Archives West Finding Aid

The Washington Water Power Company papers in the WSU Library are drawn from parts of the WWP records no longer needed for the use of this currently active organization. The collection contains fairly complete records, both illustrative and documentary, of the WWP from before its organization in 1889 to the 1920s. Some material for later dates is also included. Approximately 2/3 of the collection is correspondence from 1888 to about 1930. The correspondence relates to the persons of W.S. Norman, general manager of the various companies which preceeded Washington Water Power before 1895; David Huntington who succeeded Norman as general manager of the reorganized Washington Water Power Co. and who later served as President of the corporation until 1929; and of William Augustus White, the New York investment banker who lead the reorganization committee and who later chaired the company finance committee.

The collection also contains certain basic company records such as the minute books of the Board of Trustees, Board of Directors, Finance Committee and Executive Committee. Several hundred contracts and other documents are also included. Annual reports from 1910 to 1942 are included with a series of other materials which briefly illustrate the history and description of the company.

The collection also contains the materials collected by the company during the controversies over public-owned electric power facilities. This material consists largely of publicity put out by proponets of various positions on public power and contains an interesting collection of several hundred pamphlets, brochures and leaflets arguing various sides of the public power question.