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Walter Shelley Phillips photographs and illustrations, approximately 1885-1940

Overview of the Collection

Collector
Phillips, W. S. (Walter Shelley), 1867-1940
Title
Walter Shelley Phillips photographs and illustrations
Dates
approximately 1885-1940 (inclusive)
Quantity
638 photographic prints (14 albums in 3 boxes) ; various sizes
55 loose photographic prints (1 box) ; various sizes
513 drawings : pen & ink, pencil, color pencil ; various sizes
69 lantern slides (1 box)
5 acetate negatives
44 carvings (3 boxes) : clay; terra cotta ; various sizes
Collection Number
PH0111
Summary
Art work of Phillips including photographs, illustrations, cartoons, and clay art documenting and depicting Pacific Northwest landscapes, American Indian life, hunting, fishing, plants, and animals
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

Access may be restricted due to the fragile nature of the materials. Contact Special Collections for more information.

Request at UW

Languages
English
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Biographical Note

Walter Shelley Phillips (1867-1940), also known as "El Comancho," was a self-educated and self-trained newspaper reporter, free-lance writer, author of numerous books, painter, illustrator, carver, photographer, naturalist, and geologist. In his own words: "I am first, last, and always, a Western man...I've always stood on my own hind legs, looked the world in the eye and told it to go to hell -- and am still doing it."

He was born March 3, 1867 in Fairbury, Illinois to Oliver H. Phillips and Eliza Jane Mcdowell Phillips. His family moved west, reaching Nebraska in 1969, and settling in Beatrice, Nebraska. According to his unpublished memoir, the family's homestead was within the Otoe tribe's hunting grounds, and Chief Arkeketa visited with the family regularly. Phillips played as a child with Arkeketa's children in the Otoe camp and by his accounting, was happier with that way of life than with going to school. He hunted buffalo, fished, attended ceremonies, and learned the Plains Indian sign language with which peoples of different Plains tribes communicated with each other. In Phillips' biographical notes within the collection he relates that in his early life he "went thro [sic] Grasshopper plague which came to Nebr. July 16 - 1874." He left school early and traveled across the West and Southwest on his own, meeting up with the Sioux (Lakota), Blackfeet, and Crow peoples as well as other tribes. He acquired the name "Lone Man" from the Sioux. He traveled through the Black Hills, the Rockies, and finally to Seattle in February 1888. He continued his travels, including through the American Southwest.

Phillips began writing about outdoor life in around 1887, including pieces for Forest and Stream , published in New York City. He began work as a reporter for his hometown newspaper, the Beatrice Express , and then the Lincoln Call as a cartoonist. After a time, he traveled west again, and filed a claim on some land, possibly near Billings, Montana or near Belle Fourche, South Dakota. During his time on the claim, the Wounded Knee Massacre occurred in South Dakota in 1890, which Phillips describes as a "piece of heartbreaking butchery that no white men could be proud of." After this time, Phillips returned to Lincoln, Nebraska amd continued his work at the Nebraska Call . He married his wife, Rena Egleston, with whom he had grown up in Beatrice, probably in 1891, and the couple eloped and traveled out to Seattle. In 1891 he began a reporting job at the Seattle Press where his first assignment was to cover a ball given by the Yesler family. After a few months, the Seattle Press came under new management and Phillips was out of a job. He worked on a pile driver crew for two years, and then brought his family back east for two years. Upon their return to Seattle, he wrote a column and drew cartoons for the Telegraph . His job ended when Seattle Post-Intelligencer bought the paper. The Northwestern Lumberman paper in Chicago hired him as an illustrator, ad representative, and reporter, and he worked there for seven years. He returned to the Pacific Northwest to work for the West Coast Lumberman published in Tacoma. He traveled back to Chicago to open that city's western office of Field and Stream . Phillips wrote in 1939 that he had crossed the United States coast to coast 198 times.

At some point during his career he worked for Louis Hill, president of the Great Northern Railroad; he spent more than a year with the Blackfoot tribe in the area that is now Glacier National Park to gather information for the Railroad's advertising department as the company built its line westward. Afterwards he performed a geologic and natural resources survey for the Great Northern from Glacier National Park to Seattle.

In 1904 he began Pacific Sportsman magazine in Seattle; he sold the magazine around 1911. Phillips also became a founding member of the Washington State Game and Fish Protective Association; he wrote thousands of articles on outdoor life and lore, including the syndicated newspaper feature "Teepee Tales." He also wrote books, and illustrated his own and others' books from the 1890s to 1920s, including books for children and Indian legends. He died in Seattle in 1940.

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Content Description

Collection reflects the art work of W.S. Phillips, who was a photographer, illustrator and cartoonist, writer, sculptor and carver. Photograph albums created by Phillips document his mountaineering and camping trips in Washington State, including the Olympic Peninsula, other locations in the western United States, such as Montana and Wyoming, and other trips across the plains and prairies of Nebraska and in the eastern United States. When Phillips appears in the photographs, he is usually in the persona of El Comancho, the character he created for his Western stories and illustrations. Phillips' wife Rena also appears in the photographs, sometimes in the persona of a "lady hunter" or "lady fisherman." The drawings in the collection include finished projects meant for publication or display such as the Teepee Tales series of drawings and also Philips' sketches and studies of plants, animals and people. Phillips' fascination with American Indian cultures is reflected in his drawings, photographs and clay carvings in which he documents and depicts tribal gatherings, dances and art.

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Other Descriptive Information

Photographs contained in the albums were usually numbered by W.S. Phillips, sometimes with a "P" prefix. Phillips' original numbering has been retained wherever evident. Some photographs in the collection were not numbered by Phillips. For these photographs, Special Collections has assigned an item number with an "X" prefix. Similarly, lantern slides, drawings, and carvings were assigned "L," "D," and "C" prefixes respectively.

Albums 1-4,10, 12-13, 15, 18, and 20-21 were not included with the donated collection.

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Use of the Collection

Alternative Forms Available

View selections from the collection in digital format

Restrictions on Use

Status of creator's copyrights is unknown; restrictions may exist on copying, quotation, or publication. Users are responsible for researching copyright status before use.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged in 7 series.

  • Series 1, Albums
  • Series 2, Loose photographs not from albums
  • Series 3, Lantern slides
  • Series 4, Drawings and Illustrations: Completed Projects
  • Series 5, Drawings and Illustrations: Sketches and Studies
  • Series 6, Clay Art Carvings
  • Series 7, W.S. Phillips Records and Writings Related to His Photography, Carving and Painting

Acquisition Information

Donor: Eldon E. Phillips (son of W.S. Phillips); 1964-1965.

Processing Note

Processed by Marion Brown, 2009; processing completed by Elizabeth Russell, 2016.

28 photographs not by W.S. Phillips were removed from the collection, 2015. 16 photographic postcards not by Phillips transferred to the Postcard Collection, 2016.

Separated Materials

A copy of Phillips' book The Cowboys of Cut-Out Ranch (1915) was transferred to the Historical Children's Collection and a copy of the The Master Power (1922, bound in untrimmed leather) was transferred to the Binding Collection, 2016.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Carving (Decorative arts)--Specimens
  • Drawing--Specimens
  • Indians of North America--West (U.S
  • Lantern slides--Specimens
  • Outdoor recreation--West (U.S
  • Photograph albums--Specimens
  • Photographs--Specimens
  • Photography--Negatives--Specimens
  • Visual Materials Collections (University of Washington)
  • Wildlife-related recreation--West (U.S

Personal Names

  • Phillips, W. S. (Walter Shelley), 1867-1940--Archives

Geographical Names

  • Cascade Range--Photographs
  • Olympic Peninsula (Wash.)--Photographs
  • Washington (State)--Photographs


2009 (Last modified: 9/24/2025)

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