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Forrest E. Doucette Photographs

 Collection
Identifier: CP SPC 94

Scope and Content Note

The Forrest E. Doucette Photographs include personal photographs, clippings of Doucette's newspaper articles, and associated ephemera documenting Doucette's recovery from a World War I mustard gas injury and his career as a journalist in Arizona. The photographs show his stay at the United States Veterans Administration Aberdeen Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota (1923); his residence at the Veterans Hospital at Whipple Barracks near Prescott, Arizona and his work for the patient newsletter, the Whipple Echo (1923-1924); his return to his home to Duluth, Michigan (1925); his stay at Veterans Administration Pastime Park Hospital in Tucson (1927); and his career as a journalist in Arizona (1928-circa 1932).

Among these images are snapshots of Doucette, friends, and hospital staff, many of whom worked on the hospital newspapers with him. One group of images records the filming of a motion picture starring Tom Mix and June Marlowe near Prescott, Arizona. A large number of photographs were made on automobile tours through Arizona. Doucette made two of the trips with J. L. Baker in a Chrysler roadster through Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and California for the Arizona Republican (now the Arizona Republic) to inspect and report on road conditions. These images are accompanied by clippings from the paper.

Dates

  • Creation: 1923-1931

Language of Materials

Material in English

Access Restrictions

Culturally sensitive Native American images located in this collection are restricted and cannot be made available to patrons in accordance with the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials.

To view this collection, make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist or calling (480) 965-4932. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Monday through Friday. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability.

Copyright

Arizona State University does not own the copyright to this collection. We recognize that it is incumbent upon the researcher to procure permission to publish information from this collection from the owner of the copyright.

Photographs from this collection may not be reproduced, published, or exhibited without the advanced, written permission of the Department of Archives and Special Collections. This permission is required in addition to any copyright permission described above.

Biographical Note

Forrest Ernest Doucette was born to Ernest and Electa (Fearing) Doucette on May 16, 1894 in Little Falls, Minnesota and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He worked for a weekly newspaper before he enlisted for service in World War I. Doucette was injured in a mustard gas attack during the war and was treated at Aberdeen Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota after his discharge. While at Aberdeen he continued his career as a journalist, contributing articles to the hospital's patient newsletter. In 1923 he was transferred to the Veterans Hospital at Whipple Barracks near Prescott, Arizona to aid the recovery of his lungs. There, he served as editor of the Whipple Echo, a leading publication for veterans.

Doucette returned to Minnesota in 1925, but when the cold weather exacerbated his war injury he returned to Arizona for the mild, dry climate, entering the Pastime Park Veterans Hospital in Tucson in 1927. After his release in 1928, he took a job in Clifton, Arizona. In 1929 he moved to Phoenix, where he was the editor of the Arizona Yearbook. Doucette married Ferna Gertrude Dail (1904-1990) on February 16, 1930 in Florence, Arizona and the couple had one son, Dail Dewitt (1931-2023). The family moved to Ontario, California in about 1938, where Doucette owned and operated the Ontario Herald until selling his business after World War II. Forrest Doucette died on June 15, 1989 in San Bernadino, California.

Full extent

9 Box(es)

Full extent

1,516 Photographic Prints

Abstract

The Forrest E. Doucette Photographs include personal photographs, clippings of Doucette's newspaper articles, and associated ephemera documenting Doucette's recovery from a World War I mustard gas injury and his career as a journalist in Arizona.

Arrangement

This collection consists of nine boxes divided into five series:

  1. Series I: Album 1
  2. Series II: Album 2
  3. Series III: Album 3
  4. Series IV: Album 4
  5. Series V: Loose Prints

Other Finding Aids

Some photographs from this collection have been individually cataloged in ASU's Special Materials Index. These images can be found by searching the index for Doucette.

Provenance

Forrest E. Doucette donated these photographs to Archives and Special Collections in 1984 (Accession #1984-00096).

Related Materials

See also the unprocessed Forrest Doucette Papers at Arizona State University.

Processing Note

The photographs in these four albums are arranged roughly chronological in order. The photographs have been withdrawn from the albums for preservation when possible; photographs which could not be withdrawn as well as newsclippings remain in the original albums. Prints are numbered and stored in their original order; the album pages are marked to indicate the prints' original placement.

Title
Forrest E. Doucette Photographs
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Mark Evans, Curatorial Assistant.
Date
2011
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding guide encoded in English.

Repository details

Part of the Greater Arizona Collection Repository

Contact

Arizona State University
P.O. Box 871006
Tempe AZ 85287-1006 United States
(480) 965-4932