The Division of Purchases within the Department of Finance was established in 1936 by Charter amendment, and the position of City Purchasing Agent was established in 1937 through Ordinance 67976 to act as the central purchasing agent for the City. (A Purchasing Department had formerly existed within the Department of Public Works.) The City Purchasing Agent, appointed by the Comptroller, dealt with purchase of and contracts for materials and equipment required by the various City departments. Depending on the price of the item required, the Purchasing Agent received bids from vendors (for purchases of more than $1000) or purchased items in the open market. The Division of Purchases was also responsible for inspection of the purchased goods.
The division was transferred to and established as a division of the Executive Department in 1973 with Ordinance 102151.
The bulk of the annual reports date from 1937 to 1950, with a few from the 1970s. The 1922 report, which appears to be a draft, is from the Department of Public Works' Purchasing Department. The reports provide a narrative summary of the year's activities and include information about savings, lists of requisitions and purchase amounts by department, and sales from surplus, junk, or obsolete material. Information about inspections is included in some reports. Annual reports from 1941 to 1946 (many in the form of brief letters, due to the necessity of saving paper) discuss the division's wartime difficulties. The 1972 report is a brief narrative and contains no savings, purchase, or sales figures.
Annual reports are arranged chronologically by year.
Records are open to the public.
[Item and date], Division of Purchases Annual Reports, Record Series 1802-I1. Box [number], Folder [number]. Seattle Municipal Archives.
Records were originally filed with the City Clerk in the Comptroller/Clerk's Files (CFs) and were removed to create this record series.
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.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.