Bill Catton Mt. St. Helens Letter

Bill Catton Mt. St. Helens Letter, 1980 May 20

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Catton, William R., Jr., 1926-2015
Title: Bill Catton Mt. St. Helens Letter
Dates: 1980 May 20 (inclusive)
1980-05-201980-05-20
Quantity: 0.1 Linear feet of shelf space, (1 Folder)
Collection Number: Cage 5170 (collection)
Summary: A six-page personal letter of a WSU Sociology professor who was on Mt. Rainier when Mt. St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980. The letter discusses what he witnessed on that day as he tried to get home to Pullman.
Repository: Washington State University Libraries' Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections
Terrell Library Suite 12
Pullman, WA
99164-5610
Telephone: 509-335-6691
mascref@wsu.edu
Access Restrictions: This collection is open and available for research use.
Languages: English

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

William “Bill” Robert Catton, Jr. (1926-2015) was born in Minneapolis, MN in 1926. After serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II, he received his Bachelors at Oberlin College and his Masters and PhD (1954) in Sociology at the University of Washington. He was a professor at UW (1957-1969), the University of Canterbury (1970-1973), NZ, and finally Washington State University, from 1973 until his 1989 retirement. He is considered one of the fathers of environmental sociology. He passed away in 2015 while visiting family in New Zealand.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The collection consists of a digital copy of a single letter written on May 20, 1980 by WSU Sociology professor Bill Catton to his mother. Catton had been touristing at Mt. Rainier when St. Helens erupted on May 18th, and the letter discusses what he witnessed and his efforts to make his way home to Pullman.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

Though MASC does not hold the original, on March 18, 2025, Dr. Catton’s son Theodore gave the WSU Libraries permissions to grant usage and publication rights to the document and its intellectual contents.

Preferred Citation

[Item description]

Bill Catton Mt. St. Helens Letter, 1980 May 20 (Cage 5170)

Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

WSU Sociology professor Don Dillman donated an electronic copy of this letter to the Washington State University Libraries in January 2024, where it was retained without an accession number. While the letter was originally written to Bill Catton’s mother, he provided copies to several interested friends.

Processing Note

University Archivist Mark O’English processed this collection in March 2025.

Related Materials

Don A. Dillman's After Mount St. Helens: Seven Gray Days in May Typescript, 1980 May (Cage 4023) is another first-hand account by a WSU professor.

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

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