Library Guides: Civil Rights, Student Movements and Campus Protest: Primary Sources at Western On This Topic

Suggested Resources from Archives & Special Collections

Below are some suggested collections that are available through Archives & Special Collections. These lists are not exhaustive so please contact us for more information, to request a consultation and/or to schedule a research appointment.

CPNWS

Center for Pacific Northwest Studies

Contact cpnws@wwu.edu or (360) 650-7534 | Archives Building

American Civil Liberties Union, Whatcom County Records
Material generated at the national, state, and local levels of the ACLU covering a range of topics, including mandatory registration for the Selective Service, abortion rights, separation of church and state, sexual harassment, and criminal code reform.
Ashworth (Robert) Collection on the Union of Sexual Minorities Center
Robert Ashworth is a politically active member of the LGBTQ+ community in Bellingham, WA. During the 1970s and 1980s, he compiled this collection of papers documenting the activities of the Union of Sexual Minorities Center (USMC) of WWU.
Hands Off Washington Whatcom County Coalition Records
Document Whatcom County activism against anti-gay rights initiatives (including #608, 610, 167 and 166) in the 1990s. The collection also contains a large amount of subject and reference material relating to gay and lesbian issues.
Hartwell (George B.) Collection of Radical Publications
A collection of radical publications (primarily from the period 1966-1971), collected by George B. Hartwell in the course of his student activism at Western Washington State College (now Western Washington University).
Hildes (Larry) and Karen Weill Collection on Social Justice Issues and Activism
A collection containing pamphlets, posters, and published, promotional or education materials relating to social justice issues and activism in and around Bellingham, Washington.
Hughes (Robert E.) Papers
This collection documents the life and career of Methodist minister and life-long civil rights activist Reverend Robert E. Hughes. The majority of the records pertain to Reverend Hughes' work with the U.S. Department of Justice's Community Relations Service, as well as his post-retirement activism.
Western Washington University Centennial Oral History Project
Housed at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, these interviews document reflections of various Western faculty, staff, presidents and other administrators of the university from its origins as Bellingham Normal School to its current university status for the celebration of of its centennial.
Whatcom Human Rights Task Force Records
The records of the Whatcom Human Rights Task Force document the formation and activities of a community-based human rights organization in Whatcom County, WA. The collection spans the years 1994 to 2005, and contains administrative and financial records, materials documenting activities and events, newsletters, clippings, and other reference materials.

Special Collections

Contact speccoll@wwu.edu or (360) 650-3193 | Wilson Library

Archival Collections:

Special Collections Oral History Program
Interviews with former faculty members, administrators, staff and alumni, and others connected with Western. Some interviewees discuss campus unrest during their time here.
Campus History Collection
This is a photograph collection documenting the history and life of Western Washington University. It includes photos from its formation to the present day.
Campus History Vertical Files
Special Collections houses a substantial set of vertical files on various topics related to Campus History. There are two folders specifically related to "student protests," and there are also files for each of the presidents which may include information about student movements during their administration. An online guide to the collection, including a detailed list of folders (alphabetical by subject), is available here.
Faculty and Staff Vertical Files
This collection contains biographical information, article offprints, ephemera, and other miscellaneous materials by or about individual members of the faculty and staff at Western Washington University. In addition to this collection of vertical files, Special Collections holds the archival materials of WWU faculty and administrators such as Kathryn Anderson, Charles Henry Fisher, and W.W. Haggard.
Fairhaven College Collection
This archival collection contains records, publications, clippings and scrapbooks, photographs, slides, audiovisual and other material related to Fairhaven College from 1965 through approximately 2012.

Publications:

Campus Alliance for Peace Newsletter by Bellingham, WA : Campus Alliance for Peace, WWU Associated Students, 1983-
Call Number: Available at Archives & Special Collections--Special Collections Campus History Collection LD5776.2.C36 N4
The Chinook by American Indian Student Union of WWSC, Bellingham, Wash.: 1970 -
Call Number: Available at Archives & Special Collections--Special Collections Campus History Collection LD5776.2.A88 A4
"Official voice for American Indian Student Union of WWSC." Includes AISU summer bulletin, [1971].
Conflix: a Collegian publication by Bellingham, Wash. Western Washington State College
Call Number: Available at Archives & Special Collections--Special Collections Campus History Collection LD5778.W4752
Daily Planet by Bellingham, Wash. : Western Rear Publications, 1967- 1968
Call Number: Available at Archives & Special Collections--Special Collections Campus History Collection PN4888.U5 D35
Forum on LSD [sound recording] by [Bellingham, Wash. : WWSC, 1967]
Call Number: Available at Archives & Special Collections--Special Collections Campus History Collection - Audio BF209.L9 F67
Presentations by Timothy Leary and Sidney Cohen; Laurence W. Brewster, moderator.
Sponsored by the Social Issues Committee of the Activities Commission, Western Washington State College. (Special Collections | Select digital content available)
Student activism, radicalism, and the community [sound recording] by [Bellingham, Wash. : WWSC, 1970]
Call Number: Available at Archives & Special Collections--Special Collections Campus History Collection - Audio LB3610 .S78 1
Panel discussion sponsored by the Community Relations Committee of Western Washington State College; participants include WWSC Dean of Men C.W. MacDonald and associate professor of history Roland C. De Lorme (moderator); other participants include WWSC students Curt Smith and Dave Swanson and citizens Brian Griffin and Tom Walston.

UARM

University Archives

Contact university.archives@wwu.edu or (360) 650-3124 | Archives Building

Western Washington University Board of Trustees Minutes Historical Collection
Contains black-and-white scans of original Board minutes from April 1895 through December 2019. The scans for each year are grouped by month into searchable PDF documents. (University Archives and Record Management | Select digital content available)

The University Archives is the sole, official repository for the records of WWU (see university policy POL-U4910.01) and houses more than 3000 linear feet of archival material documenting the history of Western from 1895 to the present. This includes records in all formats (bound volumes, loose paper, photographic, audiovisual, digital) and from all major campus units including the Board of Trustees, President, Vice Presidents, Colleges, Academic Programs, Administrative/business units, and Associated Students—even Western Libraries.

Searching Archival and Primary Resources at Western

Want to search for content on your own? The following online platforms are available for all researchers (note that not all content is available digitally -- contact us for more information about how to access collection materials in person).

Archives West

Archives West Database

MABEL

Multimedia Archives Based Electronic Library

Associated Students of WWU Board Minutes
Digital reproductions of the official minutes of the Associated Students Board of Directors and predecessor bodies. In process - additional content is added regularly.
Board of Trustees of WWU Meeting Minutes
Digitized copies of the official minutes and related records of the Board of Trustees of Western Washington University. This collection includes records from the Board's first meeting in 1895 up to the current year, and provides a continuous record of governance of Western Washington University since its inception.
KVOS Channel 12 Films
Select digitized films from the larger holdings of KVOS-TV, a local television station based in Bellingham, Washington. Selections posted to date are examples of KVOS "Specials" and the "Jack Webster Reports" that aired in the 1960s.
Below: Julian Bond shares his views on issues including the war in Vietnam, poverty, race relations and the civil rights movement with Western Political Science Professor and Chair Manfred Vernon and Duayne Trecker of KVOS. Footage dated May 18, 1967 (air-date).

Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage (1969-1986) was an alternative newspaper published bi-weekly in Bellingham, Washington (1969-1977), and then in Seattle.
Western Front Historical Collection
From the Normal Messenger to the Northwest Viking to the WWCollegian to the Western Front (and other title variants in between), the student paper has chronicled the social, athletic, academic, and creative life of the institution throughout its trajectory from teacher-training college to comprehensive regional university.

Campus History

Select Publications on Campus History

Researchers may also find the following publications useful:

A brief history of Western Washington State College by Office of Institutional Research, Western Washington State College.
Publication Date: 1972
The First fifty years. by Western Washington State College.
Publication Date: 1949
Perspectives on excellence : a century of teaching and learning at Western Washington University by Roland L. De Lorme, editor, with Steven W. Inge.
Publication Date: 2000
Recollections of Herbert R. Hearsey : an autobiographical account by Hearsey, Herbert R., 1910-
Publication Date: 2003
Western at 75 by Hicks, Arthur C.
Call Number: LD5773.H4
Publication Date: 1974
This is available in both Special Collections, WL677, and for check-out in the Circulating Collection, Wilson 4W.
Western Washington University: One Hundred Years. by Schofield, Phil
Call Number: LD5773.S39 1999
Publication Date: 1999
This is available in both Special Collections, WL677, and for check-out in the Circulating Collection, Wilson 2E-Oversize. It's a nice coffee table book but it provides background and features photos of protests.
WWU! as it was by Don Brown, Jerry Flora, Harvey Gelder, George Lamb, David Marsh, Al Nickelson, Irwin Slesnick, Stewart Van Wingerden, Loren Webb.