Describing Archives: A Content Standard

wasmhi2006_10.xml Guide to the Charles Herring Collection of News Broadcast Films and Other Material 1947-1994 Herring (Charles) Collection of News Broadcast Films and Other Material Finding aid prepared by Jody Hendrickson Museum of History & Industry © 2008

5933 6th Avenue South Seattle, WA 98108 Phone: 206-324-1126 URL: http://www.mohai.org

Finding aid encoded by Jody Hendrickson 2008 Finding aid written in English. Finding aid based on DACS ( Describing Archives: A Content Standard). Museum of History & Industry, Sophie Frye Bass Library

5933 6th Avenue South Seattle, WA 98108 Phone: 206-324-1126 URL: http://www.mohai.org

2006.10 Herring, Charles H., 1922-2006 Charles Herring collection of news broadcast films and other material 1947-1994 77 film reels, 3 video recordings and 16 sound recordings 8 boxes, 6 cubic feet Films, videos and sound recordings of news broadcasts by former KING-TV anchor Charles Herring. 3a.3.5 3a.3.7-10 5a.4.5 (radio transcription discs) Collection materials are in English.

Due to the lack of viewing equipment at the repository, access to films limited to items for which a viewing copy on VHS exists. Duplication from film to VHS on demand is also possible.

Biographical Note

Charles Herring was born on August 18, 1922 and raised on a farm outside of Walla Walla, Washington. Herring attended Washington State University briefly, and graduated from Whitman College in 1941 with a degree in English. While at Whitman, Herring worked for a radio station in Walla Walla, then he served with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific theater during World War II. On his return to Seattle, Herring took a newscasting job at the radio station KJR for two years, before becoming the first news director and anchor at KING-TV Channel 5 in 1951.

With his first newscast on the two-year-old KING-TV, on September 10, 1951, Charles Herring became Seattle’s first live television news broadcaster. Herring worked for KING-TV for 16 years, covering stories in Washington State, Alaska and abroad in Europe and Asia. Herring covered memorable Northwest moments such as the historic test flight of the Boeing 707 prototype in July 1954, the riot at the Walla Walla state penitentiary in 1955, and Burt Thomas’s swim across the Strait of Juan de Fuca in July 1955. Initially, the entire news department consisted of Herring and a cameraman, and the first newsroom was jury-rigged in an old grocery store on Queen Anne Hill. The crew would create, rehearse and edit the show in the newsroom then drive to the South Lake Union studio, sometimes arriving minutes before the airtime of the nightly 15-minute newscasts.

Herring’s broadcasts also marked technological milestones in the fledgling television industry. His Washington, D.C. coverage of the McClellan Committee hearing into the affairs of controversial teamster's president Dave Beck marked the first time Seattleites saw news televised live cross country; TV signals were sent live across the Atlantic for the first time with the coverage of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, beamed to Europe aboard the satellite Telstar.

Herring left KING-TV in 1967, and with his wife, Mary Bemus, purchased KAPY-AM in Port Angeles; the couple ran the radio station until 1978. He then worked for Boeing as a video producer until retiring in 1987.

Charles Herring died in Seattle on January 23, 2006.

The collection consists of 16 mm films, videotapes, audiotapes, and radio transcription discs from the news broadcasting career of Charles Herring, 1951-1967, primarily for Channel 5 KING-TV in Seattle.

The first series consists of a compilation of the highlights of Charles Herring's career from 1951 through 1967, featuring nine segments. Two series include films related to the Overseas Report and Washington Reporter broadcasts, with footage from various Washington State locations as well as locations in Europe. These include coverage of the 1965 Seattle earthquake and reports from various Washington cities such as Forks, Lynden, Richland and Quincy. Other films include footage of an interview with teamster's president Dave Beck, commercials for Alka-Seltzer voiced by Herring, and films from Alaska.

Sound recordings including audiotapes of some of Herring's television broadcasts as well as recordings of other events, such as National Public Broadcasting roasts and the farewell speech of Washington Secretary of State Victor Meyers. Three radio transcription discs provide samples of Herring's work at radio station KJR in Seattle, prior to his becoming a television broadcaster.

The films were arranged into series based on inscriptions on film cans and reels; possibly some of the miscellaneous films belong within named series, but were not labeled as such.

Arranged in 7 series:

"Herring Highlights" The Overseas Report The Washington State Reporter King-TV News Miscellaneous films Sound recordings Other material

The collection is open to the public by appointment.

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.

Charles Herring Collection of News Broadcast Films and Other Material, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle

Gift of Charlie Herring, Charles Herring's son, April 13, 2006

Processed by Melinda Snarr, 2006

Preservation work was performed on ten of the 16 mm films as part of the Washington Film Preservation Project at the University of Washington between 2006 and 2008. Specific films on which preservation was performed are noted in the inventory.

As part of the preservation work, each film was inspected, cleaned, cored and canned. The original information was recorded from the reel/can and leader and the original leader was replaced.

The Seattle Public Library Moving Image Collection at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library includes 16mm films of Herring broadcasts of The Washington State Reporter.

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Beck, Dave, 1894-1993 KING-TV (Television station : Seattle, Wash.) KJR (Radio station : Seattle, Wash.) Television news anchors--Washington (State)--Seattle Broadcast journalism--Washington (State)--Seattle Journalism Seattle Moving Images Sound Recordings Motion pictures Video recording Sound recording

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

"Herring Highlights" 1951-1967

Compilation of highlights of Charles Herring's news broadcasting career, featuring 9 segments:

Overseas Report, 1951 Washington State Reporter, 1952 "Fairbanks Gold Mining," 1953 "Alka-Seltzer News," 1957 "Beck Award Presentation," 1957 "Jenny's Birth," 1960 "CHH 39th Birthday," 1961 "Seattle Earthquake," 1965 "CHH Swan Song," 1967

2006.10.6a 1 Viewing copy 1951-1967 1 videocassette (VHS) 1 hour 50 minutes sound, black and white 2006.10.5-.6 1 Videotape 1951-1967 2 videotape reels 1 hour 50 minutes sound, black and white 1 inch

Videotape made from 16 mm film reels on August 1988. Videotape reel 1 contains film reels 1 and 2; videotape reel 2 contains film reels 3 and 4.

2006.10.1-.4 1 Film 1951-1967 4 reels 3926 feet sound, black and white 16 mm

Preservation work performed on reels 1 and 4 in 2006.

1/1 Overseas Report 1951 1302 feet

Broken

1/2 Washington State Reporter 1952 470 feet 1/2 "Fairbanks Gold Mining" 1953 440 feet 1/3 "Alka-Seltzer News" 1957 415 feet 1/3 "Beck Award Presentation" 1957 433 feet 1/3 "Jenny's Birth" 1960 75 feet 1/3 "CHH 39th Birthday" 1961 60 feet 1/4 "Seattle Earthquake" 1965 415 feet 1/4 "CHH Swan Song" 1967 415 feet The Overseas Report early 1950s 16 reels sound, black and white 16 mm

The Overseas Report seems to have been a series filmed in Europe in the early 1950s, and was possibly a predecessor series to The Washington Reporter.

Titles were taken from inscriptions on film cans and reels. Titles which seem to be show titles or which are unclear are given between quotation marks.

2006.10.28 3 Athens circa 1953 1 reel 15 minutes 5 seconds 2006.10.29 3 Berlin circa 1953 1 reel 580 feet negative 2006.10.30 3 "F. Patterson shots" early 1950s 1 reel

Possibly Fred Patterson of the National Bank of Commerce

2006.10.31 3 Frankfurt early 1950s 1 reel 15 minutes 15 seconds negative 2006.10.32 3 Frankfurt early 1950s 1 reel 15 minutes 2006.10.33 3 London early 1950s 1 reel 2006.10.34 3 National Bank of Commerce Europe report 1951 November 27 1 reel negative 2006.10.35 3 Newsroom shots, intros, Overseas Report composites early 1950s 1 reel 2006.10.36 3 "Kintile" early 1950s 1 reel negative 2006.10.37a 5 Paris early 1950s 1 reel 2006.10.37b 5 Berlin early 1950s 1 reel 2006.10.38 3 Paris early 1950s 1 reel 2006.10.39 3 Prestwick undated 1 reel negative 2006.10.40a 5 Prestwick early 1950s 1 reel 17 minutes 36 seconds 2006.10.40b 5 London early 1950s 1 reel 15 minutes 26 seconds 2006.10.41 3 Rome early 1950s 1 reel 2006.10.42 5 Tripoli (air print) circa 1951 1 reel 2006.10.43 3 Tripoli circa 1951 1 reel Washington State Reporter circa 1951-1956 22 reels sound, black and white 16 mm

The Washington State Reporter news program on KING-TV was produced locally by the National Bank of Commerce (NB of C) from 1951 to circa 1956. The program featured a reporter on location throughout Washington state interviewing local business people, leaders, and citizens about industries, economic growth, and other issues. The series also covered Alaska and the Pacific Rim countries.

Titles were taken from inscriptions on film cans and reels. Titles which seem to be show titles or which are unclear are given between quotation marks.

2006.10.7 2 Aberdeen, Washington 1954 1 reel 10 minutes 37 seconds 2006.10.8 2 "D.P. Show" 1952 February 19 1 reel 11 minutes 50 seconds

This is possibly the show on displaced persons arriving to the United States from Eastern Europe after WWII (circa 1952)

2006.10.9 2 "Fairchild ?" undated 1 reel 2006.10.10 2 Fairchild Air Force Base 1952 June 1 reel 10 minutes 38 seconds 2006.10.11 2 "Farm in a Day" 1952 June 1 reel 10 minutes 55 seconds 2006.10.12 2 Forks, Washington circa 1952 1 reel 10 minutes 48 seconds 2006.10.13a 2 Grand Coulee Dam circa 1953 1 reel 2006.10.13b 2 Quincy, Washington circa 1953 1 reel 2006.10.14 2 Longview, Washington 1953 1 reel 2006.10.15 2 Lynden, Washington--release print circa 1953 2006.10.16-17 2 University of Washington medical school circa 1953 2006.10.18 3 Port of Seattle circa 1954 1 reel 186 feet