XOE_CPNWS0157gp Guide to the Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division records 1892-2001; 1926-2000 Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division records Rozlind Koester Western Washington University, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies © 2009
Goltz-Murray Building 808 25th St Bellingham, WA 98225-9123 Phone: 360 650 7534 Email: cpnws@wwu.edu
Rozlind Koester 2009 Finding aid written in English. Finding aid based on DACS ( Describing Archives: A Content Standard). Center for Pacific Northwest Studies
Goltz-Murray Building 808 25th St Bellingham, WA 98225-9123 Phone: 360 650 7534 Email: cpnws@wwu.edu
XOE_CPNWS0157gp Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division records 1892-2001 1926-2000 21 linear ft. The Georgia-Pacific Corporation (GP), Bellingham Division records date from 1892 to 2001, and consist of administrative records, publications, photographic materials, audio-visual recordings, charts and maps. The Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific Corporation (GP) acquired a mill site on Bellingham's waterfront in 1963. Operations included pulping and tissue-making, a chemical plant, and a research lab. The mill was a major employer in Bellingham, and produced hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue during its peak years. Collection materials are in English.

In 1925, Washington state businessman Ossian Anderson purchased a mill site on Bellingham's downtown waterfront, which operated as the Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Co. for the next four decades. In 1963, the Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific Corporation (GP) acquired the site and, in addition to continuing pulping and tissue-making operations, expanded to include a chemical plant and research lab. A great deal of research and innovation took place at the Bellingham mill throughout the twentieth century. For example, the Bellingham Barker was developed, allowing logs to be stripped of their bark through a hydraulic process as opposed to by hand. Furthermore, a number waste by-products created during the pulping process were found useful in other industries like agriculture, mining, and road building. The mill was a major employer in Bellingham, and produced hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue during its peak years.¹

During the 1970s and 1980s, the mill faced significant local pressure to upgrade its environmental safety standards and shut down environmentally harmful operations. In 1999, an explosion at the steam plant raised new concerns about the safety of employees at the mill as well as the surrounding community. Facing increasing pressures regarding environmental and industrial safety, and impacted by the energy crisis of 2000-2001, GP decided to terminate its Bellingham pulp mill operations in March 2001. The closure was accompanied by the loss of approximately 420 jobs.²

In 2005, GP reached agreement with the Port of Bellingham to transfer its waterfront properties to the Port in exchange for the cost and responsibility of site clean-up. In December 2007, GP (by then under the ownership of Koch Industries) terminated its remaining tissue plant operations on Bellingham's waterfront.

Sources: ¹ “Smells Like Money: The Story of Bellingham’s Georgia Pacific Plant,” documentary by David Albright in conjunction with Western Washington University and the Northwest Film School; ² G-P Press Release No. C-1665 (March 30, 2001).

The Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division records date from 1892 to 2001, and consist of administrative records, publications, photographic materials, audio-visual recordings, charts and maps. The collection includes some records from the Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Co., which preceded Georgia-Pacific in ownership of the Bellingham mill site.

Administrative records date from around 1917 to 2000, and include a small assortment of financial records, older equipment and machinery records, and documents relating to the mill’s history. There are also a few budget manuals, annual reports, and accounting records from the Ketchikan Pulp Company, the Fidalgo Manufacturing Company, the Mitchell Bay Lime Company, and the Puget Sound & Cascade Railway Company.

Publications span the dates 1926-2001, and include the official reports from the Bellingham mill, as well as employee newsletters and promotional items. The collection includes a nearly complete set of Puget Parade issues, which was the Bellingham Division's official publication. There are also a number of public relations materials, including commemorative and educational books, flyers, and posters. Other publications come from a variety of companies and organizations primarily associated with the timber, pulping, and tissue industries.

Photographs, negatives, and slides date from around 1892 to 2000. The collection includes both color and black & white photographs documenting plant employees, machinery, and activities. There are also a few oversized photographs depicting aerial images of the Bellingham mill site and logging operations in the Pacific Northwest. Negatives are generally labeled, and oftentimes correspond with the photographic prints. Slides are also mostly labeled, and document primarily plant machinery and equipment.

Audio-visual materials are comprised of audio cassettes, VHS and non-VHS video tapes, and 16mm film reels dating between 1960 and 1990. Most of these materials relate to pulp and paper-making processes, and logging, forestry, and conservation issues. The collection contains videos that focus on human resource enhancement and training, as well as some advertisements and news clips promoting Georgia-Pacific products and operations.

Charts and maps dated 1938-1952 document Puget Sound waterways including the Swinomish Slough, Guemes Channel, Padilla Bay, and Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division records are organized according to the following series arrangement:

Series I. Administrative records, circa 1917-2000 Series II. Publications, 1926-2001 Series III. Photographs, negatives, and slides, circa 1892-2000 Series IV. Audio-visual materials, circa 1960-1990 Series V. Charts and maps, 1938-1952

The collection is open to the public.

The collection is open to the public. Certain audio-visual materials require special equipment, and arrangements to use these items should be made in advance. Contact repository for details.

Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division records, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Western Libraries Archives & Special Collections, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA 98225-9123.

The records were donated by the Georgia-Pacific Corporation in 2006.

Four nitrate film reels were removed from the collection and are awaiting transfer to a more stable format.

About Harmful Language and Content

To learn more about problematic content in our collections, collection description and teaching tools (including how to provide feedback or request dialogue on this topic), see the following Statement About Potentially Harmful Language and Content

Albright, David Michio <emph render="underline">Smells Like Money: The Story of Bellingham's Georgia-Pacific Plant.</emph> Bellingham, Wash. Northwest Film School 2006

The Waterfront Oral History Project records and the Pulp Friction interviews contain related archival material and are also available at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies.

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.

Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division--Archives Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Co. Paper industry--Washington (State)--Bellingham--History--Sources Paper industry workers--Washington (State)--Bellingham--History--Sources Paper mills--Washington (State)--Bellingham--History--Sources--Photographs Pulp mills--Washington (State)--Bellingham--History--Sources--Photographs Waterfronts--Washington (State)--Bellingham Bay Region--History--Sources--Photographs Wood-pulp industry--Washington (State)--Bellingham--History--Sources Bellingham (Wash.)--Economic conditions--History--Sources Records (Documents) Forestry and Forestry Products.

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

Series I Administrative records circa 1917-2000 Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division and Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Co. 1931-2000 Equipment and machinery records 1/1 Alcohol Plant 1944 1/2 Alcohol Plant 1945 February 22 - 1945 October 17 1/3 Bleach Plant 1950 2/1 Office Equipment 1950-1953 2/2 Screen Room and Steam Plant 1949 3/1 History of Puget Sound Pulp & Timber Co. 1931 March 1 3/2 Income summaries 1936-1963 3/3 Registry of Stills (Form 26, Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service, Alcohol Tax Unit, Bureau of internal Revenue 1942 March 25 3/4 Supplement to amended application for loan from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and Public Works Administration, Washington, D.C. 1933 Arpil 13 3/5 Visitors' registers circa 1990s-2000 3/6-3/7 Waterway remediation materials circa 1990-1995 Ketchikan Pulp Company 1968-1969 3/8 Budget manuals 1968-1969 Other companies 1917-1929 3/9 Fidalgo Pulp Manufacturing Company report and accounts 1928 December 31 - 1929 March 31 3/10 Mitchell Bay Lime Company report 1929 August 31 3/11 Puget Sound & Cascade Railway accounting report 1917 June 30 - 1927 December 31 Series II Publications 1926-2001 Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division and Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Co. official publications 1939-2000 4/1-4/6 Annual reports and reviews 1939-1962 1976-1997 5/1-5/2 Annual reports and reviews 1998-2000 5/3-5/4 Bellingham Week: Crews, News, and Views 1991-1997 5/5 Correspondence and other materials related to Georgia-Pacific official publications circa 1970s 6/1 Correspondence and other materials related to Georgia-Pacific official publications circa 1970s 6/2-6/5 Growth 1966-1998 (not inclusive) 6/6 Growth Rings 1974 May and November 7/1-7/2 Labor Pains 1978 July - 1979 February 7/3 Newsletter 1966 December - 1967 January 7/4-7/10 Puget Parade 1957 March - 1990 October (not inclusive) 8/1-8/4 Puget Parade 1991 Fall - 1996 Fall/Winter (not inclusive) Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division special publications circa 1980-2000 Folder 1 "71 Years in Whatcom County" 1996 Feburary 25 Folder 1 "Memories of 65 Years - Celbrating 65 Years of Pulp & Paper in Bellingham" 1991 September 25 Folder 1 Miscellaneous advertisements, education, and promotional materials circa 1980-2000 8/5-8/8 Miscellaneous advertisements, education, and promotional materials circa 1980-2000 Ketchikan Pulp Company publications circa 1950-1958 8/9 Annual reports 1955-1958 8/10 Miscellaneous informational publications circa 1950s Other publications 1926-2000 9/1 American Forest Association - Green America 1985 9/2 Evergreen Foundation - Evergreen 1994 9/3 Fairhaven Gazette 1992 Spring 9/4 Lynden Tribune - "Farm Review" 1979 January 17 9/5 NC Machinery Co. - Action 1972 Summer - 1980 Spring 9/6 Whatcom County Business Pulse 2000 April 9/7 Miscellaneous publications circa 1926-1999 10/1 Miscellaneous publications circa 1989-1999 10/2 Newspaper clippings circa 1978-1983 Folder 1 Newspaper clippings (enlarged) 1950 October 4 1961 April 30 1990 July 3 Folder 1 Newspapers special editions 1950 October 4 1953 April 26 1965 March 26 1974 March 3 1978 October 27 1978 December 31 1979 January 17 Books 1952-2001 Oversize Box 1 Associated Sand & Gravel Co., Everett, WA - Bison Information Book, Vol. II (describing a new type of floor and roof "slab" construction 1952 Oversize Box 1 Bellingham Cold Storage - BCS: 50 Years, 1946-1996 1996 Oversize Box 1 Monroe, Doug - The Maverick Spirit: Georgia-Pacific at 75 2001 Oversize Box 1 Sudia-Skehan, Shawn - Tappi's First 75 Years: From Distinguished Past to Dynamic Future, 1915-1990 1990 Oversize Box 1 Trillium Corporation - Portraits of Leadership 1999 Oversize Box 1 United States Pulp Producers Association, Inc. - Wood Pulp, A Basic Fiber: The Story of the Origin, Development and Economic Status of a Great American Industry 1955 Series III Photographs, negatives, and slides circa 1892-2000 Photographs 1892-2000 Box 11 Employee portraits (A-H) 1990s Box 12 Employee portraits (J-W) 1990s Box 13 Color photographs circa 1940s-2000s Box 14 Color photographs circa 1980s-1990s 15/1-15/2 Color and black & white photographs circa 1970s-1980s 15/3 Black & white aerial photographs 1969 1975 15/4 Black & white photographs circa 1960s 15/5-15/6 Black & white photographs labeled "construction pics" 1972 15/7 Black & white photographs labeled "pics for museum" circa 1940s-1990s 15/8 Black & white photographs labeled "WWU $" circa 1990s Black & white photographs labeled "Old Logging Pics" circa 1892-1924 Folder 2 Seattle 1892 Folder 2 Band Saw, union Lumber Company's Mill, Fort Bragg, CA circa 1900 Folder 2 Leaving Logging Camp in Model T Ford, Pacific Spruce Corporation, Toledo, OR circa 1924 Folder 2 Donkey Engine & Crew, Silverton, OR; Pond Monkey - posing with Pike Poles, Silver Falls Timber Co., Silverton, OR undated circa 1915 Folder 2 3 unidentified photographs undated Box 16 Black & white photographs in labeled envelopes 1970s-1980s Box 17 Black & white photographs in labeled envelopes 1970s-1980s Box 18 Black & white photographs circa 1940s-1990s Box 19 Black & white photographs circa 1940s-1990s Box 20 Black & white photographs circa 1940s-1990s 20/7 Boiler House photographs (and Historic Building Survey) circa 1930s, 2008 Folder 2 Oversize photographs circa 1970s-1980s Photograph albums 1944-1970s 21/1 Alcohol Plant 1944-1945 21/2 Logging pictures circa 1960s 21/3 Puget Sound Pulp & Timber mill marquee showing "Days without a Time Loss Injury;" and other plant activities circa 1970s Slides 1970s-1990s 22/1 Aerial shots of the mill; Bellingham; Rail and tank car safety training 1960s 1996 December 1970s 22/2 Roll pulp tissue; Timber; Visit to G-P Bellingham by CEO Pete Correll undated 1970s-1980s 1998 Box 23 Unlabeled slides circa 1960s-1990s Slide Albums circa 1950s-1990s 24/1 Alcohol-lignin circa 1970s 24/2 Chlorine Plant circa 1970s 24/3 Lagoon circa 1970s-1980s 24/4 Nursery & Seed Cone Orchard circa 1980s 24/5-24/6 Pulp mill, etc. circa 1980s 25/1-25/2 Pulp mill, etc. circa 1980s 25/3 Timber circa 1950s circa 1980s 25/4 Tissue circa 1990s 25/5 Unlabeled slides circa 1980s Negatives circa 1940s-1990s 26/1 Acid plant 26/2 Aerial views 26/3 Alcohol Plant 26/4 Bleach plant 26/5 Blow pits 26/6 Board mill 26/7 Boiler house 26/8 Damage & claims 26/9 General mill pics 26/10 Digesters 26/11 Digester heaters 26/12 Displays 26/13 Dredging 26/14 Inter-tidal negatives 26/15 Laboratory & pilot plant 26/16 Machine room 26/17 Mill "A" 26/18 Office 26/19 Oysters 26/20 Personnel 26/21 PGN 26/22 Polio shots 26/23 Reports & talks 26/24 Safety 26/25 Screen Room 26/26 Sewers 26/27 Special equipment 26/28 Squalicum Creek (salmon) 26/29 Utilities 26/30 Wood room & chip screens 26/31 Miscellaneous 27/1 Alcohol plant 27/2 Board mill 27/3 Colby crane 27/4 Hydraulic barking 27/5 Machine room 27/6 Pressure still collapse 27/7 Saw mill 27/8 Mill "A" dismantling 27/9 Miscellaneous 28/1 Aerial photos 28/2 NSCM Project 28/3 Timber ops 28/4-28/8 Unlabeled negatives 29/1 Unlabeled negatives circa 1960s-1970s 29/2 Glass plate negatives undated 29/3 Yeast Literature - reference guide of chemical periodicals circa 1940s Series IV Audio-visual material circa 1960-1990 Audio-cassette tapes undated 30/1 Edge Learning Institute - "Increasing Human Effectiveness: Managing the Rapids of Change" undated VHS tapes circa 1980s-1990s 30/2 Allied Film & video - "Kaw Valley Paper" undated 30/3 Anatone July 13, Pullman May 24 & July 12 undated 30/4 Arbeit Communications Inc. - "Demo Video" undated 30/5 Bird Treament & Learning Center - "Understanding the Need" undated 30/6 "Building a Better Community: With the Right Chemistry Anything is Possible" undated 30/7 DWJ Television undated 30/8-30/9 Direct Service Industries - "Touching Northwest Lives" undated 30/10 Forest Health and Fire Danger in Western Forests conference - "Highlights" circa 1995 30/11 Georgia-Pacific - "Air and Water Quality Resources" undated 30/12 Georgia-Pacific - "Forests for the Future: Georgia-Pacific's Commitment to Sustainable Forestry" undated 30/13 Georgia-Pacific - "Step into the World of Papermaking" undated 31/1 Georgia-Pacific - "Step into the World of Papermaking" undated 31/2 Georgia-Pacific - "Tree Wishes" undated 31/3 Giving Tree, The - Non-Profit Program Benefiting Homeless Persons undated 31/4 Governor Locke/Landfill/G-P 1997 Summer 31/5 Howard Petrella, Black Diamond Video Productions - "Demo Reel" undated 31/6 Howard Petrella, Black Diamond Video Productions - "Georgia-Pacific Spot #1" 1999 March 31/7 Howard Petrella, Black Diamond Video Productions - "Georgia-Pacific Spot #2" 1999 April 31/8 HRIT - "Update" 1997 September 31/9 Impact Video Productions undated 31/10 Kositsky, Aaron, Matt Loveday, and Cori Alcorn - "Timber Dreams: The Tar-Heel Migration to the Pacific Northwest" undated 31/11 KVOS Television - "HG" 1997 31/12 KVOS Television - "Intalco" undated 31/13-31/14 KVOS Television - "Kaleidoscope Video News Magazine: G-P" 1987 32/1 KVOS Television - "Kaleidoscope III: Bellingham Division" undated 32/2 KVOS Television Subsidiary undated 32/3 KVOS Television - "Waterway Story" 1995 Fall 32/4 Message Delivery Workshop - "Chlorine Chemistry Champions" undated 32/5 Rogers State College/The Electronic University Network undated 32/6-32/7 "Sharing the Forest" undated 32/8 "Stream Enhancement" undated 32/9 Tappi - "Paper: The Video" undated 32/10 Target Vision - "Multimedia Networks for Employee Communications" undated 32/11 "Traditional Chinese Hand Papermaking Today" undated 32/12 Washington Forest Protection Association undated 32/13 Washington Forest Protection Association - "A Look at Private Forest Management in Washington State Today" undated 32/14 "Wood" 1986 March Non-VHS tapes undated 33/1 "Old Time Logging" undated 33/2 "Paper Making Work Film" undated 16mm film reels circa 1960s 33/3 "Boxer Machine: Facial-Tissue-Conv. Drop" circa 1960s 33/4 "Slitter Adjusting & Rethreading Process: Paperboard Mach." 1966 October 21 33/5 "L.T. Operation: Tissue Mill" circa 1960s 33/6 "Work Space Layout - Ann Shore of Secretaries Desk" 1963 November 33/7 Unidentified circa 1960s Series V Charts and maps 1938-1952 Rolled documents 1938-1952 Rolled Document 1 Swinomish Slough and Vicinity - showing the barrier dike as completed by U.S. Engineer Department about Dec., 1938. U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and the U.S. Engineer Department 1938 December Rolled Document 2 Swinomish Slough and Vicinity - taken from government charts made before 1938 undated Rolled Document 3-4 Guemes Channel flood currents from Anacortes Pulp Mill - general scheme 1941 July Rolled Document 5 Range 5.5 chart (showing Guemes Channel flood currents) 1940 February 17-18 Rolled Document 6 Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Co. - General Flow Diagram 1952 Rolled Document 7 Strait of Juan de Fuca (eastern part) - chart by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey 1947 Rolled Document 8 Chart showing the distribution of waste liquor from Anacortes Pulp Mill into Guemes Channel, Fidalgo Bay, and Padilla Bay (at an average of 5/10 completion of ebb tide and an average of 2 hours, 44 minutes after digester is blown 1941 Rolled Document 9 Chart showing the distribution of waste liquor from Anacortes Pulp Mill into Guemes Channel, Fidalgo Bay, and Padilla Bay (at an average of 6/10 completion of flood tide and an average of 2 hours, 8 minutes after digester is blown 1941 Rolled Document 10 Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Co. - map showing right of way locations of the proposed logging road from the Hartford Eastern Railway to Ebey Slough undated