View XML QR Code

Douglass Welch papers, 1927-1976

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Welch, Douglass
Title
Douglass Welch papers
Dates
1927-1976 (inclusive)
Quantity
4.78 (6 boxes and one oversize vertical file)
Collection Number
0779 (Accession No. 0779-004)
Summary
Papers of a Seattle, Washington journalist and humorist
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Open to all users.

Material stored offsite; advance notice required for use.

Request at UW

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was partially provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Return to Top

Biographical Note

Journalist and humorist C. Douglass Welch was born in Boston in 1906 and grew up in Tacoma, Washington, where his father was managing editor of the Tacoma News-Tribune. Welch's first job in journalism was as a cub reporter for the News-Tribune in the summers while he was in high school. He attended the University of Washington and briefly worked for the Cleveland Plain Dealer upon graduating in 1928, but soon returned to Seattle where he worked as a reporter and feature writer first for the Seattle Times and later for the Post-Intelligencer. His column The Squirrel Cage, syndicated by King Features, ran in the Post-Intelligencer and many other newspapers from 1958 until his death in 1968. Two collections of these columns, The Squirrel Cage and Neighbors and Other People, edited by his wife, Ruth Hecht Welch, were published in the 1970s. Welch was twice the recipient of the Hearst Newspapers Award for humorous news reporting.

In addition to his newspaper journalism, Welch wrote a large number of comic stories and pieces which were published in The Saturday Evening Post, Equire and other magazines. Stories featuring the character of newspaper photographer "Happy" Digby were subsequently collected in a book, Mr. Digby Stories, and many of Welch's short pieces were adapted for radio and television. One of Welch's short plays, Let's Move the Furniture, was published in an acting edition in 1928. From 1955-1957, Welch worked with the writer Nard Jones on a biography of Teamsters leader Dave Beck; in 1957 Welch was questioned about the book by Robert Kennedy in connection with a senate committee investigating racketeering. Douglas Welch died in 1968.

Return to Top

Content Description

The Douglass Welch papers consist primarily of correspondence and of typescripts and carbon copies of his " Squirrel Cage" columns and his other journalistic pieces and short stories. There are also materials relating to a never-published biography of Teamsters leader Dave Beck which was co-written by Douglass Welch and Nard Jones. Some scrapbooks, notes, ephemera, clippings, and publications containing Welch's pieces are also present, as well as a small series containing papers of Welch's mother, Marie Douglass Welch.

Return to Top

Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Literary rights for business letters of Douglass Welch transferred to the University of Washington Libraries. Literary rights in other published and unpublished writings including personal letters from Douglass Welch to Ruth Welch (then Ruth Hecht) retained by Ruth Welch or her heirs.

Preferred Citation

Douglass Welch papers, Special Collections Divison, University of Washington Libraries.

Return to Top

Administrative Information

Arrangement

The papers are arranged into two series:

  • Personal papers, 1927-1976
  • Marie Douglass Welch papers, 1936, 1964-1966

Acquisition Information

The Welch papers were donated by C. Douglass Welch in 1967 and Ruth Welch in 1981 and 1982.

Processing Note

Accession numbers 0779, 0779-2 and 0779-3 were merged and processed by Janet Polata; processing was completed in 2007.

Separated Materials

Several publications were relocated to the Pacific Northwest Collections in Special Collections Division in 2007.

About twenty-five genealogical publications (books and periodicals) originally belonging to Welch's mother were removed from the accession and donated to the Seattle Genealogical Society and the History, Travel and Maps Department of the Seattle Public Library's Central Library; two were sent to the University of Washington Libraries' Gifts Program.

Return to Top

Detailed Description of the Collection

 

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Authors and publishers--United States--20th century
  • Humorists, American--20th century--Archives
  • Journalism--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Journalists--Washington (State)--Seattle--Archives

Personal Names

  • Brandt, Carl (Carl D.)--Correspondence
  • Brandt, Carol, 1904-1984--Correspondence
  • Pritchard, Alma Levin--Correspondence
  • Welch, Douglass--Archives

Corporate Names

  • Brandt & Brandt--Correspondence

Form or Genre Terms

  • Carbon copies
  • Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.)
  • Correspondence
  • Ephemera
  • Notes
  • Publications
  • Scrapbooks
  • Typescripts

Occupations

  • Journalists

Titles within the Collection

  • Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington)


2008 (Last modified: 4/19/2018)

CC0

About Creative Commons Licenses in Archives West

Loading...
Loading...