Strout family collection
Scope and Contents
The collection includes scrapbooks compiled by Edwin, Jr., Mary Helen, and Amy Frances, two postcard albums, including one of travels in Europe created by family matriarch Cora. In that album is pasted a little card depicting a flag, along with this note: “While in London 1914, the world war broke out – I bought this cute American flag (for protection?) and carried it about in my purse for over 5 months – in many countries.” Family and travel are the topics of three photograph albums, and the collection includes ephemeral materials such as single postcards and photographs, notes, poems, and clippings.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1901-2003
Creator
- Strout family (Family)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open and available for use.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright restrictions apply.
Biographical / Historical
The patriarch of the Strout family was Edwin A. Strout (1862-1928), variably described as a Seattle businessman, church leader, insurance man, and social leader. Strout’s obituary headline described him thus: “…man long prominent in varied affairs in Seattle.” (Seattle Daily Times, April 23, 1928.) One of the organizers and presidents of the Rainier Club, Strout was also involved with the Seattle Golf and Country Club and the Bainbridge Island Country Club. One of his early business enterprises included Seattle’s first artificial ice plant, destroyed in the Great Fire of 1889. Strout was a member of Soyps (Socks outside your pants), an organization “which somehow manages to combine outrageous hilarity and boyish tomfoolery with a cool dignity.” (Seattle Daily Times, February 10, 1938.) Each year, the members of this all-male group would go to Mount Rainier for a winter sports outing lasting several days, hiking and skiing during the daytime and enjoying fireside stories and songs in the evening.
The matriarch of the family, Cora Taylor Strout (1869-1940), was equally involved in the early civic and social life of Seattle. Mrs. Strout came to Seattle in 1889 and was active in the founding of Children’s Orthopedic Hospital. She was a member of the board of directors of the Seattle-King County Chapter of the Red Cross during World War I and was decorated for her relief work. She was the first president of the women’s board of the Seattle Tennis Club and of the Children’s Educational Foundation of Mercer Island.
Edwin and Cora had four children: Edwin, Jr., Helen, Mary, and Cora. Edwin, Jr. (1891-1945) was an accomplished athlete, attending St. Luke’s School at Wayne, Pennsylvania (where his uncle, Charles H. Strout, was headmaster for 47 years) and later at Yale University. Edwin, Jr. died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound attributed to “war neurosis” following his service in the Army during both World Wars I and II.
Edwin, Jr. and his wife Amy Driscoll Strout (d. 1977) had four children: Edwin III, Mary Helen, Amy Frances, and Cora. Daughter Mary Helen [Heffernan] (1924-2003) continued to reside in the Seattle area until her death. She was active in the Catholic community, served in the Red Cross during World War II, and was herself an accomplished athlete.
Full Extent
2 Linear Feet (4 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Metadata Rights Declarations
- License: This record is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Creative Commons license.
Abstract
This collection traces the activities of two generations of the Strout family, early residents of Seattle and Bainbridge Island. Materials include postcard and photograph albums, individual photographs, scrapbooks, and ephemera.
Arrangement
Items are arranged into the following series: Scrapbooks, postcard albums, photograph albums, photographs, and ephemera.
Processing Information
Acknowledgement of Harmful Content
The Seattle Public Library Special Collections Department is committed to creating an inclusive archive that documents the history of our diverse communities in a respectful manner. Our collections include historic materials that may contain images and outdated language which can be harmful due to issues such as racism, colonialism, sexism and homophobia. This content can provide important insight into the creator and context of the historic materials but can also reveal hurtful biases and prejudices.
We may decide to use or retain harmful language in our description when the terms have been used by the creator(s) of the materials to describe themselves or their community; when we have reused description created by the donor; when we have transcribed information directly from the materials; and when using national standards such as Library of Congress Subject Headings, which allow for standardized searching and retrieval of records. When including language from the original material in our finding aids or descriptions, we will indicate that this material comes directly from the original item by putting the language in quotes or prefacing it with a note that says the description is transcribed from the item or provided by the creator.
We will continually review our finding aids to identify harmful language and encourage you to contact us at specialcollections@spl.org if you find language that causes concern.
Subject
- Strout family -- History (Family)
- Strout family -- Photographs (Family)
- Strout family -- Ephemera (Family)
- Strout family -- Correspondence (Family)
- Title
- Strout family collection, circa 1908-2003
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Special Collections staff
- Date
- November 2019
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- August 2022: Revised by Heather Marker
Repository Details
Part of the Seattle Public Library, Special Collections Repository