Hazel (Wood) Niendorff (1898-1991) worked in the Seattle Chamber of Commerce in the Research and Statistical Department in the 1920s. Married to
The bulk of the collection consists of scrapbooks about marine disasters and maritime history in the North Pacific, from the 16th century through the 1960s, with the bulk of the materials concerning the period from approximately the 1850s through the 1930s. Niendorff compiled the scrapbooks beginning in the 1920s and continued through the 1960s, though only a few scrapbooks list the date of their compilation. The territory covered in the scrapbooks ranges from the coast of California, north past Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska, as well as around Siberia. The scrapbooks are comprised of newspapers clippings from the 1920s-1960s, transcriptions from earlier newspapers and transcriptions from old books on maritime history, such as Lewis and Dryden's 1895
The scrapbooks also contain brochures and pamphlets, information Niendorff collected from government records, correspondence, as well as original writing by Niendorff, including lists of sailing vessels and shipwrecks, and narrative chronologies of disasters. Materials within the scrapbooks sometimes overlap, as Niendorff compiled the scrapbooks based variously on casualties, geographical location, industries such as lumber, wheat, whaling and fur trading, and individual people. Many of the geographically themed scrapbooks represent locations associated with Northwest lumber mills, such as Port Gamble, Port Blakeley, Port Ludlow, Port Madison, Port Discovery, Utsalady and Seabeck.
The collection also includes Navy pilot and current charts of the North Pacific from the 1930s and one map of British Columbia. Other materials unrelated to maritime history include a scrapbook of clippings on Salomon August Andree's 1897 fatal balloon flight to the Arctic, an index to the holdings of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce Alaska Bureau library, and a series of scrapbooks concerning the development of Seattle.
Arranged into series and subseries:
The following volumes of the scrapbooks are available in digital format: Volumes 1-23, 26-29, 31-36, 40-47, and 51-66.
The collection is open to the public by appointment.
Digital copies must be used in place of original scrapbooks when available. Contact the repository for more information.
The Museum of History & Industry is the owner of the materials in the Sophie Frye Bass Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from MOHAI before any reproduction use. The museum does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
Hazel W. Niendorff Scrapbooks on North Pacific Marine Casualties and Maritime History, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle
Gift of William W. Niendorff, September 8, 1989 (Accession No. 1989.83) and of William and Gayle Niendorff, November 26, 2007 (Accession No. 2007.31).
The collection consists of two accessions received from the donor several years apart, Accession No. 1989.83 and Accession No. 2007.61.
Due to the fragile condition of the scrapbooks, microfilm copies were made of most of the volumes. MOHAI received a Washington Preservation Initiative grant to preserve the scrapbooks, which were microfilmed in 2004 by OCLC Digital Collection & Preservation Services. In 2023, digital copies of these microfilms were made by Backstage Library Works.
Gaps in numbering are a result of the transfer of items (books and pamphlets) to other collections within the repository.
Books and pamphlets received with Accession No. 1989.83 were transferred to the book and pamphlet collections in the repository.
Brochures, pamphlets and ephemera received with Accession No. 2007.61 were transferred to the pamphlet and ephemera collections in the repository.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.
The scrapbooks were compiled between the 1920s and 1960s, but contain materials about maritime history and disasters beginning in the 16th century. Dates of the described events, when known, are included in the scrapbook title; unless a more specific compilation date is known, no date is given.
Scrapbooks may include clippings, transcriptions from newspaper articles and books, original writing and correspondence between Niendorff and various individuals and offices regarding wrecks.
The United States Life-Saving Service was a United States government agency that grew out of private and local humanitarian efforts to save the lives of shipwrecked mariners and passengers. It began in 1848 and ultimately merged with the Revenue Cutter Service to form the United States Coast Guard in 1915.
These two scrapbooks consist largely of the General Summaries and lists of "Marine Casualties on the Pacific Coast" from the U.S. Life Saving Service and U.S. Coast Guard annual reports.
missing
Copy of 1916 translation by C.L. Andrews from
Includes 15 photographs.
Notes, clippings and narratives about the Oregon coast and shipwrecks.
Includes approximately 110 photographs.
Scrapbook consists largely of original photographs and clipped newspaper photographs of the "graveyard of the Pacific"--the stretch of coast between Tillamook Bay in Oregon and Vancouver Island known for its high number of shipwrecks. Includes photos of Neah Bay, Cape Flattery, Cape Alava, James Island, La Push, Abbey Island, Destruction Island, Cape Elizabeth, Point Granville, Cape Disappointment, Long Beach, Cape Arago and Vancouver Island. Also includes some transcriptions about shipwrecks.
Clippings about wrecks.
Lists and map.
List of shipwrecks compiled by Niendorff in 1931. Includes an introductory essay by Niendorff, and is arranged chronologically, then geographically, including wrecks in Washington, Oregon, California, British Columbia, Alaska, "at sea," and "in foreign waters."
Compiled by Niendorff from various sources
List of shipwrecks and lists of newspaper articles related to casualties, arranged chronologically, then by publication.
List of shipwrecks by category, then chronologically. Categories include whaling, Californian Gold Rush, lumber, wheat, etc. Also includes an alphabetical index of marine casualties and an outline of a proposed book,
Includes clippings of articles by John Lyman from
Include 9 photographs.
The scrapbook is divided into 7 sections: History, Dangers, North Pacific, Whaling Fleet, Casualties, Captains, U.S. Bureau of Education Reports, and Miscellaneous. Includes transcriptions from books and late 19th century government publications on whaling, as well as clippings from the 1930s-1950s.
Divided into sections: General, Oysters, Cod, Salmon, Halibut, Miscellaneous. Scrapbook consists largely of clippings from the1930s-1960, as well as a scholarly paper on Washington fisheries by University of Washington Dean of the College of Fisheries, John N. Cobb.
Includes information about vessels lost in pelagic sealing and about court cases and controversies, particularly in regard to the decimation of seal herds.
"Old South Leaflets" on the Northwest fur trade; Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada (1931) on trading vessels in the fur trade; and "A Narrative of Voyage and Commercial Enterprise" by Richard J. Cleveland (1842) about a typical voyage of a fur trading vessel to the Northwest coast.
Includes 26 photographs of ships, mostly British.
About the wheat industry and the "wheat fleet" ships. Includes an index to and histories of the ships.
Lists of ships, divided into sections: Puget Sound, Oregon, California, Index.
For more on the lumber industry, see also scrapbooks for Port Gamble, Port Blakeley, Port Ludlow, Port Madison, Port Discovery, Utsalady and Seabeck.
Divided into section by year. Includes lists and descriptions of ships, accounts of trips transcribed from newspapers, and general information about the lumber industry.
Lists, divided into sections by year.
Clippings, transcriptions of articles and lists of vessels. Divided into sections: Seattle, Olympia, Everett, Bellingham, Oregon, and British Columbia.
Includes 27 photographs.
Transcriptions of many articles and book excerpts from the late 19th century about the history of lumber mills in Washington. Divided into two section: history of the lumber industry, and of sailing ships used by the lumber industry in the late 19th-early 20th century. Also includes listings from the city directory.
Scrapbook about the lumber industry and pioneer mills at Ports Ludlow, Blakeley, Madison, Gamble and Discovery, and at Utsalady and Seabeck.
Includes 43 photographs of the San Juans, plus clippings and notes
Clippings and transcriptions with one section about Cape Flattery and another about Quillayute County (now Clallam County) including clippings about Destruction Island, Vancouver Island, Tatoosh Island and Cape Disappointment. Also includes an index to Clinton A. Snowden's
Includes 5 photographs. Divided into sections: Alaska, Klondike (background), Klondike ships, Siberian Trade, and Customs (consisting of "Annual Statement of the Commerce and Customs business of Alaska" for 1919, 1920 and 1922).
Transcriptions of
Includes 16 photographs. Includes a biographical sketch of Captain William Renton as well as a list of the lumber fleet at Port Blakeley in the late 19th century.
Divided into sections: William Sayward biography; William Sayward, 1852-1854; Cowlitz Trail; Joshua K. Thorndike; 1854-1858; A.A. Phinney; Puget Mill Co.; Shipbuilding.
Includes 12 photographs.
Includes a history of the lumber mill, a chronology of the mill from 1853-1868, and a chronology of ships that set sail from Port Madison circa 1930s-1950s.
Includes 12 photographs.
Includes information about the mill, the people and the history of Port Discovery, including narrative chronologies of the history and of ships which set sail from Port Discovery. Also includes narratives about marine casualties and clippings from the 1930s and 1950s.
Includes 14 photographs.
Materials about the lumber mill, and about Whidbey and Camano Islands, including a history of Penn's Cove, information on Whidbey Island settlers and chronologies of events, of ships sailing, and of wrecks.
Includes 1 photograph.
Includes a history of the Simpson Logging Company, articles about Ryderwood and Longview, and clippings about Grays Harbor from the 1920s.
Consists largely of clippings, including an extensive series of articles published in the
Clippings and booklets about apple (and other fruit) growing, including history and statistics. Also includes a series of clippings of reminiscences of Colville's settlers.
Mostly clippings, about the early settlements of the Yakima Valley, and about the area's birds and flowers. Also includes material about salmon, Native Americans and about reclamation, irrigation development and water rights.
Includes 14 photographs.
Information about Seabeck Mill and founders Marshall Blinn and J.R. Williamson, general history, lists of sailings and narratives on shipwrecks.
Clippings about Fred A. Zeusler, who made a career in the Coast Guard. Includes supplements to the newsletter of the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society written by or about Zeusler. Also includes transcript of
Three scrapbooks consisting largely of correspondence between Hazel Niendorff and Captain McDonald, in which they exchange information and photographs about maritime history.
Includes 25 photographs of ships.
Contains a short biography of McDonald, lists the ships on which he served and the corresponding jobs. Also includes an alphabetical index to ship references and ship photographs in all three volumes.
Includes 31 photographs.
Includes 8 photographs.
Scrapbooks consisting of clippings of Hal E. Jamison's newspaper column "Along the Waterfront," one volume for each year from 1935-1942. Scrapbooks for 1935-1939 have been bound into hardcover volumes. 1935 volume includes a subject index for that volume.
Binder of papers, largely correspondence, but also minutes and reports by Niendorff from period when Niendorff served on the review board to examine the accuracy of Gordon Newell's
Clippings, transcriptions from newspaper articles and books, and Niendorff's notes and about ships, trade, ship captains and other individuals associated with maritime industries.
Includes 52 photographs of ships and figureheads
. Includes poems with maritime themes, clippings and transcriptions, and indexes to illustrations in various books.
Includes clippings and a 1925 paper "The Necessity of Industrial Development in Seattle" by engineer Erwin L. Weber, and other articles by Weber.
Directory compiled by Hazel Niendorff. List of clubs by subject classification; state clubs related to Washington located in other states; and an alphabetical list of clubs giving address, phone number and list of officers.
Trade section of
Copies of special reports completed by Hazel Wood (Niendorff), presumably as part of her job in the Research and Statistical Department of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Includes reports on climate, forest resources, mineral resources, water power, and agriculture of the Pacific Northwest; the highway system of Washington; Alaska; Northwest ports; manufacturing; and business conditions and cost of living in Seattle.
Scrapbook of clippings (1930-1931) from the
Index to the library of the Alaska Bureau of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Index to bound volumes, Annual Reports, publication, maps, Resources and Products exhibit and famed photographs. Inscription: "Prepared and for the personal use of Hazel R. Wood (Mrs. Fred Niendorff)."