David Augustus James was born March 9, 1910, in Grand Mound,
Washington. He graduated from the University of Washington in 1932 with a
journalism degree and began his career writing for
Film and audio recordings related to logging, primarily in the Pacific Northwest. Also includes commercial films on various topics, including golf, street magicians of India, archery, roofing, and business management.
The collection has been digitized and digital copies are available for viewing. Please contact Special Collections for access.
Status of creator's copyrights is unknown; restrictions may exist on copying, quotation, or publication. Users are responsible for researching copyright status before use.
Donor: Kristin Fabry, Director, Mason County Historical Society in Shelton, Washington from the estate of Karen James, January 9, 2018.
Processed by Carisa Flournoy, 2018; Bronson Dowd, 2019. Revised by Kate Norgon, 2020.
The Simpson Logging Company was founded in 1890 by Canadian Solomon Grout Simpson (1843-1906) in Mason County, Washington. By the 1950s, the company had mills and operations in Washington State as well as Oregon and California. The company's headquarters were located in Shelton, Washington. In 1956, the company became Simpson Timber Company, and is now a subsidiary to Simpson Investment Company.
Shelton office train trip to Grisdale, Washington in August 1955. Includes a day trip to Grisdale via locomotive train, group tours to a logging site, and a communal meal.
Original ID number: T7
A group of women costumed as train conductors perform, accompanied by accordionist. A series of locomotives with signage from the cities of Shelton, Montesano, Elma, and McCleary passes by. A conductor operates a steam locomotive. Also includes a ceremony with framed photographs presented to attendees. Topping of a spar tree.
Original ID number: T8
Includes logging train, speakers standing in front of a
locomotive addressing a crowd, the "Simpson Express Last Steam Trip" locomotive
decorated with starred bunting, a conductor operating the train and performing
maintenance, a locomotive ride in the snow, a steam shovel in operation, the
dedication of
Original ID number: T21
General management meeting at Alderbrook Inn in Union, Washington. Simpson President Hank Bacon, Chairman Bill Reed, and a representative from the American Management Association address managerial employees.
Original ID number: T22
Operation of a wood veneer mill with close-ups of machinery.
Note on original film can: Confidential. Film to be Used Only by Authority of G.L. Oswald or R.J. Seidl.
Original ID number: T14
Lumber industry trade show from 1960s. Contains various lumber show displays, Simpson Timber Company presentations, and crowd shots.
Original ID number: T34
Views of Schafer State Park in Elma, Washington, as well as logging, trains, lumber mill activity, film storyboards, and scenes with author Stewart Holbrook.
Original ID number: T9a
Scenes include logging, hauling timber, lumber mill activity, City of Shelton, and film storyboards.
Original ID number: T9b
Scenes with author Stewart Holbrook, author of books about the timber industry and railroads, talking about the Schafer Logging Company. Images of the covers of books written by Holbrook. Some scenes with sound and others silent.
Original ID number: T10
Views of mill activity, rigging, logging, a brief interview with Mrs. Schafer of the Schafer Logging Company, film storyboards, hay harvesting and baling, and office scenes. Includes scenes from an unidentified film project.
Original ID number: T11a
Opens with fragment of an unidentified documentary about rail transport. Black and white footage includes helicopter landing and passenger pickup. Scenes from Simpson Research Center presentations and a Simpson Timber Asia Trade Show from the 1960s.
Original ID number: T11b
Black and white footage of Simpson executives and wives at banquet, aerial shots from Simpson plane. Color footage includes scenes with employees from late 1960s or early 1970s.
Original ID number: T12a
The film requires further preservation and has not been viewed.
Original ID number: T12b
Broadcast of the
Excerpts contain footage from interviews with Simpson employees, including public relations director Dave James, as well as managers Bud Pune?, Oscar Levine, and Max Schmidt Jr. Logging demonstrations and interview with forester Hap Johnson. Musical performances by Ken Barry, Jimmy Carroll, and Jan Davis.
Original ID number: T31
Excerpts contain footage of interviews with Simpson employees including manager Max Schmidt Jr., demonstrations of logging practices, musical performances by Billy Strange and Stan Newman, and contemporary advertisements.
Original ID number: T32
Excerpts contain footage of logging demonstrations including a speed climbing contest and log rolling competition. Interview with Simpson manager Oscar Levine about seedlings and forest management. Musical performance by Billy Strange. Contemporary advertisements including Baker's Angel Flake Coconut.
Original ID number: T33
Hap Johnson, world champion tree topper, demonstrates logging
skills by cutting, climbing, and topping spar tree for the television program,
Original ID number: T29
Hap Johnson, world champion tree topper, demonstrates logging
skills for the television program,
Original ID number: T28
Reel 15 (T28) and Reel 31 (T30) are in the same can.
Hap Johnson performs tree climbing demonstration. A group of
men and women exit a building, men operate mill machinery, a man interviews
mill workers. Three men read the book
Original ID number: T5
Simpson Timber Company newsreel filmed by Jim Hartley and David James. The segments "New Log Lifter at Eureka Ply" and "Wrapping Stops Yapping" include scenes of a log lifter and redwood plywood manufacture at the Simpson Plywood Mill in Eureka, California. "Birthday for Annie & Mary" is about a new railroad track opening at Arcata and Mad River in California. "Happy Day at Idanha" shows Harry Spencer working at the Idanha veneer plant in central Oregon. "Simpson at the Dealer Shows" is a color segment about Simpson exhibits at a Dallas lumber dealer convention. This segment includes "Miss Virgin Timber" christening a new 18-foot Simpson Shelton Products Cruiser with Simpson Timber Company employees Orr Shelton and Bill Plunkett. "Birthday for Annie & Mary," "Happy Day at Idanha," and "Simpson at the Dealer Shows" are also on Reel 18 (T25).
Original ID number: T24
Simpson Timber Company newsreel filmed by Jim Hartley and Dave
James. The segment "Disaster at Klamath" reports on a 1,000 year flood on the
Klamath River in California. Shows destructive logjams along the Klamath
including Crescent City harbor, resulting in flooding and the use of
alternative transport of lumber and supplies by air. "Redwood Grove Dedication"
shows American Forestry Association President Edward Stamm speaking at the
Simpson Reed Grove dedication in Redwood State Park, California, in honor of
Simpson Reed & Company owners Sol Simpson and Mark Reed. "Birthday for
Annie & Mary" shows the ribbon-cutting ceremony for a route change of the
Arcata and Mad River Railroad in response to California State Highway system
construction. "New Spars for Old Ironsides" shows a spar tree harvest to
replace the mast of the ship,
Original ID number: T25
Simpson Timber Company newsreel filmed by Jim Hartley and Dave James. "Others See Us" shows teachers from Mason County Public Schools on an educational day trip to Camp Grisdale, a Simpson logging village. Also in this segment, wives of Klamath Veneer Plant employees take a tour of the plant. "Northward to Hudson Bay" shows aerial views of Hudson Bay, Hudson Bay logging road construction, and Northern Spruce inspection. Canadian First Nations' men log for Simpson Timber Company to the north of Hudson Bay. Cabins made of particle board serve as accommodations for First Nations loggers. Saskatchewan Premier Ross Thatcher attends mill dedication. Mill dedication dinner in Hudson Bay Legion Hall. "Year of the Tree Farms" shows Bill Looney explaining the tree farm system to Forest Festival queens, who then plant saplings. "Switch to Dry Lumber " shows dry lumber manufacturing, kiln operations drying Western Hemlock and Douglas Fir wood, and operation of mill equipment. "How Redwoods Grow" shows the Redwood Demonstration Forest in Humboldt County, California, with various speakers and a tour. "Mad River Plywood" shows aerial views of the Mad River plywood plant in Arcata, California, operation of mill lathes, and men working on the line stacking plywood. "New Plants Rising" shows construction of a new pulp mill in Fairhaven, California, including aerial views.
Appearances by Geri and John Stentz, Rudy Oltman, Len Flower, and Max Schmidt.
Original ID number: T26
The materials in this series contain Mason County, Washington, Forest Festival footage. The Forest Festival, instituted in 1945, promotes forest fire prevention and celebrates the area’s connection to the logging industry.
Footage of Simpson Logging Company locomotives and parade floats from the 1946 Forest Festival. Also contains color footage from a 1957 Forest Festival parade including Washington State Governor Albert Rosellini.
Original ID number: T1
Forest Festival parade, including performances in costume and regalia, logging demonstrations, and acting sketches.
Cameron Film Productions.
Original ID number: T2
Narrated footage of Forest Festival parade, floats, logging skills demonstrations and contests. Includes City of Shelton architecture, streets, and vehicular traffic.
Original ID number: T3
Forest Festival parade including footage of festival princesses, dance performances, logging skill contests, and fire suppression demonstration.
Original ID number: T4
Home movies, including scenes of the 26th Annual Forest Festival.
The film requires further preservation and has not been viewed.
Original ID number: T35
The materials in this series contain footage from Ryderwood, Washington, which was established in 1923 by the Long-Bell Lumber Company. Ryderwood, a self-contained model logging town, housed 2,000 residents at its height. After 1953, it was developed into a 55+ community by Senior Estates, Incorporated.
Review of the manufacturing process for Douglas Fir lumber at Ryderwood, Washington. Includes fire wardens surveying timber, a construction camp, railroad clearing and construction, horse-drawn road grading, operation of a logging locomotive, installation of electric power in the forest, timber harvest, preparation of a spar tree, and reforestation. Contains scenes of the Ryderwood logging town, the Ryderwood men's dormitory, community buildings, school house, theater, houses, and a group of boys playing at being lumber workers.
Produced by Andlauer Film Company, Kansas City, Missouri; cinematography by Howard Curtiss.
Original ID number: T16
The materials in this series contain film and audio relating to the history of forestry in the Pacific Northwest and Minnesota.
Documents the history of Minnesota forestry. Includes horse-drawn timber sleighs, men wearing snowshoes while taking inventory of pines, logging camp bunkhouse, blacksmith, mess hall, locomotive transport of timber, Minnesota's last major logging drive, and Virginia Rainy Lake Mill.
Cinematography : Al E. Lenz; Horticulturalist: M. I. Smith; State Forest Service representative: O. R. Levin.
Original ID number: T15
Produced by the Junior League of Tacoma for Point Defiance Park Camp 6 Logging Museum. Narrated film relates the experiences of loggers, the fire risk of steam engines, various logging activities, cabins, oxen teams, tree climbing, rigging, steam donkey engines, and steam locomotives.
Script and production by Rarig Film Productions, Seattle, Washington.
Original ID number: T13
Opens with a fragment from "Sick of Setting Chokers," a logging song by Oregonian Buzz Martin, and closes with psychedelic rock music.
Original ID number: T41
Highlights champion logger Hap Johnson and blacksmith Rudy Ratzinger. Includes scenes of lumber yard, logging, rigging, smithing, old machinery, and felling the top of a spar tree.
Directed and produced by Phillip Borsos. Filmed in British Columbia by Mercury Pictures.
Original ID number: T6
Interview with "Uncle Ben," who gives an oral history, discussing his memories of Schafer Brothers Logging Company, the period following the Modoc War, a First Nations man called "Cutter," the "Big Skookum", and logging with oxen.
The Modoc War was fought on the California-Oregon border region between 1872 and 1873, and came about as a result of efforts by the United States government to remove Modoc peoples from their ancestral lands.
Original ID number: T38
Includes golfers Dick Metz, Jimmy Thompson, Horton Smith, and Ed Dudley (who was a golf instructor to Bing Crosby) demonstrating various golfing shots at Pebble Beach, California, with slow-motion breakdowns. Also includes a brief appearance of Bobby Jones at Augusta, Georgia course.
Produced by Frederic Ullman, Jr.
Original ID number: T30
Reel 15 (T28) and Reel 31 (T30) are in the same can.
Street magicians perform in Egypt and India.
Original ID number: T27
A group of "Hollywood starlets" practicing archery in California. Archery expert Howard Hill demonstrates proper form and performs trick shots. Contains slow-motion shots and reactions from "starlets."
Starring Howard Hill; narrated by Art Gilmore; directed by Taylor Byars; edited by Chester Glassley. Presented by Courneya-Hyde Productions.
Original ID number: T20
A history of roofing and development of housing design. Contains a mix of animation and live action.
Directed by George Carillon; narrated by Pat McGeehan; animation by Royal Arts. Copyright 1956 by I.B.I.
Original ID number: T19
James L. Hayes gives a management training lecture.
Presented by the American Management Association.
Original ID number: T23
Radio station KOL FM broadcast with contemporary music and commercial ads, including an ad for Seattle's historic Fresh Air Tavern.
Original ID number: T37
The audio reel requires further preservation and has not been heard.
Original ID number: T36
The audio reel requires further preservation and has not been heard.
Original ID number: T40
The audio reel is damaged and requires restoration.
Original ID number: T39
The film requires further preservation and has not been viewed.
Original ID number: T18