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Cage 219
William O. Druffel
Papers, 1920-1962

The papers of William O. Druffel were a gift to Washington State University Library by Mrs. Charlotte Hicks Druffel in November 1963. This material was temporarily processed in 1964 and was reprocessed and described in May, 1974, by Torchie Corey and Terry Abraham.

BIOGRAPHY

William O. (Bill) Druffel was born in Spokane, Washington, September 7, 1894, the son of Joseph and Adelaide Druffel. At the age of six years, the Druffels moved to a farm near Pine City, then to Colton, Washington, where Bill grew up. He capped his education at St. Martins College in Olympia, receiving an M.A. in 1911. In 1916 he was employed as a printer's apprentice, then as a bookkeeper for a grain firm. This was followed by a position with the First National Bank of Pullman. In 1920 he became Cashier of the Farmer's State Bank of Johnson, while the same year he was married to Miss Charlotte Hicks of Pullman, Washington. In 1925, he became cashier of the Security State Bank of Colton, holding that position for over twentyfive years. Between 1933 and 1940 he also managed the Highway Garage Hardware.

His civic activities included several terms as Mayor of Colton, member of the school board, Whitman County Commissioner, President of the Washington State Association of County Commissioners, and Vice-President of the National Association of County Officials.

He was a veteran of a World War I Balloon Company, and active as Company Commander in the National Guard during and after World War II. He was also a member of the Pullman Ration Board during that period.

From 1958 until his death Bill Druffel was President of the WSU Friends of the Library in which he played an active supporting role. Much of his FOL-related activities are documented in the records of that organization.

He died on December 12, 1962, in Colton, Washington.

ARRANGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION

The papers of William O. Druffel consist of correspondence, clippings, notes, publications, photographs, scrapbooks and other material arranged in four categories documenting his Washington State Guard activities, his interest and support of local government, material collected and written about the history of Colton, Washington, followed by a small group of miscellaneous personal material, including the accession file and a large scrapbook of clippings.

CONTAINER LIST

Box	Folder	Description	Number of Items
Series 1: Washington State Guard
1	1	Scrapbook, 1942-1945. Clippings concerning World War II, the Washington State Guard activities in the state and Whitman County.	58 1.
	2	Scrapbook, 1943-1946. Several hundred unmounted clippings concerning WW II, and Washington State Guard activities.	26 1.
	3	Company "C", 1948-1962. Clippings, membership lists, financial records, The "C" Breeze, drafts of speeches and articles, rosters, membership cards, and other records, correspondence and memoranda concerning Company "C", Washington State Guard and its reunions.	100
	4	Photographs, ca. 1943. Snapshots of military encampment.	170
Series 2: County Government
2	5	Government, 1952-1961. Correspondence, clippings and speeches concerning local government.	19
	6	Gas Tax Funds, 1952-1954. Correspondence, memoranda, notes, news bulletins, and other papers concerning allocation formula, and other highway matters.	18
	7-8	Washington State Association of County Commissioners, 1951-1960. Correspondence, reports, speeches, memoranda, minutes, programs, certificates and other papers.	140
	9	Idaho Association of County Commissioners and Clerks, 1954-1959. Correspondence, programs, speeches and other papers.	34
	10	Intergovernmental Relations Committee, 1957-1958. Correspondence, minutes, transcripts of testimony before the Intergovernmental Relations Committee of the Committee on Government Relations of the U.S. House of Representatives.	29
	11-12	National Association of County Officials, 1949-1961. Correspondence, memoranda, notes, speeches and other papers.	100
Series 3: History
3	13	Schools, 1935-1962. Clippings on the Colton schools.	100
	14	Notes on the history of Colton, 1936-1950.	25
	15	Notes on pioneers (primarily on cards), n.d.	115
	16	Notes on the history of Colton, 1920-1956. Includes deeds, notes, lists, title abstracts, announcements and other papers.	20
	17	Register of pioneers of Colton, May 23, 1943. Pages in a fragment of a Johnson bank ledger.	3 p.
	18	Colton pioneer picnic, May 29, 1960. Scrapbook of photographs.	1 v.
	19	Colton community center, July, 1949. Scrapbook of photographs.	1 v.
	20	Photographs: Colton, Uniontown, pioneers, Whitman County scenes, ca. 1900-1961.	100
4	21	Johnson history, particularly Jonathan Johnson, 1957-1959.	8
	22	NPRR action to discontinue station at Johnson, 1927.	10
	23	Precinct #24, Johnson, Washington, Registration Officer (W.O. Druffel) Papers, 1924.	20
	24	Steptoe Butte, by B. F. Manring and Troy Lindley, n.d.	2
	25	Whitman County, by James Short, ca. 1960.	2 v.
Series 4: Personal
	26	Election scrapbook, 1956.	108
	27	Druffel Family [i.e. Miscellaneous], n.d.	10
	28	Stewart Holbrook correspondence, 1960-1961.	14
	29	American Balloon Corps Veterans, correspondence, 1962.	5
	30	Mrs. Druffel's correspondence with WSU, 1962-1966.	28
5	31	Scrapbook, Sept. 1938-Jan. 1940.	1 v.