Andrew Weymouth
VRAF Grant

In September 2021, I was awarded a grant from the Visual Resources Association Foundation to partner with the Tacoma Public Library's Northwest Room, to help digitize the 500,000+ item Richards Collection, a repository of the commercial photography studio active in the Puget Sound from 1921 to 1980. The goal of the grant was to help digitize what was regarded as a "dark archive," and focus on better representing Tacoma's historical BIPOC community.

Through a collaborative effort with Northwest Room librarian and project sponsor Spencer Bowman, we ultimately found that the collection was not so much "dark," as past digitization efforts were scattered, archiving practices were inconsistent, and the inherent nature of Richards' practice created a large amount of material which provided little contextual information for potential users.

Impact

Of the 258 items which were selected to be arranged, digitized and described, 39 represented these communities.

While this number feels minuscule in comparison with the relative size of the collection, it represents a 60% increase in BIPOC representation from the state of the collection when I began this work in September.

That said, the significance of these photos extend beyond the backgrounds of the people occupying the frame and tell a much broader story about the evolving social fabric of Tacoma in the twentieth century.

Determining this involved creating visualizations of the items that had been digitized, as well as visualizations of the largest gaps in the collection, to pinpoint where to investigate. Using these guides, I was able to determine the pockets were generally duplicate photos of an item which had already been digitized, or an item which held little contextual value for most patrons.

Explore these interactive network visualizations:

Digitized Items

Collection Gaps

BIPOC Representation Map

J-156-38, the only picture of an African American laborer I was able to locate in the entire collection, portrays a worker securing lumber into a vault where it will be treated with arsenic to prevent rot. Even considering the early state of workplace safety in 1940, this photo illustrates how African American laborers were regarded in midcentury Tacoma, and may also provide some insight into the scarcity of representation within the Richards' collection.

If African American workers were consistently given dangerous positions that might have resulted in legal repercussions, it's unlikely that the Richards' Studio photographers would be using them in the extensive marketing photos which they produced for industrial firms during this period.

Approaching this project, I had assumed that the proximity of Tacoma and the neighboring Puyallup Reservation would make some amount of visual documentation inevitable. What I found was that the Richards Studio produced many more examples of Caucasian people in Native American dress than actual Indigenous communities. That said, one example of Native Americans in the Richards Collection felt significant.

In RSO-28, a group which appears to be wearing Veteran of Foreign Wars (VFW) garrison hats and casual clothing stand alongside their wives and children and a Native American family in traditional dress on Owens Beach, a popular Tacoma park overlooking the Puget Sound.

While no context was included with this material and the Native American family is 'othered' through their differing dress and placement at the front of the group, the tone of the photo reads more like an effort of reconciliation than exploitation, with audience expressions ranging from cordial smiles to a respectful solemnity.

Though this interpretation is vulnerable to my own projection, the public setting, mixed genders and diverse backgrounds of the group may help add nuance to our understanding of reconciliation efforts and the social mindset of fraternal organizations like the VFW in midcentury Tacoma.

These themes of outreach are plain in perhaps the most historically significant photograph I discovered in the collection, and the only item which included an archival description written by Bob Richards. The note adhered onto the back of RSO-40 in type-written paper begins:

"Marching forward, arm in arm with their fellow young Americans are girls of the Tacoma and Puyallup Valley Japanese American Citizens League, a substantial part of the national Nisei soldiers and white boys of the same companies, at the wind-up of the grand march as they danced in Tacoma's Odd Fellows Hall. Americans all -- and no doubt of it."

This photo, taken two months before the Pearl Harbor attacks, documents an event the Puyallup Valley Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League hosted in support of National Defense Week to help unify efforts between the 250 Nisei (second generation) soldiers active at the Fort Lewis Army base and Caucasian soldiers. The evening included an informal dinner with Issei (first generation) family members, dancing and singing the American national anthem. The photo captures the relationship of the Japanese American community and their embeddedness within the US military and the Puget Sound before WWII and later incarceration.

Kodachrome
Stereo
Transparencies

I made the most progress with unconventional photographic formats. These included oversized panorama film prints, which the studio often used for group photos, and Kodachrome Stereo Transparencies, which were used only briefly in the mid-1950s to document weddings and public events.

The latter required scanning each item's two images at a very high resolution, then joining the images in Photoshop and fading from one another in a GIF file to recreate the 3D effect one would have originally experienced through a custom Kodak viewer.

Weddings

Finally, I am so happy that I pursued the Kodachrome 3D wedding materials in the Richards Collection. I was reluctant to look into it for the same reasons as the Richards yearbook photos; uniformity is the primary intention.

Midcentury wedding photos had very defined templates that the Richards Studio catered to regardless of their clients or affiliated churches. That said, the Japanese American weddings captured in the collection align most closely to the material I hoped to promote with this grant project.

In contrast to previous examples, these photos are documenting a culture independent from the context of struggle and racism. The formal dress, ornamental arrangements and social ceremonies provide a unique insight into a resilient, joyful community, still thriving in the Pacific Northwest.

Conclusion

Reflecting on this project, I am grateful for the opportunity to interact with the very talented and insightful staff of the Northwest Room. Being able to learn from and collaborate with this group in person during the pandemic has been an incredibly special archive experience

and I am deeply indebted to the Visual Resources Association Foundation for connecting me with this institution, and hopefully contributing over time to the greater Tacoma community.

All images courtesy of the Tacoma Public Library

RS0-25
Panorama of group of people at a lake with a man in the background climbing a tree.

RSS-51
Float for Tacoma Public Utilities with Daffodil Queen waving at the 1954 Daffodil Parade. A Puyallup Furniture sign can be seen in the background.

J-156-38

African American laborer seen in front of what appears to be a large, sealable container for treating lumber with arsenic to prevent rot.

RSO-28
Native American and European Americans posing at Owens beach in informal as well as traditional dress.

RSO-40
Overhead Shot of the members of the Puyallup Valley Japanese Americans Club arm in arms with Caucasian soldiers in an auditorium as the Brad Banner band plays on stage.

RSS-57
Float for Pacific Lutheran College with participants smiling below a representation of palm trees at the 1954 Daffodil Parade.

RSS-03
Unidentified float in the 1956 Daffodil Parade on Pacific Avenue with North Pacific Plywood Inc. building and water tower in the background. The float depicts a mountain made out of daffodils, a sheet for the snowcap and green crepe paper grass. There is a Paul Bunyan character skiing down the mountain with a beard and a red cap.

RSS-12
An unidentified float carrying five waving people in swim suits in the 1956 Daffodil Parade on Pacific Avenue with North Pacific Plywood Inc. building and water tower in the background.

RSS-52
Float for Tacoma Public Utilities with Daffodil Queen and other participants at the 1954 Daffodil Parade. A Macy's building with a Coca-Cola painted sign can be seen in the background along with a crowd on the roof of The Music Shop and a Jeweler with an obscured name.

RSS-46
Float for the Tacoma Group of Pacific Reserve Fleets U.S. Naval Station depicting Mount Rainier.

RSS-126
Bride and child at Yoshioka-Mizutani wedding holding floral arrangements. Display of bananas, apples and oranges can be seen in background.

RSS-094
Lyons-Anderson wedding photo with the couple posing inside of a car with a pinwheel spinner on the antenna.

RSS-115
Yasuda-Miyamoto wedding photo of the couple inside of a vehicle with plaid interior seating.

RSS-066
Paulson-Burns wedding photo with attendees gathered around a table holding large punch bowls and kransekake topped with Finnish and American flags.

RSS-094
Lyons-Anderson wedding photo with the couple posing inside of a car with a pinwheel spinner on the antenna.

RSS-111
Overhead shot of the Boitono-Ennis wedding showing bride and groom interacting with attendees on a street with bridesmaids.

About
the author

Andrew Weymouth is an archivist, exhibit designer and writer working in Tacoma, WA, currently completing an MLIS degree from the University of Washington.

Access Portfolio, CV and learn about work on the website below

or reach out directly:

andrewrainsweymouth@gmail.com

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