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Robert Hitchman papers, 1836-1986

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Hitchman, Robert
Title
Robert Hitchman papers
Dates
1836-1986 (inclusive)
Quantity
25.63 cubic feet (31 boxes)
Collection Number
5538 (Accession No. 5538-001)
Summary
Papers of Robert Hitchman, who worked in insurance and researched Pacific Northwest history and place names in Washington State
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Open to all users.

Some records stored offsite; advance notice required for use.

Request at UW

Additional Reference Guides
Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding provided by a grant from the Friends of the University of Washington Libraries, and by the Dorlesca and William Peterson Endowed Library Fund
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Biographical Note

Robert Hitchman was an insurance agent, book collector, bibliographer, and an amateur historian of the Pacific Northwest. His specific area of focus was the origin of local place names, as the author of the book Place Names of Washington (Tacoma, Wash. : Washington State Historical Society, 1985). He also published a bibliographic newsletter on local historical writings entitled Sighted From the Crow's Nest (Seattle).

Hitchman was born in Denver, Colorado on October 28th, 1908. He became a student at the University of Washington during the 1920s, and after his 1929 graduation summa cum laude with a degree in anthropology, he took a job as a researcher for Northwestern Mutual Insurance.

Hitchman interrupted his career to serve in the army during WWII, finally retiring from the service as a colonel in the reserves in 1968. He kept for his historical collection a set of the transport ship logs and loading information from the D-Day invasion. After the war, while serving as a reserve officer, he continued his prewar career as an insurance agent for what was now renamed the Unigard Mutual Insurance Company, where his historical interests led him to accumulate a collection of clippings about unusual or noteworthy insurance cases. In 1959, he was made assistant vice president of his division. In 1969 he was promoted to president of Unigard Mutual, and he also became president of Unigard Olympic in 1970. From 1971 until his retirement in 1974, he served as chairman of the board.

Hitchman's early interest in history can be seen in his autograph collection, which includes the signatures of many prominent people. A few of the books and materials from his collection date back to his college years, as well. During his time at the University of Washington, Hitchman was a student of Professor Edmond S. Meany (1862-1935), which provoked his initial interest in Washington place names. It was during the postwar period that he began to seriously collect and read books and ephemera about local history; in 1952, he began publishing Sighted From the Crow’s Nest, a bibliographic newsletter featuring local historical publications and reviews which he continued to write and publish until 1979. This placed him in an important position in the community of Pacific Northwest historians, through which he encouraged many authors doing grassroots historical work and spread the work of these writers to a wider audience. As he became prominent and respected within that community, he carried on extensive correspondence with many authors, historians, and book dealers. Eventually he began work on his major project: a new volume on Washington place names that would improve on Edmond Meany's book Origin of Washington Geographic Names(Seattle, Wash. : University of Washington Press, 1923). Hitchman's work was posthumously published as Place Names of Washington by the Washington State Historical Society in 1985.

Robert Hitchman was an active member of many different historical and bibliophilic organizations. He was president of the Washington State Historical Society from 1976 until his death in 1981; on the board of the Seattle Historical Society from 1955-62; chairman of the Pacific Northwest Group of the Explorers’ Club from 1968-73; president of the Seattle Society of the Archeological Institute of America 1961-62; and historian for the Rotary Club of Seattle district 503. Hitchman was also a board member of the Friends of the Seattle Public Library; a member of the Bibliographic Society of America, and on the advisory committee for "The Papers of the Bibliographic Society of America" from 1959; a president of the Seattle Foundation; a member of the Rainier Club in Seattle; and, a member of the American Antiquarian Society (based in Massachusetts). Hitchman was a bibliographic consultant to the director of libraries at the University of Washington; he also held positions on the boards of several magazines over the years, and was a lay reader and clerk of the vestry at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle. Though he retired in March of 1974, Hitchman remained on the board of Unigard Mutual Insurance Co.

Robert Hitchman died of complications sustained from a heart attack while attending a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society in Worchester, Massachusetts, on April 17th, 1981.

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Content Description

Robert Hitchman's book and document collecting extended beyond the Pacific Northwest, as did his membership in various antiquarian organizations, but his primary research focus remained on local history. The bulk of the material in his collection reflects that focus and provides a glimpse into the life of a man devoted to the study of the region in which he lived.

Hitchman's historical manuscripts and collections were very important to him. The Historical Manuscripts and Collections series includes older (mostly 19th century) letters and documents related to Pacific Northwest history, as well as Robert Hitchman's autograph collection. Most items he acquired are single letters or documents, including correspondence from Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens, Selucius Garfielde (Surveyor General of the Washington Territory from 1866-1869 and territorial delegate to Congress from 1869-1872), John McLaughlin (Factor for the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver); Mary and Elkanah Walker's correspondence with Mary Whitman; and others, including an undated, bound manuscript by Seattle poet Thomas Wiedemann that includes many original drawings and caricatures of Seattle political figures. There are a few more substantial collections as well, such as the papers of Roland G. Gamwell, a popular public speaker in Bellingham, Washington during the 1920s and 1930s, and a selection of letters and writings from James H. Christie, who was the head of the Seattle Press Expedition in the Olympics during 1889 and 1890..

The Washington Place Names series contains notes and research materials Hitchman compiled and used while writing his book Place Names of Washington. These include notes on the many different linguistic and cultural origins of local place names, as well as information on the various connections of these names with events in local history. Also included in this series is one large notebook of Edmond Meany's notes and primary source material for his 1923 book on Washington place names, and some correspondence from and to Edmond Meany.

The Personal Papers series includes most of Robert Hitchman's correspondence with authors, book dealers, publishers, librarians, and other local historians, as well as ephemera relating to his other hobbies and recreational activities. This series will prove most valuable to those interested in Robert Hitchman and his place in the community; selections of interest include correspondence with a friend writing from a US Navy base in Cuba during the 1958 Cuban revolution, describing society and events. There is also a large group of correspondence directly related to Pacific Northwest history, which Hitchman kept separate from his general correspondence.

The Research and Background Files series constitutes the bulk of the material in the Hitchman Papers. It includes many of Robert Hitchman's research files on topics related to Pacific Northwest history: these are largely comprised of clippings, ephemera, and periodicals from circa 1952-1980, though there are also earlier inclusions such as a collection of photographs of Seattle after the 1885 fire. Included as well is a limited quantity of correspondence which Hitchman stored in these topical files rather than with his general correspondence. Some of the most extensive elements of this eclectic and wide-ranging collection cover the early explorers of the region (especially James Cook), local aviation, labor history and maritime history.

The Scrapbooks series contains both scrapbooks that Robert Hitchman created himself (mostly during the 1960s and 1970s), and also earlier scrapbooks that he collected. The earlier scrapbooks are mostly related to the early exploration of the Olympic Mountains and date to the latter part of the 19th century (though there is also a 19th century scrapbook on east Indian religion and prayer wheels). Most of the scrapbooks were originally stored with the topical files to which they were related, but are now housed separately for preservation reasons.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Creator's rights assigned to the University of Washington.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

This collection is organized into five series:

  • Historical Manuscripts and Collections
  • Washington Place Names Research
  • Personal Papers
  • Research and Background Files
  • Scrapbooks

Preservation Note

Some records stored offsite; advance notice required for use.

Acquisition Information

Source: Helen Hitchman (widow of Robert) via Randolph Risch (nephew), various dates 2006-2007.

Processing Note

Processed by Gabriel Chrisman and Nicole Bouché in 2008 and 2009.

The arrangement of the material reflects the idiosyncratic organization of Robert Hitchman's personal library. This organization was most commonly topical or subject-oriented, though there are many exceptions as well. Whenever possible, groupings made by Hitchman and titles assigned by Hitchman have been retained during processing. In cases where items housed together by Hitchman have been separated for preservation reasons, cross-references are provided in the listing.

Separated Materials

Portions of Robert Hitchman's extensive book collection, received at the same time as this archival material, have been catalogued in the book holdings of UW Special Collections. While the majority of these books have been added to the Pacific Northwest Collection, some of them are listed in the Rare Books Collection, or other areas of Special Collections. Each book which came from the Hitchman collection includes a note in the catalog record: 'From the collection of Robert Hitchman' or 'Gift of Robert Hitchman'.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Aeronautics--Northwest, Pacific--History
  • Autographs--Collections
  • Book collectors--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Historians--Washington (State)--Seattle--Archives
  • Insurance agents--Washington (State)
  • Labor movement--Northwest, PacificSxHistory
  • Names, Geographical--Washington (State)
  • Navigation--History
  • Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington)

Personal Names

  • Christie, James Halbold
  • Gamwell, Roland G. (Roland Greene), 1863---Archives
  • Garfielde, S. (Selucius), 1822-1883--Correspondence
  • Hitchman, Robert--Archives (creator)
  • Meany, Edmond S. (Edmond Stephen), 1862-1935--Correspondence
  • Stevens, Isaac Ingalls, 1818-1862--Correspondence
  • Wiedemann, Thomas--Manuscripts

Geographical Names

  • Northwest, Pacific--Bibliography
  • Northwest, Pacific--Discovery and exploration
  • Northwest, Pacific--History
  • Northwest, Pacific--History, Local
  • Olympic Mountains (Wash.)--Discovery and exploration
  • Olympic Peninsula (Wash.)--Discovery and exploration
  • Seattle (Wash.)--Politics and government--Caricatures and cartoons
  • Washington (State)--History

Form or Genre Terms

  • Autographs (manuscripts)
  • Caricatures
  • Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.)
  • Correspondence
  • Drawings
  • Ephemera
  • Manuscripts (document genre)
  • Notebooks
  • Periodicals
  • Research (document genres)
  • Scrapbooks
  • Writings

Titles within the Collection

  • Sighted From the Crow's Nest

Other Creators

  • Personal Names

    • Cook, James, 1728-1779
    • Gamwell, Roland G. (Roland Greene), 1863---Archives (creator)


2009 (Last modified: 11/28/2017)

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