Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections

Summary Information

Repository

Washington State University Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections

Creator

Lewis, Joseph Donald

Title

Joseph Donald Lewis Papers

ID

Cage 227

Date [inclusive]

1900-1968

Extent

7 containers., 6 linear feet of shelf space.

Language

Collection materials are in English.

Abstract

Correspondence, financial records, newsletters, clippings, speeches, and a 16 mm. film, called Time Pulls the Trigger, by Lewis's anti-smoking organization, Nicotine Unlimited, founded in 1947; photographs and scrapbooks of his visit to Greece, 1953-1955; and photographs, scrapbooks and other papers relating to Lewis's employment at Washington Water Power, 1912-1953.

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Biography/History

Born in Chester, Wisconsin on September 4, l884, Joseph Donald Lewis moved to Spokane in 1909. After working for a year as an electrician on the construction of the Old National Bank, he started working for the Washington Water Power Company. Lewis worked at Little Falls his first year at Washington Water Power, and at Long Lake from 1911 to 1915. After working in Lind, Okanogan and the Palouse area, Lewis became district manager in Pullman in 1928. In 1936, he was promoted to Division Manager. He retired from Washington Water Power in 1953 and accepted a two-year appointment in Greece with Ebasco Services, Inc. There, he was one of four district managers in charge of installing a new power plant.

Lewis was involved in many activities in retirement upon his return from Greece, such as the Whitman County Red Cross, Kiwanis, Toastmasters and Washington State Council for Youth and Children. Much of his spare time, however, was spent on Nicotine Unlimited, an anti-smoking organization which he founded in 1947. He corresponded regularly with the members of the organization and sent out occasional bulletins. As a functioning, active organization, Nicotine Unlimited appears to have depended entirely on Lewis' efforts. It was quiescent while he was in Greece, and seems to have halted operations entirely during his lingering illness in the last years of his life. Lewis died on June 11, 1969, survived by his wife, Alice, and a daughter, Mrs. Duane Bailey.

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Scope and Content

The papers and photographs of J.D. Lewis date from 1900 to 1968 but most of the material dates from 1947 to 1968.

The Nicotine Unlimited series consists primarily of correspondence between Lewis, members of the organization, and other anti-smoking organizations such as the American Cancer Society, American Temperance Society and the Non-Smokers Association of Canada. The anti-smoking literature dates back to 1905 and includes pamphlets, reports, clippings and magazine articles. The majority of material in the Subject Files concerns Lewis' civic and organizational activities and dates from 1955 to 1966. The small amount of Washington Water Power material is principally on an electric range sales campaign in 1940.

Almost one half of the bulk of the collection is photographs. A large number of them were taken between 1953 and 1955 when Lewis was working in Greece.

The largest number of photographs in the subseries Black and White Prints and Photograph Albums are from Greece. In the Washington Water Power folder, there are prints of stoves and kitchens from the early 1920s. The Scrapbooks and Clippings series contains material on Washington Water Power dating from 1912 to 1928 and on Lewis from 1938 to 1966.

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Arrangement

There are four series: Nicotine Unlimited, Subject Files, Photographs and Scrapbooks and Clippings.

Ther subject files are arranged alphabetically.

The folder numbers in the first subseries in the photographs refer to the slide storage sheets. Within each of the three subdivisions-Pacific Northwest, U.S. and Canada, and Overseas- the transparencies are arranged alphabetically by place.

Lewis had his own indexing system for almost all of the rolls of 35 mm black and white negatives. Each roll is numbered and the contents listed in numberical order in a series of notebooks. The subjects of the negatives are indexed in each notebook. More detail on the people identified in the notebooks is recorded on a tape made by Lewis' son-in-law, Duane Bailey. The notebooks and the tape are in Container 4.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections  © 2012

http://www.libraries.wsu.edu/masc/

Terrell Library

P.O. Box 645610

Pullman, WA, 99164-5610 USA

509-335-6691

mascref@wsu.edu

Restrictions on Access

This collection is open for research use.

Acquisition Information

The papers of J.D. Lewis are comprised of three accessions. The first accession was donated to the Washington State University Libraries prior to 1970 by Mrs. J.D. Lewis. The second accession (MS 78-57) was donated in December 1978 by Al Butler and the third (MS 80-10) in March 1980 by Duane Bailey. The three accessions were processed as one collection in August 1983 by Anne Frantilla.

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Names and Subjects

Corporate Name(s)

Subject(s) :

• Nicotine Unlimited
• Washington Water Power Company

Geographic Name(s)

• Greece--Description and travel

Personal Name(s)

Creator(s) :

• Lewis, Joseph Donald, 1884-1968 --Archives

Subject(s)

• Tobacco habit --United States--Prevention
• Irrigation
• Photographs
• Scrapbooks
• Washington (State)

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Detailed Description of Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Series 1: Nicotine Unlimited
Correspondence
			box	folder
1947-1952  600 items.			1	1-6
1956-1961  600 items.			1	7-12
1962-1968  800 items.			1	13-20
			box	folder
Bulletins 1948-1968  75 items.			2	21
Business Papers 1948-1968  75 items.			2	22
Photographs 1949-1952  18 items.			2	23
Other Papers 1949-1968  50 items.			2	24
Anti-Smoking Literature 1905-1968  75 items.			2	25-29
"Time Pulls the Trigger" (16 mm film), produced by Nicotine Unlimited			7
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Series 2: Subject Files
Kiwanis Club
			box	folder
Correspondence and other papers 1959-1962  30 items.			2	30
Bulletins and Newsletters l960-1962  50 items.			2	31
			box	folder
Lincoln Notes undated  50 items.			2	32
Red Cross Correspondence 1956  15 items.			2	33
Speech Notes 1961-1962  50 items.			2	34
Toastmaster's Club 1961-1962  50 items.			2	35
Washington State Council for Youth and Children
			box	folder
Minutes 1960-1966  35 items.			3	36
Correspondence and other papers 1956-1966  50 items.			3	37
Travel Expenses 1961-1966  20 items.			3	38
			box	folder
Washington Water Power 1920-1956  45 items.			3	39
Other Papers 1910-1962  10 items.			3	40
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Series 3: Photographs
35 mm Color Transparencies
Pacific Northwest
			box	folder
Albeni 1953  8 items.			3	41
Cabinet Gorge 1951-1952  23 items.			3	42-43
Long Lake 1950  15 items.			3	43
Manito Garden 1952  4 items.			3	44
Naches Pass undated  7 items.			3	44
St. John Kiddie Parade 1951  40 items.			3	45-46
Univ. of Idaho Homecoming Parade 1949-1950  40 items.			3	47-48
W.S.U. College Days undated  6 items.			3	49
W.S.U. Homecoming Parade 1951  60 items.			3	50-52
Washington Water Power Activities 1950-1953  24 items.			3	53-54
Wenatchee Apple Blossom Parade undated  20 items.			3	55
Whitman County 1950-1953			3	56
U.S. and Canada
			box	folder
Alaska 1951-1952  65 items.			3	57-60
Atlantic City 1950  20 items.			3	61
California undated  20 items.			3	62
Canada 1951-1953 1960  17 items.			3	63
Chicago 1952  16 items.			3	64
Dallas 1950  12 items.			3	65
Gettysburg 1960  20 items.			3	66
New Orleans 1950  29 items.			3	67-68
New York 1950-1952  99 items.			3	69-73
Washington D.C. 1950 1960  20 items.			3	74
Yellowstone undated  16 items.			3	75
Other Cities and States 1950 1960  32 items.			3	76-77
Overseas 1953-1955
			box	folder
Egypt  32 items.			3	78-79
Greece  524			3	80-106
Italy  48 items.			3	107-109
London  20 items.			3	110
Turkey  35 items.			3	111-112
Others 1949-1955  84 items.			3	113-117
35 mm Black and White Negatives 1937-1942  The rolls of negatives are numbered 1-281; rolls 69-188 are missing. Lewis compiled a list of the contents as well as an index for rolls 1-213. The notebooks which contain these lists as well as a tape with other descriptive remarks are in Container 4.				box 4-5
Black and White Prints
			box	folder
J.D. Lewis and Others 1948-1949  13 items.			6	118
Pullman 1935  2 items.			6	119
War Bond Drive 1942-1945  8 items.			6	120
Washington Water Power 1900-1945  60 items.			6	121
Bellydancers in Cairo 1953-1955  20 items.			6	122
Greece 1953-1955  300 items.			6	123-124
Photo Albums
			box	folder
Washington Water Power 1911-1923  1 v.			6	125
W.W.P. and Palouse Scenes 1930-1939   l v.			6	126
Greece 1953-1955  5 v.			6	127-128
Others 1936-1955  4 v.			6	129-130
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Series 4: Scrapbooks and Clippings
			box	folder
Washington Water Power 1912-1928  1 v.			6	131
Lewis 1938-1953   1 v.			6	132
Lewis 1939-1966  32 items.			6	133
Lewis 1953-1957   1 v.			6	134
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