Grays Harbor Happenings: The Newsreels of C.D. Anderson

Winner of the 2014 Bronze Telly Award for History/Biography.
A collection of recovered films from the 1920s and '30s gives insight into the life and times of the small Washington communities in Grays Harbor County. The films, meticulously restored by the UW Libraries film preservation experts, were shot by photographer Charles D. Anderson and reveals how the sense of community in this southwestern Washington town has stood the test of time.

[@susanconniry9247]

Terrific. Thank you! Lived in the Harbor for ten years now and enjoyed this history.

[@USCG.Brennan]

Born there (1951) and raised there....thanks for keeping this history for us to enjoy!!

[@Djk1tk4t]

My hometown of Aberdeen! I was born there in 1972. I attended AJ West Elementary. Thanks for all of the work restoring and posting for access. This is absolutely a gem of a find. I love taking a glimpse back into the history of the area and our great country.

[@duaneparker8110]

That's my home town, born in the old community hospital in 57, went to A.J. West, Hopkins, Miller, Weather Wax. Great films, I love the parts of Finch park with old slide, I went down that slide so many times I can't tell you. I went there earlier this year alot has changed. Go Bobcats

[@briangarrow448]

A great post!! I have to admit I was looking for my father and his brothers in the scenes shot at the football game and the playground shots. My grandfather and grandmother brought their large Catholic family to Aberdeen in 1923, from the prairies of Manitoba, Canada. Having viewed this set of films, many of the spots were still there in the 60's when I grew up in Hoquiam. As a FYI, this is the home of the longest running high school football rivalry west of the Mississippi River. Both Hoquiam and Aberdeen would shut down for the annual Thanksgiving Day football game. The city of Hoquiam has a WPA era wooden football stadium, (the last remaining one on the West coast), that has more seating than the entire population of the city!!! Olympic Stadium is truly worth checking out on your way through Hoquiam. My father, my brother, me and my kids all played on that field. Aberdeen and Hoquiam are the birthplace of 2 Nobel prize winners! How many small towns can boast of something like that?! LOL! Thanks again for this film,it brought back memories! Go Grizzlies!

[@USCG.Brennan]

Go Bobcats!! ;-)

[@thomaswade9381]

This is one of the coolest videos I've see, grew up on the harbor. lots of rich history.

[@marnajuarez2042]

Thank you for this film.Very interesting! All of my father's family is from in and around Aberdeen & Montesano, as far back as the 1800s.

[@desertpiggiehunters9790]

Awesome find! My mom's Family is from Aberdeen. Barkley and Thomas familes. My great grandpa Irving Barkley went to WW1 and WW2 and I have the new paper article of him in Aberdeen. Thanks for researching and posting.

[@fireman89406]

When I was in grade school we had tree planting day. Three kids were given a hoe and a bag of trees to plant. The lumber companies got free labor for a day and we got hot dogs hot chocolate and a day off school. Most of our fathers worked in the woods or the mill. It was what put the food on the table. I noticed several references to this in the films.

[@wienerfickmann7979]

First time i have seen this! OMG great video

[@esperanza5I]

Wonderful film! What a treasure. I'm happy for the former mayor too.

[@Snappy-ut4bj]

My mother talked about her relatives who were saw dust aristocracy. Apparently their mill burned down and they lost everything. The mother of the family continued to live in this big old mansion but broke. Cool to hear a reference to the high society of Aberdeen. Thanks.

[@davemondy]

this was really exciting,since my relatives were from these areas. this made tears come to life.

[@PyrettasPet]

Thank you for sharing this!

[@tommykincaid4823]

I love this. Grew up in Aberdeen.

[@funtucsonman2838]

Super interesting. I like the clips of the football game with the huge trees in the background.

[@huahin6149]

Those women were not just existing and were more than likely happier than many women today.

[@billsmith5109]

SS Onondaga, a Ford Company ship, seen in this film, torpedoed and sunk at The Bahamas , in 1942, carrying a load of magnesium ore. On line sources disagree whether 15 or 19 men were lost.

[@chrisburke6062]

My dad's parents might be in there somewhere.

[@Damianwynn2014]

Cool history

[@360Birdman]

awesome vid.

[@harveyanderson8358]

No mention or film of the Quinault tribe....the largest employer there now.

[@oso7767]

Jean Stewart got left hangin...

[@lucyflanagan6470]

This film would be a lot more interesting if it focused on the footage instead of the archivists. It's better with the audio turned off.

[@Hoquiamgirl]

If you would like to visit the original footage you can see it on the UW website: content.lib.washington.edu/filmarchweb/aberdeen.html. This is a documentary about the restoration. They are silent so you won't need to turn the volume off.

[@bobhunstad2931]

This youtube video is useless as a historical reference. It is heavily interspersed with talking heads and commentary. The actual historical scenes are reduced to a few seconds each and randomly presented. Most have no attribute for date, location, or subjects and have been heavily edited so that your only way of seeing anything useful is to repeatedly freeze the frame. UW could provide an actual public service if it would release the unedited video either without commentary or with only commentary that helped to identify the date, location, and subjects and which included the original attribution slides of Mr. Anderson.

[@Murphy98112]

Bob, this is just the introduction. The restored films have all the information available (as of now) and are on the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections web site: Guide to Newsfilm of Grays Harbor County circa 1925-1933 VM Collection No.: 925 Title: Newsfilm of Grays Harbor County Date Span: circa 1925-1933 Original: 53 reels (7,000 feet) : silent, black and white, tinted ; 35mm Location: N55 (1 DVD) Viewing copy VC178 digital.lib.washington.edu/findingaids/view?docId=NewsFilmGraysHarborCountyPHColl925.xml;brand=defaul

[@Murphy98112]

***** Did you click on the little camera logo, by each description? Then click on the image when it comes up, it will open the video. I have not found one that does not play the available restored footage. I would contact UW Libraries Special Collections if you are having problems. My guess is that your local library will have a copy of the DVD(s) with the footage - likely for in library use. Via US mail: Special Collections University of Washington Libraries BOX 352900 Seattle, WA 98195-2900 Via phone: [phone] Via FAX: [phone] Email web form: www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/general/questionform.html

[@Hoquiamgirl]

This was never intended to an historical reference of the individual films. It's a documentary about the discovery of the films, the painstaking restoration process, and how important it is to preserve old films like these. I was involved with this project and the people who worked over eight years on the restoration deserve some praise. One of the people involved here on Grays Harbor spent many hours researching the films and discovered a huge amount of history behind them. Some of that research is used here, and it is also available on the UW website content.lib.washington.edu/filmarchweb/aberdeen.html where you can view the individual newsreels.

[@360Birdman]

Hey Bob, have you posted anything remotely interesting on youtube?

[@tomrio8243]

Oh how grays harbor has fallen. used to look so nice, now just looks like crap.

[@rasputinspickledpeepee1976]

Thank the Spotted Owl, it killed the industry and economy when the tree huggers passed laws to protect the species.