Vance Orchard Papers

Collection

Identifier: WCMss-118

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Vance Orchard Papers consist of materials created and collected by Vance Orchard during his career as a local journalist and author in the Walla Walla Valley. This includes topical subject files documenting contemporaneous and historical events for his research, negatives taken by Orchard featuring people and places from around Walla Walla County, correspondence, and scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings of Orchard’s stories. Also included are interviews Vance conducted as part of his research, on microcassettes, cassettes, and ¼ open reel audiotapes. The collection dates from 1945 to 2004.

Dates

1945-2004

Creator

Orchard, Vance (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Biographical Note

Vance Orchard was born in Orin, Washington on December 26, 1917, to Silver Vance and Marian Pearle Foust Orchard. He graduated from Highline High School in Burien, Washington in 1936. After graduating, he worked for several weekly newspapers around the Seattle area until 1951, when he moved to Walla Walla and began working for the local newspaper, the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin as a roving reporter. He worked at the newspaper for 32 years until his retirement in 1983, after which he continued to freelance and write the column “Blue Mountain Ramblings” for the Walla Walla Union-Bulletinuntil 1990. He began writing a column for the Waitsburg Times, titled “Touchet Valley Ramblings”, the same year. Orchard eventually expanded on his columns and wrote two books on the region titled Just Rambling Around Blue Mountain Country, published in 1981, and Life On The Dry Side, published in 1984. Orchard was also a prolific and enthusiastic amateur cryptozoologist, and in 1993 and 2001 he wrote two books, Bigfoot of the Blues and The Walla Walla Bigfoot. He was diagnosed with cancer in March of 2006, and died one week later on March 7.

Extent

43.16 Linear Feet (33 record center boxes, 1 hollinger box, 1 half-record center box, 13 small flat boxes, 1 card catalog box)

201 Cassettes

383 microcassettes

49 ¼" open reel audiotapes

8 floppy disks (3.5 inch)

20 floppy disks (5.25 inch)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The Vance Orchard Papers contains subject files, research notes, newspaper clippings, and correspondence by Vance Orchard, a prolific journalist active in eastern Washington from 1951 to 1983. Orchard was a reporter for the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin for 32 years and a published author. This collection dates from 1945 to 2004.

Arrangement

Arranged into five series: 1. Subject Files, 2: Correspondence, 3. Scrapbooks, 4. Negatives, 5. Sound Recordings of Interviews.

Audiovisual and Born-Digital Access Policies and Procedures

Audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. Please contact the Whitman College and Northwest Archives for further information.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The negatives were donated to the Whitman College and Northwest Archives by Vance Orchard in 1993. The rest of the collection was donated between 1993 and 2007. On 2020 June 8, Dollyjean Pettyjohn, executor of the estate, signed a retroactive deed of gift for the materials. The accession number associated with this deed is 2020-032.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Dana Bronson, and the following processing assistants under her supervision: Joel Gaytan, West Bales, Kacey Godwin, Claire Drown, Colby Dragon, Zoe Henderson, and Katy Sassara.

Materials were placed in new acid-free folders and boxes. The collection was arranged into series based on the original order of the records, and original folder titles were maintained when possible. Contents were not always verified against the folder titles for accuracy. At an unknown date, the negatives in series 4 were transferred out of their original housing into archival envelopes. It is presumed, but not confirmed, that a previous staff member transcribed the original negative titles onto the envelopes, which we maintained in this finding aid.