View XML QR Code

Bill Walter Studio Photographs, circa 1890-1978

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Walter, Bill.
Title
Bill Walter Studio Photographs
Dates
circa 1890-1978 (inclusive)
Quantity
39 Linear feet of shelf space, (39 Boxes)
Collection Number
PC 120 (collection)
Summary
Collection of photographs from the Bill Walter Studio, Colfax, Washington. The bulk of the collection is safety film negatives, but it also contains many photographs, some oversize and panoramic.
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 and available for research use.

Languages
English
Return to Top

Historical Note

Bill Walter was born on November 4, 1915 in Pullman, WA. He lived in a number of locations in Washington State, graduating from Ballard High School in Seattle. He attended the State College of Washington shortly before World War II, where he met and married Mary Sands. Mr. Walter joined the National Guard in 1940, and was assigned to one of the first units to be nationalized.

In the National Guard, he served in the medical core, rising to the rank of Colonel by the time the war ended. After the war, he located his family in Colfax, Washington and started a sporting goods and photography business. As the years went by, he shifted more and more toward photography. On several occasions, he attended photography school in Winona, Indiana.

Mr. Walter advertised himself as the "Photography on the Palouse". Many of his photographs appeared in the local newspaper, the Colfax Gazette, and at one time a large display of his work was exhibited in Colfax City Hall. Mr. Walter retired in 1979 but continued his photography until the early 1990's. He passed away on November 15, 1999.

Return to Top

Content Description

Collection of photographs from the Bill Walter Studio, Colfax, Washington. The bulk of the collection is safety film negatives, but it also contains many photographs, some oversize and panoramic.

Highlights of the collection include a glass plate negative of the former Colfax Courthouse (torn down in the 1950's), a plethora of images depicting Palouse agriculture, both early and early modern farm machinery, local businesses, and calamities such as the Oakesdale Grain Growers Elevator Fire in 1970 and the Colfax Floods of 1910 and 1948. Of a more regional interest are the Construction of the Boundary Dam for Seattle City Light Company in 1967 and the 12th World Jamboree of the Boy Scouts of America held in Farragut State Park in 1967.

Return to Top

Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Copyright restrictions apply.

Preferred Citation

[Item description]

Bill Walter Studio Photographs, circa 1890-1978 (PC 120)

Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

Return to Top

Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in 4 series, primarily by format. Where possible, the original order used by Mr. Walter is preserved. The major exceptions to this are Series 1, Photograph Subject Files and Series 2, Photograph Negative Subject Files. These two series reflect a subject arrangement designed to make the collection more easily accessible.

Series 1 contains photographs, mostly 8x10, depicting various scenes and subjects, mostly of regional interest.

Series 2 is also a series of subject files, black and white, most of which are of a local history nature.

Series 3, almost entirely portraits of individuals, families, weddings, etc., forms the bulk of the collection.

Series 4 contains oversize photographs, panoramic photographs and some photographs that could not be identified by subject or place. Many of these photographs are copies made by Walter from other photographers.

Acquisition Information

B. Oliver Walter donated this collection to the Washington State University Libraries in 2000 (UPC-0014) and in 2020 (MS.2020.07). On Feb. 12, 2021, 15 photographs were gifted to MASC by the Whitman County Library, which had received them one month prior from Oliver Walter of Laramie, WY (who had acquired them while living in Colfax), and these were interfiled as folder 8 in box 1. The former folders 8 to 13 in that box were renumbered 9 to 14 at that time.

Return to Top

Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Floods -- Washington (State) -- Whitman County -- History -- Photographs.
  • Ranches -- Washington (State) -- Whitman County -- Photographs.
  • Steamboats -- History -- Photographs.
  • Wheat -- Harvesting -- History -- Photographs.

Corporate Names

  • Boundary Hydroelectric Project -- History -- Photographs.
  • St. Ignatius Hospital (Colfax, Wash.) -- History -- Photographs.

Geographical Names

  • Colfax (Wash.) -- History -- Photographs.
  • Whitman County (Wash.) -- History -- Photographs.

Finding aid prepared by Randy Smith; updated by Gayle O'Hara.
2020

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

About Creative Commons Licenses in Archives West

Loading...
Loading...