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This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-11-14. Finding aid written in English. Finding aid based on DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard). Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries John W. Redington papers Redington, John W., 1851-1935 0125 .74 cubic feet 2 boxes 1894-1935 Letters, poems and military papers of a journalist and Indian scout Collection materials are in English.

John "Watermelon" Redington (1851-1935) was an Indian War scout, newspaper editor and writer, and humorist. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Redington worked as a printer's devil with the Cambridge University Press before enlisting in the United States Army in 1874 as a way to get to the West. After his discharge that same year, he settled briefly in Salem, Oregon, where he established a printing firm. Over the next few years, Redington traveled around the West, lending his printing expertise to communities in Oregon, Idaho, and Utah, before serving as a scout in the Nez Perce Indian War of 1877 and the Bannock Indian War of 1878. His small stature led General Oliver O. Howard to refer to him as the "original boy scout." After the war, Redington settled in Eastern Oregon where he married Nellie Meacham, daughter of Alfred B. Meacham, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and became publisher of the Heppner Gazette in 1883. He later published newspapers in Puyallup and Tacoma, Washington, where he settled with his wife and their four daughters. In his later years, he moved to California, where he lived in a home for veterans until his death in 1935. Printed on his stationery was the slogan: "California -- home of the December dandelion and the winter watermelon."

Letters, poems, and military papers, 1894-1935.

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Creator's literary rights not transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

Donated by Bernice Redington, 1940?

2 scrapbooks are part of the Pacific Northwest scrapbook collection (mss coll 5902)

Redington, John W., 1851-1935--Archives Aiken, C. S Bailey, H. L Bashford, Herbert, 1871-1928 Brainard, W. L Brininstool, E. A. (Earl Alonzo), 1870-1957 Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 1875-1950 Farrow, Edward S. (Edward Samuel), b. 1855 Garland, Hamlin, 1860-1940 Howard, O. O. (Oliver Otis), 1830-1909 Lampman, Ben Hur, 1886-1954 Lane, Franklin H., 1864-1921 McAllen, Dan Parry, Will H., 1864-1917 Watson, Elmo Scott, 1892-1951 Wister, Owen, 1860-1938 Wood, Charles Erskine Scott, 1852-1944 Meany, Edmond S. (Edmond Stephen), 1862-1935 McNary, Charles Linza, 1874-1944 Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919 Meeker, Ezra, 1830-1928 Bagley, Clarence, 1843-1932 Howells, William Dean, 1837-1920 United States. Army United States. War Dept Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington) Journalism Undated Correspondence 0125-001 Box 1 1

Letters sent to Will Rogers, Sam G. Scotty Mortland, and Editor in Berkely, CA. Letters received from Owen Wister, C. E. S. Wood, C. A. Williams, J. T. & M. G. Mitchell, Donald L. Marshall, John Gill, Harriet Hoge, Harvie Meacham Murton, J. J. Levinson, H. L. Bailey, Elmo Scott Watson, Walt Mason, E. Hofer, and H. P. Blackman.

Letters Received 1879- July 1894 0125-001 Box 1 2 Letters Received September 1894- May 1898 0125-001 Box 1 3 Letters Received June 1898- April 1901 0125-001 Box 1 4 Letters Received September 1901- February 1905 0125-001 Box 1 5 Letters Received February 1905- June 1906 0125-001 Box 1 6 Letters Received October 1906- September 1907 0125-001 Box 1 7 Letters Received October 1907- 1909 0125-001 Box 1 8 Correspondence 1910-1913, 1920, 1922 0125-001 Box 1 9 Letters Received 1913-1919 0125-001 Box 1 10 Letters Received 1920-1922 0125-001 Box 1 11 Letters Received 1922 0125-001 Box 1 12 Letters Received 1922-1923 0125-001 Box 1 13 Letters Received 1923-1924 0125-001 Box 1 14 Letters Received 1924-1925 0125-001 Box 1 15 Letters Received 1925-1926 0125-001 Box 1 16 Letters Received 1926-1927 0125-001 Box 1 17 Letters Received 1927-1928 0125-001 Box 1 18 Letters Received 1928 0125-001 Box 1 19 Letters Received 1929 0125-001 Box 1 20 Letters Received December 1929-1930 0125-001 Box 1 21 Letters Received 1930-1931 0125-001 Box 1 22 Letters Received 1931-1934 0125-001 Box 1 23 Letters Sent 1929-1930 0125-001 Box 1 24 Letters Sent 1930-1931 0125-001 Box 1 25 Letters Sent 1931-1934 0125-001 Box 1 26 Miscellaneous Letters 1880-1935 9 letters 0125-001 Box 1 27 Articles, Letters, and Poems 1 volume 0125-001 Box 2 Military papers approximately 1920s 1 volume 0125-001 Box 2