Scope and Content Note
The papers of Laurence Ilsley Hewes Jr. (1902-1989) span the years 1911-2019, with the bulk of the material dating from 1940 to 1974. The collection contains Hewes's unpublished manuscript, "Report of a Middle Level Bureaucrat - The Context of Public Administration," which documents his career as a land reform economist. Complementing the manuscript are correspondence, speeches, articles, journals, notes, and reports related to various projects. Several works of his creative writing, chiefly short stories, are included covering topics such as coming of age, gold mining, cattle ranching and grain farming in central Washington state, and the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
The papers also include Laurence I. Hewes Sr.'s correspondence and blueprints, documenting his work as a highway engineer. Creative writing by Hewes Sr., Agnes Danforth Hewes, and Patricia Jackson Hewes also are present in the collection. Topics include the American West, mining endeavors, and Mexico. Patricia Jackson Hewes's unpublished memoir, "Pilar's Daughter,” details her childhood in Mexico before and during the Mexican Revolution.