Floyd and Ruth Schmoe on Mt. Rainier, 1922.

Floyd Schmoe Exhibit

Karyl Winn, Manuscripts and University Archives

Manuscripts and University Archives recently processed the papers of Floyd Schmoe, a Seattle peace activist and natural history writer. Schmoe was a guide and the first park naturalist at Mt. Rainier National Park.

Nominated this year for a Nobel Peace Prize, Schmoe, who celebrated his 100th birthday in September 1995, came to the University of Washington in 1917 to study forestry, and in 1928 he became an Instructor of Forest Biology. He left the university during World War II to work with the American Friends Service Committee aiding Japanese Americans facing internment, including 500 students and staff members of the University of Washington. Following the war he raised funds and led a private relief effort to build houses for atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Materials from his collection are displayed in the lobby case outside the Manuscripts and University Archives offices in the Allen Library basement.