, the Rainier National Park Company, the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the Tacoma Chamber of Commerce, the Yakima Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. National Park Service.

Accession 4058-002 is comprised of microfilm copies of the seven volumes of Mt. Rainier scrapbooks in Accession 4058-004.

Accession 4058-005 includes manuscripts by Asahel Curtis, records regarding his death, biography, and placement of his works, and ephemera surrounding Mt. Rainier National Park which often features Curtis' photographs. Also includes newspaper and magazine clippings, one portrait of Asahel Curtis, and several pamphlets and map pamphlets.