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Brock Adams photograph collection, approximately 1920-1992

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Adams, Brock, 1927-2004
Title
Brock Adams photograph collection
Dates
approximately 1920-1992 (inclusive)
1959-1992 (bulk)
Quantity
approximately 4,500 photographs (10 boxes)
Collection Number
PH0622
Summary
Photographs documenting Brock Adams's political career in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate
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

The collection is open to the public.

Request at UW

Additional Reference Guides

Languages
English
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Biographical Note

Brockman (Brock) Adams was born January 13, 1927, in Atlanta, Georgia, and grew up in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. Adams served in the United States Navy from 1944 until 1946 and graduated from the University of Washington in 1949 with a degree in economics. He received his law degree from Harvard University in 1952.

Adams went into private practice in Seattle, where he also taught law at the American Banking Institute. As a result of Adams's involvement in John. F. Kennedy's presidential campaign, he was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington in 1961. He held this position until 1964, when he campaigned for a seat in the House of Representatives. Adams, a Democrat, represented the greater Seattle area and was re-elected six times.

During Adams's career in the House of Representatives, he served on several committees, including Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Revenue and Financial Affairs, Banking and Currency, and Agriculture. Adams became chairman of the House Budget Committee in 1974. His expertise regarding transportation issues led to his appointment as Secretary of Transportation by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Adams resigned his House seat and worked in Carter's cabinet until his resignation in 1979. Adams then returned to Seattle to enter private law practice.

In 1985 Adams ran for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Slade Gorton, winning Gorton's seat in an upset victory. Shortly after Adams launched his re-election campaign in 1992, the Seattle Times published a front-page story in which eight anonymous women accused the senator of sexual misconduct. Adams denied the allegations but withdrew from the re-election race and retired from public life at the conclusion of his Senate term.

In his Senate career, Brock Adams championed women's issues as well as those of senior citizens. He took a conservationist stance on many environmental issues, focusing particularly on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Adams also opposed Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, Sr., in many aspects of foreign policy, especially regarding United States involvement in the Persian Gulf War.

Brock Adams died in 2004 at his home in Maryland. He was 77 years old.

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Content Description

The collection contains photographs documenting Adams's political career. Activities and events documented include hearings, receptions, activities with school groups, meetings with other politicians and with constituents, campaign speeches and other activities, rallies, and other events. Many photographs relate to women's rights or women's health; events relating to senior citizens and environmental issues are also highlighted.

Brock Adams appears in all photographs unless otherwise indicated.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Restrictions may exist on reproduction, quotation, or publication. Contact the Special Collections division, University of Washington Libraries, for details.

Items 18 through 23 may not be reproduced without the permission of Sam Angeloff or Time-Life Inc.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in series based on periods of Adams's life and career. These series include: Early years, U.S. House of Representatives, Department of Transportation, U.S. Senate, and Portraits. Within these series, materials are arranged chronologically.

Processing Note

Processed by Shannon B. Lynch, 2003-2005.

Contact sheets have been made for all negatives in the collection; wherever a contact sheet is identified, corresponding negatives exist. Each set of negatives covers an event or activity. Contact sheets for each set of images have been given a "primary number." For instance, a contact sheet may have the number 622.12; any prints made from negatives in this set have been given numbers such as 622.12-5, 622.12-11, and so on. Full-size prints do not exist for all images found in the negatives; however, each negative has a corresponding contact print.

Contact sheets and prints are stored together, while negatives are stored in separate boxes. Prints for which negatives and contact sheets do not exist are numbered individually, as are slides.

These photographs were relocated from the Brock Adams Papers (Manuscript Accession Nos. 1096-001, 1096-002, 1096-003, 1096-004, and 1096-016), in the Special Collections division, University of Washington Libraries, in 2003.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 

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Subject Terms

Personal Names

Corporate Names

Geographical Names

Other Creators


2006 (Last modified: 2/25/2020)

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