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Lewis and Elizabeth Dodd papers, 1903-2021

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Dodd, Lewis Edward, 1892-1960; Dodd, Elizabeth Brown Van Order, 1895-1989
Title
Lewis and Elizabeth Dodd papers
Dates
1903-2021 (inclusive)
Quantity
5.05 cubic feet (7 boxes)
Collection Number
6353 (Accession No. 6353-001)
Summary
Papers of a sailor and homesteader family in the San Juan Islands
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

No restrictions on access.

Request at UW

Languages
English
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Biographical Note

Lewis “Lew” Edward Dodd was born in 1892 in New Jersey and received training at the New York Nautical School to become a seaman. He participated on two different Trans-Atlantic six-month voyages aboard the U.S.S. Newport in 1909 and 1910. After his last voyage in 1910, Lew left sailing for a couple of years to work at the Circle Dot Ranch in Montana. During World War I he went back to sea to serve in the Navy aboard a minesweeper as a bosun’s mate. After the war, Lew continued serving in the merchant navy aboard freighters, eventually rising to Second-in-command of the ship.

Elizabeth “Tib” Brown Van Order Dodd was born in 1895 in New Jersey. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Smith College with a focus in librarianship in 1917 and returned to Brooklyn, New York, where she worked as the children’s librarian for the New York Public Library system. Tib and Lew met through Lew’s sister Betty, Tib’s best friend. They married in her parents’ backyard in July 1920.

In early spring of 1927, Lew and Tib decided to leave the East Coast. Inspired by Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, they packed their possessions, camping gear, two daughters, Sally (6 years old) and Emma Lou (4 years old), and headed west in search of open skies and freedom. They traveled on the “Lincoln Highway,” a rutted road from New York to San Francisco, over a period of six months before finding their new home: “Driftwood Ranch” on Orcas Island.

In 1945, the Dodds sold Driftwood Ranch and purchased the 11-acre Yellow Island, part of the San Juan Islands archipelago. Lew and Tib lived in a canvas tent for two years while they designed and built a cabin out of driftwood and logs harvested from the Orcas Island property. Their modern homesteading lifestyle was a curiosity that attracted photographers and journalists. The Dodds and Yellow Island were photographed by Loomis Dean, Burton Glinn and Mary Randlett, and they appeared in a July 1954 article in Life titled “An Escape to Island Living.” Lew died on Yellow Island from melanoma the winter of 1960 shortly before Christmas. Tib continued live on the island for the next 17 years with the help of family members, and eventually moved to Foss Home in Seattle, where she died in 1989.

In 1980 The Nature Conservancy purchased Yellow Island from the Dodd family to be preserved in perpetuity as a natural haven for birds, wildlife and plants.

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Content Description

This collection consists of diaries, ship logs, photographs, family history, correspondence, newspaper clippings and ephemera of Lewis and Elizabeth Dodd; diaries, ship logs and correspondence of Sally Dodd Hall (daughter); and a diary by Becky Hall Karschney (granddaughter). The ship logs record Lewis Dodd’s nautical training with the New York Nautical School (1909-1910) and career on freighters with the National Shipping Corporation (1919-1921). Diaries from 1947-1970 describe the Dodds’ homestead lifestyle on Yellow Island. The collection also contains professional photographs of the Dodds' Yellow Island property taken by Loomis Dean in 1949 and Burton Glinn in 1954 for features in Life Magazine and a series of picture postcards depicting the First Insurrection at Agua Preita in April 1911.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Creator's copyrights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections. Restrictions may exist on copying, quotation, or publication. Contact University of Washington Libraries Special Collections for details.

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Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Papers of Lewis and Elizabeth Dodd, donated by Becky Hall Karschney (granddaughter) in December 2021.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 

  • Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd

    • Description: Notebook: "Manual of Medicine and Surgery for use on Sailing Ships and Coastwise Vessels"

      Includes clippings, medical journal articles, handwritten notes and diagrams

      Dates: approximately 1903
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Notebook: "Ship log as surgeon's assistant on training ship Newport"

      Includes handwritten daily ship log information, names of classmates, sketches, clippings, "The Log of American Training Ships March 1915"

      Dates: approximately 1909-1917
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Notebook: "Helps and Hints in Practical Navigation for Reference (picked up from time to time during experience as a watch officer)"
      Dates: undated
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Ephemera removed from "Helps and Hints in Practical Navigation…"

      Includes notes, clippings, diagrams

      Dates: undated
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Diary: Summer cruise log

      Documents trip from New York-Denmark-Amsterdam-England-New London-Martha's Vineyard

      Dates: 1909
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Diary: "Log Cruise of 1910"

      Includes clippings, photos, program for New York Nautical School Commencement, sketches, class notes

      Dates: 1910
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Daily journal: "1st Voyage of the Steamer Dio (An American freight ship)"

      Documents trip from New York-Sweden-Finland)

      Dates: 1919
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Ephemera removed from "1st Voyage of the Steamer Dio"

      Includes newspaper clippings, hand-drawn maps, photos of crew members, Danish krone, cigarette

      Dates: 1919
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Diary: "Dios Log"

      Documents trip from Virginia-Brazil-Argentina-Spain

      Dates: 1919-1920
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Ephemera from "Dios Log"

      Includes notes, telegrams, letters, receipts

      Dates: 1919-1920
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Ship log: 2nd Voyage of S.S. Dio

      Documents trip from Huelva, Spain to Baltimore, Maryland

      Dates: 1919-1920
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Ship log: "(Continued) 2nd Voyage of S.S. Dios"
      Dates: 1920
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Ephemera removed from "2nd Voyage of S.S. Dio"

      Includes postcards, notes, National Shipping Corporation information

      Dates: 1920
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Daily journal: "Log of S.S. Arcturus on a voyage from Baltimore MD, U.S.A. to Far Eastern Ports and around the world"
      Dates: 1921
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Ephemera removed from "Log of S.S. Arcturus"

      Includes correspondence, "King's Book of Sea Shanties," photo negatives, inventories

      Dates: 1921
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Notebook: "Log of the American Ship Arcturus on a voyage to Genoa, Italy and other European Ports"

      Includes postcards and loose notes

      Dates: 1921
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Diary: "Voyage of the 'Ranger'"

      Documents trip from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Deer Harbor, Washington

      Dates: 1939
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Ephemera removed from "Voyage of the 'Ranger'"

      Includes hotel brochures, correspondence, business card, Duty Free price list, receipts, clippings

      Dates: 1939
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Notebook: "Lew Dodd, Orcas, WA: Swaps, Trades, Accounts"
      Dates: 1931-1932
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Ephemera removed from notebook titled "Lew Dodd, Orcas, WA…"

      Includes newspaper clippings, notes, receipts, acetate stencil

      Dates: 1931-1932
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Ship log: "Verdun"

      Includes fishing licenses, fish sale prices, receipts

      Dates: 1945
      Container: Box 1
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Poetry
      Dates: 1929-1934
      Container: Box 2
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Manuscripts

      Includes "Noncombatants," "The Luckiest Thing that Ever Happened to Me," "The Morning Watch," "The Gloucesterman," "Skipper," etc.

      Dates: approximately 1909-0924
      Container: Box 2
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Manuscript: "The Voyage of the Ranger"

      Note: published in "Pacific Motor Boat" January 1940

      Dates: approximately 1939
      Container: Box 2
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Untitled Manuscripts
      Dates: undated
      Container: Box 2
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: The Home Correspondence School Short Story Writing Course

      Includes writing assignments and instructor correspondence

      Dates: approximately 1929-1929
      Container: Box 2
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Correspondence
      Dates: approximately 1909-1957
      Container: Box 2
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd
    • Description: Photo album
      Dates: approximately 1910
      Container: Box 5
      Location: Series 1: Lewis "Lew" Dodd

  • Series 2: Elizabeth "Tib" Dodd

  • Series 3: Dodd Descendants

    • Description: Correspondence--Sally Dodd

      Includes letters from Sally Dodd to Lew and Tib Dodd about WWCE and nursing at St. Luke's

      Dates: 1939-1942
      Container: Box 2
      Location: Series 3: Dodd Descendants
    • Description: Correspondence--Sally Dodd Hall
      Dates: 1948-1960
      Container: Box 2
      Location: Series 3: Dodd Descendants
    • Description: Diary (author unknown)
      Dates: approximately 2001-2002
      Container: Box 2
      Location: Series 3: Dodd Descendants
    • Description: Ship Log: "Chabuka"
      Dates: approximately 1977-1981
      Container: Box 2
      Location: Series 3: Dodd Descendants
    • Description: Diary: Sally and Elton's trip to Rome
      Dates: 2005
      Container: Box 2
      Location: Series 3: Dodd Descendants
    • Description: Diary: Becky Karschney

      Includes genealogy of Dodd family, Covid-19 reflections, incarceration of Joe Hall

      Dates: 2019-2021
      Container: Box 2
      Location: Series 3: Dodd Descendants

  • Series 4: Dodd Family

    • Description: Photographs--miscellaneous

      Includes photos of the Dodd trip west (1927), family, boats, landscape

      Container: Box 2
      Location: Series 4: Dodd Family
    • Description: Photographs--miscellaneous

      Includes miscellaneous family photos and nitrate negatives, postcard photos documenting the First Insurrection at Agua Preita (April 1911)

      Container: Box 7
      Location: Series 4: Dodd Family
    • Description: Loomis Dean photographs
      5 photographs

      Includes a letter from TIME magazine editor

      Loomis Dean shot an unpublished series of photos of the Dodds in their Yellow Island home for LIFE magazine.

      Dates: 1949
      Container: Box 5
      Location: Series 4: Dodd Family
    • Description: Burton Glinn photographs
      14 photographs

      Burton Glinn shot a series of photos of the Dodds in their Yellow Island home for LIFE magazine. This series includes a number of aerial photos of Yellow Island.

      Dates: 1954
      Container: Box 5
      Location: Series 4: Dodd Family
    • Description: Postcard Album
      1 album

      Picture postcards

      Dates: undated
      Container: Box 6
      Location: Series 4: Dodd Family
    • Description: Emma Lou Dodd scrapbook

      Apple Blossom Princess and graduation ephemera, clippings, and photographs

      Dates: 1941
      Container: Box 8
      Location: Series 4: Dodd Family
    • Description: Photograph of St. Mary's Ship
      Container: Box 2
      Location: Series 4: Dodd Family
    • Description: Genealogy of the Daniel Dod Family 1615-1940
      1 bound volume

      Includes detailed family tree, handwritten note inside front cover

      Dates: 1940
      Container: Box 2
      Location: Series 4: Dodd Family
    • Description: Ancestors and Descendants of Lewis Dodd and Elizabeth (Baldwin) Dodd
      Dates: undated
      Container: Box 2
      Location: Series 4: Dodd Family
    • Description: Thomas Ferrier and Some of His Descendants

      compiled by Elizabeth Ferrier Lane

      Dates: 1906
      Container: Box 2
      Location: Series 4: Dodd Family
    • Description: "Seven Summer Days"

      Includes a narrative of summer 1978 with accompanying photographs, oral histories of Sarah Dodd Hall and Joseph Elton Hall III.

      Dates: 1978
      Container: Box 3
      Location: Series 4: Dodd Family
    • Description: Newspaper clippings
      Container: Box 3
      Location: Series 4: Dodd Family
    • Description: Ephemera

      Includes "Open Letter to Dodd-Hall family," notes poems, maps

      Dates: undated
      Container: Box 3
      Location: Series 4: Dodd Family
    • Description: "Our trip to the West Indies, Venezuela and Panama Canal"

      Includes a printed and bound travel diary with photos glued in; possibly created by George Wrightman (sp?)

      Dates: 1907
      Container: Box 3
      Location: Series 4: Dodd Family

  • Series 5: Books with marginalia and ephemera

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Subject Terms

  • Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington)


2022 (Last modified: 4/26/2022)

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