Paul Edward Rietzke was born 1922 April 28 in Smith Center, near Kensington, Kansas. He entered the CCC in 1939 at age 17, and following his work in the CCC he joined the Navy and served in World War II; he was at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack. After leaving the Navy, he was a civilian employee for 32 years at the Naval Air Station in Alameda, California, retiring in 1977. He died in 1999 in San Leandro, California.
Twenty-one black and white photographs of Civilian Conservation Corps camps and their projects in Idaho, where Paul Rietzke worked. Named locations seem to revolve around Sage Hen Reservoir, with other identified locations including Rainbow Bridge, Ola, Garden Valley, Timber Point, and Gardena. No dates are given, but based on a line in Paul’s obituary that he joined the CC at age 17 as well as further dates in his life, these are almost certainly within 1939-1940.
Envelope 1 is items identified as being at Sage Hen Reservoir. Envelope 2 has items with any other noted location (Gardena, Garden Valley, Ola, Rainbow Bridge, Timber Point). Envelope 3 contains items lacking any specific location, and also happens to include all images where individuals are identified. All images have handwritten descriptions on the back, written by Paul Rietzke, but no dates are given.
The small collection is split into three envelopes, loosely ordered by the locations of the photographs, where known.
This collection is open and available for research use.
Copyright restrictions may apply.
[Item description]
Paul Rietzke Civilian Conservation Corps Photographs, 1939-1940 (PC 300)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
Nancy Rietzke Silver of Vashon, WA, the daughter of Paul Edward Rietzke, donated this collection to the WSU Libraries in January, 2005, where it was retained as UPC 2005-02.
Steinar Goheen processed this collection in September 2025.
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.