IX. Bibliography and Outside Resources
Bibliography: Books and Articles
This bibliography is eclectic for two reasons. First, there are few comprehensive, scholarly studies of either Spokane or Seattle. Second, environmental history may be a new subject for some users of this curriculum packet. So this bibliography includes books about places as Northwestern as Chicago or Long Island, New York. Interested teachers can consult the bibliographies of some of the titles listed here for additional works on Northwest history.
Abbott, Carl. Portland: Planning, Politics, and Growth in a Twentieth-Century City (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983). Abbott’s detailed and readable account of Seattle and Spokane's main rival for urban dominance in the northwest is the best history of the city to date.
Berner, Richard C. Seattle in the 20th Century 3 vols. (Seattle: Charles Press, 1991-1997). Berner’s exhaustive and highly detailed three-volume history focuses largely on Seattle’s political and social history. The first volume concentrates on 1900 to 1920, the second on the interwar years, and the third on World War II to the Cold War.
Chasan, Daniel Jack. The Water Link: A History of Puget Sound as a Resource (Seattle: Washington Sea Grant, 1981). An anecdote-filled account of how Puget Sound was used as a waterway, logging millpond, fishing site and dump. Appropriate for high school age students.
Cronon, William. Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West (New York: Norton, 1992). Cronon’s masterful book, which won the 1992 Bancroft Prize, examines how Chicago captured and changed its hinterlands in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. One of the most important books in the field to date.
______________. "Kennecott Journey,"
in Under an Open Sky: Rethinking America’s Western Past (New York: Norton, 1992). Cronon’s eloquent essay of an Alaskan mining town demonstrates how environmental historians think and work. Appropriate for some high school students.
Davies, Emily and Tony Angell. Puget Sound Habitats (Seattle: Washington State Office of Environmental Education, 1990). This useful survey of Puget Sound ecology and habitats contains several ideas for building environmental curricula.
Dietrich, William. The Final Forest: The Battle for the Last Great Trees of the Pacific Northwest (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992). Dietrich’s solid and balanced account of the timber controversy on the Olympic Peninsula, based upon his Pulitzer Prize-winning articles for Seattle Times, may be appropriate for older high school students.
______________. Natural Grace: The Charm, Wonder, and Lessons of Pacific Northwest Animals and Plants (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003). A collection of natural history essays adapted from articles published by Dietrich for the Seattle Times Sunday magazine, Pacific Northwest.
Egan, Timothy. The Good Rain: Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest (New York: Knopf, 1990). An impressionistic account of what it means to live in the Pacific Northwest. Egan, former Seattle-bureau chief for the New York Times, covers the region from the Columbia Plateau to the Olympic Peninsula.
Fahey, John. The Inland Empire: Unfolding Years, 1879-1929 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986).
______________. Shaping Spokane: Jay P. Graves and His Times (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994). Fahey is the leading historian of Spokane. The first title focuses on the economic development of Spokane and its “Inland Empire” region; the second uses the career of developer Jay Graves to explore the role of business and capital in the shaping of that city.
Findlay, John M. Magic Lands: Western Cityscapes and American Culture after 1940 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992). An innovative book that looks at how urban design shapes regional identity. Findlay studies several so-called “magic lands,” including Seattle’s Century 21 fairgrounds.
Klingle, Matthew W. Emerald City: An Environmental History of Seattle (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007). The author of this packet has gone on to publish the first comprehensive environmental history of Seattle.
Kruckenberg, Arthur R. The Natural History of Puget Sound Country (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1991). Kruckenberg, professor emeritus of botany at Washington, has written the definitive natural history guide to the Puget Sound area.
Larson, Suzanne. Dig the Ditch!: The History of the Lake Washington Ship Canal (Boulder, Colorado: Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, 1975). This is the best study available to date on the construction of the Ship Canal. Designed as a guide to historic preservation, the book also includes excerpts from primary documents that might prove useful in the classroom.
MacDonald, Norbert. Distant Neighbors: A Comparative History of Seattle and Vancouver (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987). This comparative history of the two largest cities in the Pacific Northwest begins with the 19th century and continuing into the post-World War II period.
Manning, Harvey, Walking the Beach to Bellingham (Seattle: Madrona Publishers, 1986). An engaging account of how Manning, a noted Northwest outdoors writer, walks along the eastern shore of Puget Sound, recounting the region’s human and natural history along the way.
Meinig, D. W. The Great Columbia Plain: A Historical Geography, 1805-1910 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1968). A classic filled with excellent material for lectures and discussion. Meinig’s interpretation of the Inland Empire remains one of the best books on Western history and geography.
Morgan, Murray. Skid Road: An Informal Portrait of Seattle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1982). Informal is the best adjective here, for this is not a scholarly book. But the anecdotes are good and there is much material here for discussions on the changing environment of Seattle.
Morrisey, Katherine G. Mental Territories: Mapping the Inland Empire (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1997). Morrisey’s academic but abundantly illustrated book charts the creation of the Inland Empire by Spokane’s economic boosters.
Pomeroy, Earl. In Search of the Golden West: The Tourist in Western America (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1957). Another classic. Pomeroy focuses primarily on turn-of-the-century tourism in the West. Includes some material on the Pacific Northwest.
Robbins, William. Hard Times in Paradise: Coos Bay, Oregon, 1850-1986 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1988). This is a concise and powerful environmental and social history of an important Oregon logging coastal town. May be appropriate for some high school students.
_______________. Landscapes of Promise: The Oregon Story, 1800-1940 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997). This is a solid survey of Oregon’s environmental history to World War II, full of good analysis and useful information.
Rome, Adam Ward. The Bulldozer in the Countryside: Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001). Rome’s award-winning book focuses largely on national and East Coast trends, but is useful for placing suburbs and environmental politics in a larger context.
Sale, Roger. Seattle: Past and Present (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1976). The most comprehensive history of Seattle presently available, Sale’s book is lively and well written. The lack of a full bibliography and notes, however, can make finding sources difficult.
Sato, Mike. The Price of Taming a River: The Decline of Puget Sound’s Duwamish/Green Waterway (Seattle: The Mountaineers, 1997). This slim book is an anecdotal history of Seattle’s urban waterway backed by some historical research. May be appropriate for some students. Sato is a leading figure in People for Puget Sound.
Schwantes, Carlos A. The Pacific Northwest: An Interpretive History rev. ed. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996). This is the definitive survey of Northwestern history. The latest edition focuses on recent environmental and urban growth debates. Highly recommended.
______________. Railroad Signatures Across the Northwest (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1993). A lavishly illustrated book about railroads and Northwest history that has abundant material on how the railroads sold the Northwest as nature’s treasure chest and tourist wonderland.
Spirn, Anne Whiston. The Granite Garden: Urban Nature and City Design (New York: Basic Books, 1984). Spirn, professor of landscape architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, argues that urban design always intersects with nature. Spirn’s provocative argument calls for rethinking how the natural environment is part of urban life.
Steinberg, Theodore. Down to Earth: Nature’s Role in American History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002). Steinberg’s masterful survey of American environmental history is especially useful for writing lectures and organizing discussions.
Taylor, Joseph E. Making Salmon: An Environmental History of the Northwest Salmon Crisis (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999). Taylor’s definitive and award-winning history of the salmon crisis focuses mostly on Oregon, but also includes useful information about Washington. Includes an excellent bibliographical essay about salmon and fisheries history as well as superb maps.
The Duwamish Diary (Seattle: Seattle Public Schools, 1949, 1996). Originally written for a creative writing assignment at Cleveland High School, this book is a history of the Duwamish River, as told by the river itself. Plenty of interesting anecdotes for lecture or discussion, it is not a scholarly history.
Toward 2020: An Environmental Action Agenda for Washington State (Olympia: Washington Department of Ecology, 1990). This draft report contains suggestions for citizen participation in environmental concerns and suggestions for environmental education.
Wetland Tales: A Collection of Stories for Wetland Education, Jana Dean, ed. (Olympia: Washington State Department of Ecology, 1992). Folk tales and contemporary stories geared toward teaching about wetlands and related environmental issues.
White, Richard. Land Use, Environment, and Social Change: The Shaping of Island County, Washington (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1980). White’s book is another classic by one of the leading environmental historians today. White charts how Indians, white settlers, farming and tourism changed this rural place, offering superb examples of how environmental historians work.
______________. The Organic Machine: The Remaking of the Columbia River (New York: Hill and Wang, 1995). In one of the first environmental histories of the Columbia River, White argues that labor and technology tie humans to the natural world. Highly recommended.
Wynn, Graeme and Timothy Oke, editors. Vancouver and Its Region (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1992). This collection of essays, mostly by geographers and historians, details many aspects of Vancouver’s environmental history. It is a useful book for comparing American and Canadian urban environments.
Youngs, J.W.T. The Fair and the Falls: Transforming an American Environment (Cheney, Washington: Eastern Washington University Press, 1996). This history of Spokane focuses on the Expo ’74 world’s fair and its aftermath, but also includes a lot of material on general Spokane history.
Other Resources: On-line
American Environmental Photographs, 1891-1936 A website from the Library of Congress American Memory collection, containing images from the University of Chicago depicting various aspects of environmental history. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/icuhtml/aephome.html
American Society for Environmental History The web site for the major professional organization for environmental historians in the United States. Their home page contains links to a variety of environmentally-related resources, archives for discussions from the H-ASEH discussion list, and tables of contents from back issues of Environmental History, the society’s quarterly journal. http://www.aseh.net/
Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest, University of Washington An on-line course syllabus for HSTAA432 (History of Washington State and the Pacific Northwest), developed by Professor John Findlay, provides a superb overview of the region’s history. Several lessons tie directly to the environmental history of Seattle, Spokane, and the greater Pacific Northwest.
Center for History and the New Media, George Mason University A site with links to primary and secondary documents, libraries, museums and other sites devoted to American history and new teaching technologies. This is arguably the best overall web site for historians in American history. http://chnm.gmu.edu/index.php
High Country News A weekly environmental newspaper, published out of Colorado, that focuses on the Western United States. While most articles focus on the rural west, the paper is an indispensable tool for keeping abreast of environmental issues in the West. Discount copies and readers available for teachers and students. http://www.hcn.org/
HistoryLink An award-winning website focusing on the history of Seattle and King County that contains bibliographies, links to photographs and documents, and short historical essays. This is an on-line clearinghouse for Seattle and Pacific Northwest history and a superb resource for teachers and students alike. http://www.historylink.org/
Nature Transformed: The Environment in American History A collection of essays by leading historians on the environmental history of North America from contact to the present day, compiled by the National Humanities Center, divided by topic and period.
http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nattrans/nattrans.htm
Seattle Public Library The library’s main branch has an Environmental Research Center that can help with historical or contemporary research projects. Additional materials are available at the various branch libraries throughout the city. http://www.spl.org
Spokane Public Library Like its counterpart in Seattle, the main branch also contains links to environmental topics and branches throughout Spokane. http://www.spokanelibrary.org/
University of Washington Libraries Several branch libraries have both on-line and physical collections detailing the region’s rich environmental and social history. http://www.lib.washington.edu/
Manuscripts, Special Collections, University Archives houses most of the Library’s rare and regional materials, plus an on-line data base to thousands of historical photographs and documents. http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/
Map Collection and Cartographic Information Services specializes in maps and GIS materials. http://www.lib.washington.edu/maps/
UWBuilt Environments includes current and rare documents detailing city planning and design in the Northwest and beyond. http://www.lib.washington.edu/Aup/
Other Resources: Video
Lake Union Reflections: Past and Present (Seattle: KCPQ Television, 1997).
Prepared to commemorate KCPQ’s move to the Westlake Neighborhood, this video tells the history of Seattle’s second-most prominent lake. Contains many nice images but has uneven analysis.
The Great Age of Salmon and the PAF: The Story of the Pacific American Fisheries Company (Seattle: John Sabella and Associates, 1994).
One of the few historical videos of the once-great Puget Sound salmon fisheries. Also contains footage from several Alaska canneries.
Trail to the Klondike (Seattle: KOMO Television, 1996).
Television documentary filmed in commemoration of the Klondike centennial. Illustrates an important environmental event in the history of Seattle.
When the Salmon Runs Dry (Seattle and Oakland: KIRO Television and The Video Project, 1992).
A solid television documentary that focuses on the impact of over fishing and habitat destruction on several Pacific Coast salmon species, with a focus on the Columbia River.
Salmon: On the Brink (Seattle; KCTS Television, 1998).
Another documentary on disappearing salmon in Washington state, focusing on urban areas in and around Puget Sound.
Other Resources: Museums, Local Government, and Community Organizations
Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture: Located on the University of Washington campus in Seattle, the Burke Museum provides curriculum for area teachers as well as hands-on exhibits and tours. http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/
Center for Urban Horticulture, University of Washington: Located on the shores of Union Bay, the Center offers curriculum, tours, and courses on urban environmental topics while maintaining the nearby Washington Park Arboretum. http://depts.washington.edu/urbhort/
King County Watersheds Map is an on-line resource with comprehensive information for specific watersheds including news, reports, data, activities, grants, and stewardship organizations. The map is part of the County’s Department of Natural Resources website. http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/watersheds.aspx
The Lands Council is a Spokane-based group focusing on the preservation of public lands in the interior Pacific Northwest. http://www.landscouncil.org/
Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust: The MTS Trust offers student programs on forest management and land use, materials for classroom use, and workshops for teachers to immerse themselves in regional environmental issues. http://www.mtsgreenway.org/
Museum of History and Industry: MOHAI has a variety of educational programs and materials for K-12 teachers. Their permanent exhibit, "Salmon Stakes: People, Nature and Technology" focuses on the Pacific Northwest salmon fishing industry, and includes educational materials for teachers to borrow. http://www.seattlehistory.org/
Pacific Science Center: Located at the Seattle Center, the Pacific Science Center offers tours and curriculum on environmental issues, including programs at the Mercer Slough, a wetland on the eastern shore of Lake Washington. http://www.pacsci.org/
People for Puget Sound: A local environmental group, People for Puget Sound provides educational materials and activities for interested educators. http://www.pugetsound.org/
City of Seattle: Several city government departments offer programs and public services of interest to teachers and students. Details for each agency can be found via the City of Seattle’s website. http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/
Seattle Municipal Archives: houses rich historical material on all facets of Seattle and King County history. http://www.cityofseattle.net/cityarchives/
Washington State Government: Several state agencies offer materials and programs for teachers on environmental issues. http://access.wa.gov/
Puget Sound Partnership is the governing agency for water quality in Puget Sound. They also provide several publications useful for classroom activities and field trips. http://www.psp.wa.gov/
Washington State Department of Ecology offers a variety of curriculum materials on water quality, wetland preservation, air pollution and waste reduction. They also offer tours of the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve near Mt. Vernon. http://www.ecy.wa.gov/
Washington State Archives is the gateway to the state’s rich historical materials. The main website, under the Secretary of State’s homepage, contains links to the five regional archives as well as the main branch in Olympia. http://www.secstate.wa.gov/archives/
Washington State Historical Society (Tacoma) This state museum focuses on Washington and Pacific Northwest history. Research facilities and interpretive materials available for teachers. http://www.wshs.org
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