Warren Wood Glass Negatives, Photographs and Appointment Notebooks

Warren Wood Glass Negatives, Photographs and Appointment Notebooks, 1870-1932

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Wood, Warren P., b. 1858
Title: Warren Wood Glass Negatives, Photographs and Appointment Notebooks
Dates: 1870-1932 (inclusive)
18701932
Quantity: 7.5 linear feet, (15 boxes)
Collection Number: Mss.021
Summary: Wood was a pioneer surveyor of the Pacific Northwest from 1883 to 1932 who worked at or visited sites including the Puyallup Valley, Auburn, Fort Nisqually, St. Joseph’s Mission near Yakima, Fort Simcoe, the Whitman Mission, Fort Dalles, Steilacoom, and other sites in Washington and Oregon. The collection consists of diaries and a photo album.
Repository: University of Puget Sound, Archives & Special Collections

Collins Memorial Library
1500 N. Warner St.
CMB1021
Tacoma, WA
98416-1021
Telephone: 2538792669
archives@pugetsound.edu
Access Restrictions: This collection is available for research.
Languages: English
Sponsor: Funding for preparing this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Historical NoteReturn to Top

Warren P. Wood (b. 1858) was an early surveyor of Washington and Oregon. Wood and his partner Nicholson are believed to be the original platters of the town of Auburn, Washington. Wood and Meeker checked the original location of Fort Nisqually, visited St. Joseph's Mission on the Ahtanum near Yakima, Washington, as well as Fort Simcoe. They also visited historical sites at the Whitman Mission, Fort Dalles, and the town of Steilacoom near Tacoma, Washington. Wood was the son of Joseph Warren and Mary (nee Wilson) Wood. He was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Warren's brother A. Brier Wood was born 1860, and both brothers studied engineering at the University of California, became practical engineers, and did surveying in and around Pierce County, Washington. In 1895, Joseph Wood and his second wife Fanny (nee Forward) moved to Sumner, Pierce County, Washington.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

This collection is primarily comprised of approximately 500 glass and acetate negatives, approximately 350 of which have been scanned. The remaining negatives have not been processed. There are other image formats mixed in with the unprocessed negatives, apparently including some older format Biology Department teaching slides.

The photo album contains photographs of his activities with Ezra Meeker, G.N. Talcott of Olympia, W.P. Bonney of the Washington State Historical Society, and others in locating various famous historical sites in Washington and Oregon. It contains photographs of Seattle (including Alki Point, Totem Pole Place, downtown, Volunteer Park, Woodland Park, and a convicts ship exhibition); Tacoma (including the first cabin on the town site, Point Defiance Park, Tacoma Hotel, Wright Park, and the Ferry Museum); Olympia (including the end of the Oregon Trail marker and Priest Point Park); Fort Nisqually (including original buildings, Ezra Meeker, C.B. Bagley and other pioneers); various Indian missions in the state; and more.

The appointment notebooks are one to each year and of a 3" x 5" size. The entries are short and succinct with no elaborate narrative descriptions or commentary of those times and places.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

Mr. Wood's son, W.J. Wood (College of Puget Sound Class of 1950) was a star Logger football player and he donated this collection to CPS in 1955.

Acquisition Information

This collection was found in the attic of the science building and acquired from Slater Natural History Museum Director, Peter Wimberger. They apparently belonged to Warren Wood, who gave them to C. Brewster Coulter, University of Puget Sound History professor circa late 1940s to early 1980s. They may have been deposited in the Natural History Museum after Coulter's retirement as a somewhat logical place for them to be kept.

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

Historic sites--Oregon
Historic sites--Washington (State)--Seattle
Historic sites--Washington (State)--Tacoma
Indians of North America--Missions
Pioneers--Oregon
Pioneers--Washington (State)
Surveyors--Washington (State)

Personal Names

Bonney, W. P. , (William Pierce), b. 1856
Meeker, Ezra, 1830-1928
Talcott, George N., 1858-1949

Geographical Names

Fort Nisqually (Wash.)
Olympia
Oregon
Seattle
Tacoma
Washington (State)

Form or Genre Terms

Negatives (photographic)

Archives West Finding Aid

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