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Cage 594
Arthur E. Victor
Papers, 1882-1986

The papers of Arthur E. Victor contained in this collection are the second group of Victor's papers accessioned by the WSU Libraries. The first accession (Cage 376) was donated by Arthur E. Victor in 1977. The second accession (MS89-11) was donated by Lila Mae Victor in 1989, two years after the death of A.E. Victor, her husband. Many of the files contained in this collection come from the Decimal File Victor kept while employed by the National Housing Agency. Papers forming the second accession were processed and arranged by Liza R. Rognas in September, 1992.

BIOGRAPHY

Arthur Earl Victor was born March 30, 1900 near Mayview, Washington. His family began homesteading in 1877 near Mayview, a town named for Victor's aunt. Victor spent his early years on his parent's wheat ranch in Garfield County; he went to high school in both Hillsboro, Oregon and Pullman, Washington and then joined the Navy in 1918. In 1921 Victor married Lila Mae Miller whom he met while attending Oregon State College after WWI. Together they worked the farm in Garfield County and Victor made an income as a carpenter and mechanic. In the mid 1920s, he went to North Idaho to work for lumber baron Fred Herrick. When Herrick's business collapsed in 1928, Victor turned to carpentry and construction to make ends meet. He and Lila also ran a flower business for a time.

During the mid 1930s, Victor began employment with the United States Soil Conservation Service. From 1935 to 1942 he managed 18 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps in the Northwest. After his work with the CCC, Victor worked as a housing expeditor for the National Housing Agency (NHA). Much of his work for NHA included the operation of War Housing Centers in many Northwest cities to secure housing for WWII veterans. After the NHA housing expeditor's office in Spokane closed in the late 1940s, Victor obtained a position as executive secretary of the Home Builders Association of Spokane. He also worked for Mobile Homes Corp. and built 300 homes in the mid 1950s. Lila and A.E. Victor opened a home-based lapidary supply business in 1955 and ran this successfully for ten years before their retirement in 1965. In the years between his retirement and his death in 1987, Victor worked with Lila on their lapidary publishing business. He helped establish the first federal employees credit union in Spokane, served on the Mayor's committee to advise small businesses and was active in SCORE, the Service Corps of Retired Executives.

ARRANGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION

Papers of Arthur E. Victor consist chiefly of correspondence, enclosures and reports regarding Victor's involvement with housing agencies and programs, and correspondence, research notes and drafts concerned with historical projects and writings undertaken by Victor. Also included are a variety of documents concerning personal business, volunteer activities, and his earlier federal employment with the Soil Conservation Service. Papers were arranged by the WSU Libraries staff. Several series of file folders have been established. Papers in each folder are arranged chronologically, insofar as possible.

The first series, Correspondence, is arranged alphabetically by folder subject title. It contains correspondence pertaining to Victor's work with the CCC and the NHA as well as some letters pertaining to his research on the Mayview Tramway and the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The latter are good primary sources as they were written by people who operated and used the Mayview Tramway and who were related to victims of the massacre.

The second series contains personal and business files arranged categorically beginning with the most personal records and ending with business records for the lapidary shop. Also included is a folder on the Victor family genealogy and pioneer history written by his aunt in 1936.

The third series is arranged categorically into manuscripts, typescripts and research and thereunder alphabetically by folder title. Included are Victor's published stories about pioneer life and work in the logging camps. Series number four contains records of land surveys, and sale records of property in Benton and Franklin counties (Washington) during the 1970s. It is arranged alphabetically by county and thereunder chronologically.

The fifth series contains the remnants of Victor's files on two Spokane organizations, the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) and the Home Builder's Association, and is arranged chronologically within each file. Series six, Federal Agencies, is arranged chronologically within each file. It begins with Civilian Conservation Corps records and a file on the Soil Conservation Service. The National Housing Agency decimal file begins with file number 43 in box five; thereafter the files are arranged according to this decimal system, a copy of which can be found in file 43. This series does not contain the complete NHA decimal file, but rather a selection kept by Victor in his capacity as Housing Expeditor and removed in 1947 when his office closed. Some interesting items include: FHA article, ``Relationship Between Condition of Dwellings and Rentals by Race," (1946), and 1940s housing project records for Lewiston, Pullman, Orofino, Spokane, Grand Coulee and Yakima.

Series seven contains Victor's pocket notebooks, a day diary, business cards, some piano music and one published volume, ``The Finger Post to Public Business," (1864). The oversize folder contains an assortment of Newspapers saved from the 1940s and 1950s, FHA and NHA Veteran's Housing posters, maps, building blueprints, and a 1904 Washington General Election Ballot. These items are arranged according to size.

SERIES LIST
 
                                                     CONTAINERS
 
  Series 1. Correspondence                             1
 
  Series 2. Personal and Business Files                2
 
  Series 3. Manuscripts, Typescripts & Research        3
 
  Series 4. Victor Property Records                    4
 
  Series 5. Organization Records                       4
 
  Series 6. Federal Agency Reports & Admin Records    5-8
 
  Series 7. Newsclippings, Ephemera & Oversize        9-10;
 
CONTAINER LIST

BOX FOLDER   DESCRIPTION

SERIES ONE: Correspondence

1   1   General Correspondence 1949, 1967, 1985
    2   Correspondence: USDA Soil Conservation Service CCC Camps, 1949
    3   Letters re: Research on Mayview Tramway and Quarter
          Section articles.
    4   Letters, Mountain Meadows Massacre
    5   Local Agencies: FHA 1946-1947
    5a  NHA 1943-1946
    6   NHA:Housing Expeditor's Office 1943-1947
    6a  NHA:Reports 1947
    7   Personal Correspondence 1948
    8   Bertha Alexander 1943, 1974, 1978
 
SERIES TWO: Personal and Business Records

2   9   A.E. Victor Chronological History c 1966
    10  Victor Family Genealogy and Pioneer History c 1936
    11  Writings of Lila Mae Victor
    12  1968 Trip to Arizona
    13  Letter to Africa, draft, n.d. (biographical data)
    14  Old National Bank of Washington Receipts, 1972-1976
    15  Agate Shop
    16  1973 business records
    17  Lapidary Equipment Catalogs
    18  Home Laundry Bulletins 1922-1950
 
SERIES THREE: Manuscripts, Typescripts and Research

BOX FOLDER   DESCRIPTION

3   19  Bibliography of U.S. Campaigns Against American Indians
    20  "Indian Wars of the Inland Empire," Garrett B. Hunt 1908
    21  "Indian Battles of the Inland Empire," Eliz. Tannatt, 1914
    22  "Outline of Relations Between the U.S. and American Indians,"
    23  "Logging Camp Stories," A.E. Victor
    24  "An Old fashioned Election," A.E. Victor
    25  "Pomeroy Public School Record, " 1882
    26  Spokane History: "History of the City of Spokane," 1968 booklet
    27  "The Story of a Quarter Section," A.E. Victor
    28  "The Ubiquitous Bull Dozer," A.E. Victor
4   30  Mayview Tramway Article, Research and Photos
    31  Herrick File: Fredrick Herrick, Herrick Timber Research, Photos
 
SERIES FOUR: Victor Property Records

    32  1975 Survey: Benton County Land ( related map, folder 95)
    33  Title History: Benton County 1975-1977
    34  Land Sale: Benton County, 1977-1979

BOX FOLDER   DESCRIPTION

4   35  Property Sale: Franklin County, 1973-1976
 
SERIES FIVE: Organization Records

    36  Small Business Administration and S.C.O.R.E., 1968
    37  Spokane Cooperative, 1947
    38  S.C.O.R.E. newsclippings and photos
    39  S.C.O.R.E. Spokane Membership
    39a Home Builders Association
 
SERIES SIX: Federal Agency Reports and Administrative Records

BOX FOLDER   DESCRIPTION

5   40  CCC Carpenters, "Specifications for the Selection, Training
        and Testing of CCC Carpenters"
    41  CCC Pictorial Review, 1933
    42  Soil Conservation Service, 1939
    43  National Housing Agency: Miscellaneous 1946-1947
    43a NHA: Chronological Correspondence Between George Conger and
             Arthur Victor, 1945-1946
    44  FHA: Minimum Property Requirements c1935
    45  FHA: Confidential Report, 1942 "Memorandum on the Current Housing
             Situation in Spokane, WA"
    45a Veteran's Housing 1945-1947
    46  004c Reports: Field Survey for Land and Public Service Branch.
    47  004f4 Reports: NHA Local Weekly to Regional Office 1946-1947
    48  004k Reports: Building Maintenance Reports 1946-1947

BOX FOLDER   DESCRIPTION

6   49  131 Personnel-Locality Expeditor's Office 1947
    50  NHA Personal Papers 1947
    51  Federal Forms 1943-1948, Civil Service Applications, Income Tax
    52  NHA Travel Vouchers
    53  1945 Alabama Housing Market Analysis
    54  1946 Housing Demand and Supply, Spokane & Coeur D'Alene
    55  Public Housing in King County: Project Report 1939-1945
    56  Spokane Experimental Housing Market Analysis Oct.1,1944
    57  Spokane Homebuilding Issues 1946-1947
    58  1947 Housing Shortage: Wenatchee, Spokane, Walla Walla
    59  1947 Washington State Housing Questionnaire
    60  "A Long Range Plan for Salem, Oregon"
    61  Allied Industries for Homes 1948
    62  "Relationship Between Condition of Dwellings and
        Rentals by Race," journal article, 1946
    63  FHA Insurance Mortgage Portfolio, 1948

BOX FOLDER   DESCRIPTION

7   64  136 Veteran Income data 1947
    65  141 Building Suppliers
    66  142 Mailing List- Construction Suppliers
7   67  200 Legislation: 1947 Housing Bill (W-E-T)
    67a 1947 Housing Act
    68  305a Construction- Non-Residential May-Aug 1946
    69  305a Sept-Dec 1946
    70  305a Jan-June 1947

BOX FOLDER   DESCRIPTION

8   71  311 Construction/Prefabrication 1947
    72  312 Sawmills and Construction c1945
    73  315a Construction Materials
    74  316a Priorities- HH Monthly Compilation
    74a 401b Low Cost housing, Yakima. (Photos-Veterans Housing Project)
    75  414 NHA Permit System
    76  431 Program Goals and Market Analysis 1946-1947
    77  502 Grand Coulee Dam Housing Project
    78  503 Lewiston, ID Housing Project 1946-1947
    79      Orofino Housing Project
    80  506 Pullman Housing Project 1946-1947
    81  507 Spokane Housing Project
    82  531 Mayor's Committee, Spokane 1946-1947
 
SERIES SEVEN: Newsclippings, Ephemera and Oversize

BOX FOLDER   DESCRIPTION

9   83  619 Newsclippings May-July 1946
    84      August-Dec., 1946
    85      Jan.-March 1947
    86      April-July 1947
    87  Locality Expeditor Clippings
    88  Kodak Slide Descriptions-CCC (w/o slides)
    89  710 Materials Lists, Washington Housing 1946-1947
    90  Contractor's License - Oregon Law 1945
    91  716 Building Codes
    92  717 Platting and Subdivision
    93  720 Experimental Housing 1946

BOX FOLDER   DESCRIPTION

10  Victor's Note Pads, Business Card Collection, Date Books, "The Finger
    Post to Conducting Public Business," 1864, and Piano Music (1928)

OVERSIZE FOLDERS

    94  Newspaper Clippings: Weekly Oregonian frnt.pg, December 10, 1908;
        The Spokesman Review frnt.pg, April 1 & 2, 1909; Spokesman Review
        "State of Washington Was Born...25 Years Ago," Feb. 22,1914;
        Oregonian, "House Hunting-Big Game Safari" w/photo of Victor,
        Jan.7, 1945; Sunday Oregonian Magazine, Jan. 5,1945; Seattle Post
        Intelligencer, frnt.pg, Aug.9,10, 1945.
 
        War Posters: "Next!" U.S. Treasury War Loan (28x40), 1944; War
        Bonds Are Cheaper Than Wooden Crosses (22x30), 1944; Your War Bonds
        Are A Stake In The Future (22x30), 1943; For Liberty and Peace on
        Earth (22x30), 1944; Vacancies For Veterans First In '46 (3ea);
        Home Coming To No Home? 1946; Home Builder's Association -mounted
        magazine cover (11x13)nd.

BOX FOLDER   DESCRIPTION

10  95  MAPS: 1946 Bureau of Field Operations Civilian Production Admin.,
        "Regional and District Boundaries..."; 1945 Map of Spokane County
        Washington; 1942 Vancouver, Washington Vicinity Map by Harold
        Tymer; n.d. Enterprise Ranger Dist., Utah; n.d. Metzger's Garfield
        County; 1975 Plat Map \#90 Sec.9,T8NR, 30EWM Benton County,WN;
        1948 Columbia River Basin Comprehensive plan; 1944 Grant County;
        n.d. Walla Walla, WA Chamber of Commerce Map; 1943 U.S. Dept. of
        Interior, Bur. of Reclaimation, Columbia River Project, WA- Irri
        gation System; 1962 Enterprize Ranger Dist.,D-1; 1904 Pomeroy
        Election Ballot; 1931 U.S. Geo. Survey blueprint, Tacoma Dist.,
        Plans for Reinforced Concrete House and Well for Water Stage Rec.