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Lee Richardson Papers, 1903-1989

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Richardson, Lee
Title
Lee Richardson Papers
Dates
1903-1989 (inclusive)
Quantity
34 containers., (34 linear feet of shelf space.)
Collection Number
Cage 663
Summary
Manuscripts, correspondence, films, photographs, slides, and outdoor recreation and travel literature chiefly concerning hunting and fishing.
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 for research use.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

Leslie Lee Richardson was born in the small mining town of Wardner, Idaho, on April 3, 1898, the oldest son of Charles Richardson and the former Maude Cole. Charles Richardson did an adventurous turn on a whaler in the South Atlantic and Indian oceans before settling in the Pacific Northwest, first in Portland and then on a farm in Astoria, Oregon, where he commanded the U.S. Lighthouse Tender Columbine, providing navigational aids from Cape Blanco to Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

Lee Richardson and his brother Bill grew up "outdoors". As a young man Lee was exposed to the rituals and practices of hunting and fishing by his family, and particularly by grandfather Cole, who taught the brothers how to fly fish. Richardson developed an appreciative, if elegiac, eye for the landscape and fauna of the Western United States. This was the scene of both his earliest and many of his later hunting and fishing excursions.

Richardson attended Astoria (Oregon) High School in 1912; in 1914, he attended Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon. His first job was as a twenty-five cents an hour "fish-slimer" at the Schmidt Cold Storage plant in Astoria. In 1918 he was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, where he remained until 1921. At Annapolis he was a member of the gold-medal winning 1920 U.S. Summer Olympic team in the 8-oar event. Richardson began his business career in San Franscico with the predecessor company of Owens-Illinois, eventually becoming Branch Manager of the Pacific Coast Division of the Owens-Illinois Glass Company in Seattle, Washington. In January 1925 he married Catherine Hagenbarth in Salt Lake City. They had daughters Caylee and Marilyn before Catherine died in 1942. Richardson never remarried.

Lee Richardson's outdoor writings originated in his early life on the land in the Pacific Northwest, but later pursuits would take him to hunting and fishing spots around the globe. His leisure time was devoted to rusticity and travel. Richardson viewed himself as a skilled, if refined, practitioner of the sporting life, a man who enjoyed the camaraderie of like-minded men, whether in elegant hotels or in the woods, lakes, streams, and rivers that provided the backdrop for their hunting and fishing excursions. His published and unpublished writing attempts convey his experiences as a traveler-outdoorsman, his early life, and his regional interest in the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest, much of it told with wry humor. He documents life at "K-Bar-L" and "G.I. Ranch," favorite Western getaways for many years. His writing centers on the niceties and rigors of travel. He also stresses the anecdotal and naturalistic aspects of his hunting and fishing expeditions. Equally significant, Richardson affectionately documents the time he spent among the tight-knit group of wealthy men who shared his life-long passion for hunting, fishing, and travel.

Lee Richardson continued his life as an outdoorsman after his retirement to Lake Washington, Seattle, in 1962. While alive, he published two limited-edition volumes on fly-fishing: You Should Have Been Here Yesterday (Touchstone, 1974); and, Lee Richardson's British Columbia: Tales of Fishing in British Columbia (Champoeg, 1978). Another volume, Those Were the Days: Bird Hunting Memoirs (Caxton, 1985) was published posthumously. He was an honorary life member of the Fly Fishers Club of Oregon and a member of the Washington Fly Fishers Club of Seattle. Leslie Lee Richardson died in Seattle, Washington, on August 24, 1984.

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Content Description

The Lee Richardson Papers chiefly document his life-long avocation as a hunter and fisherman. His expeditions (and his visual and written accounts of them) included the Western United States (pre- and post-statehood Alaska), British Columbia, Central and South America, Europe, and Africa, dating from the late teens through the early 1980s. Other geographical locations represent pleasure travels undertaken by Richardson, notably in the South Seas, Mexico, Belize and the Bahamas. The collection also includes contextual material relating to Richardson's expeditions, such as brochures, maps, clippings, material on sports lodges (Mira Monte and Norlakes, among others), memorabilia, and additional miscellaneous documentation of his life and outdoor activities.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

[Item Description]. Cage 663, Lee Richardson Papers. Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The Lee Richardson Papers are divided into six series, chiefly arranged alphabetically by geographical location, titles, subject, and/or name entries. Where indicated, items are arranged chronologically. Items with multiple subjects and/or titles have been supplemented with brief content notes. The descriptive titles (including contemporaneous country names) and dates used in the inventory are mostly based on the information provided by Lee Richardson. This is especially true for the visual material in the collection. Organization of the collection closely follows Richardson's arrangement.

Series 1: Visual Media, consists of subseries 1.1: Films, subseries 1.2: Photograph Albums and Miscellaneous Photographs, and subseries 1.3: Slides. This material is chiefly on hunting and fishing, but includes some travel documentation.

Series 2: Notebooks, Outdoor Logs, and Diaries, consists of subseries 2.1: Notebooks, subseries 2.2: Outdoor Logs, and subseries 2.3: Diaries. The notebooks include Richardson's manuscript notations of his hunting and fishing expeditions, with some later revisions; some notes are on loose sheets The outdoor logs include statistics and weather observations. The diaries, largely blank, include printed information, and were mostly used to record jokes.

Series 3: Manuscripts and Correspondence, includes longer manuscript and typescript variants of published and unpublished writing on hunting and fishing. Some of these texts include photographs, which were left in place. The series also contains related correspondence. The "publishing and book files" were left intact.

Series 4: Personal and Family Documents, consists of deeds, passports, immunization records, hunting and fishing licenses and permits, military records, a manuscript will and biographical documents, a contract and affidavit, insurance and retirement records, and property inventories.

Series 5: Memorabilia, includes address books, a childhood drawing book, and miscellaneous keepsakes.

Series 6: Travel and Outdoor Recreation Literature, includes travel and hospitality industry material (maps, flyers, passenger lists, brochures and booklets, visitors guides, clippings, mass transit timetables, menus, itineraries, and prospectuses). Series 6 also includes miscellaneous nature guides, copies of hunting and fishing regulations, club and lodge membership lists, special-event programs, government reports, hunting and fishing bulletins, and miscellaneous graphic and printed items related to hunting, fishing, and travel.

Acquisition Information

Lee Richardson's collection of material on hunting and fishing consists of manuscript accessions 86-27, 87-20, 96-31, and 97-09. With the exception of MS 97-09, Caylee Richardson donated all of Lee Richardson's archive to Washington State University Libraries.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

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

Finding aid prepared by Robert N. Matuozzi
2012

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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