Washington Water Power Company, an investor-owned electric utility company based in Spokane, Washington, was founded 1889. In addition to its primary business as a public utility, Washington Water Power also operated other business enterprises in Spokane, including streetcar lines and Natatorium Park, a public amusement park. Effective in 1999, the company name was changed to Avista Corporation.
The Washington Water Power Company papers in the WSU Library are drawn from parts of the WWP records no longer needed for the use of the organization.
The collection contains fairly complete records, both illustrative and documentary, of the WWP from before its organization in 1889 to the 1920s (Series 1). Some material for later dates is also included. Annual reports from 1910 to 1942 are included in this series which briefly illustrate the history and description of the company.
Series 2 contains certain basic company records such as the minute books of the Board of Trustees, Board of Directors, Finance Committee and Executive Committee.
Approximately 2/3 of the collection is correspondence from 1888 to about 1930. The correspondence (Series 3) relates to the persons of W. S. Norman, general manager of the various companies which preceded Washington Water Power before 1895; David Huntington who succeeded Norman as general manager of the reorganized Washington Water Power Co. and who later served as President of the corporation until 1929; and of William Augustus White, the New York investment banker who lead the reorganization committee and who later chaired the company finance committee.
Series 3 has been arranged in four subseries. To some degree the subseries overlap each other and the user of the papers is reminded to cross-check between them. The first subseries (labeled chronological) contains the most basic company correspondence and is dated from 1888 to 1930. The second subseries (labeled classified) consists of several boxes of correspondence and some other papers, dating 1889-1904, which was left in the order arranged by the WWP filing clerks. The third subseries contains outgoing correspondence in letter books to 1902, which also parallel the other groups. The fourth subseries, W. A. White correspondence, starts in June 1904, and letters of White previous to that date may be found in the chronological group.
Several hundred contracts and other documents make up Series 4.
The collection also contains the materials collected by the company during the controversies over public-owned electric power facilities (Series 5). This material consists largely of publicity put out by proponents of various positions on public power and contains an interesting collection of several hundred pamphlets, brochures and leaflets arguing various sides of the public power question.
This collection is arranged in five series. Within, most retain their original arrangement. Materials in series 3, subseries 1 arrived at the WSU Library out of filing arrangement and were arranged in chronological order.
This collection is open and available for research use.
Copyright restrictions apply.
[Item description]
Washington Water Power Company Papers, 1885-1968 (Cage 297)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
The Washington Water Power Company donated this collection to the Washington State University Libraries (circa 1968-1970).
Lawrence Stark processed this collection from December 1970 to February 1971.
Washington Water Power Company Informational Kits, 1947-1954
Washington Water Power Historic Technical Drawings Collection, circa 1900-1972
Washington Water Power Company Newsletters Collection, 1965-1987
Huntington Family Papers, circa 1921-1950
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.