One of my favorite objects in the Archives is this transcript from a committee hearing that
took place on August 11, 1931. The hearing was in response to a petition that had been submitted to
the City by a group of disabled veterans asking for official permission to salvage quote “saleable
waste from city garbage dumps.” This was during the Great Depression and salvaging waste materials
like paper, metal, and rags was a way to earn money for those who desperately needed it.
More and more people wanted access to the City's dumps to salvage waste
and territorial arguments began to break out in terms of who had permission to do it.
The City's Efficiency Committee got involved and called a hearing to consider the issue.
This is a transcript from that hearing and one of the things I love about it is it is almost like
being in the room. You have pages and pages of verbatim testimony from both City officials and
salvage workers discussing who had permission and why, what the conditions were on the dump sites,
how salvaging worked, and what the City's responsibility was in the whole affair. You can
almost hear the discussion and it gives glimpses into the lives of people who are desperate for any
income and who saw the opportunity to salvage as a chance to support themselves and their families.
Other hearing transcripts in the archives from this time period cover equally fascinating topics
such as a police corruption case in 1924 and a VICE investigation in 1935. Like this transcript,
they're full of details about the City and stories of those who lived and worked here.
You can find them all at the Archives. Just email archives@seattle.gov for more information.