In this episode we continue our focus on methodology by talking with Frederick L. Brown about how he used municipal archives to conduct his more-than-human history of Seattle. We discuss everything from petitions to bylaws, pound records, council minutes, public health reports, property tax assessments, and city directories.
Topics Covered:
why urban animal history matters and why cities are always more than human
how Seattle’s city archives make animal searching possible through indexing
a quick taxonomy of archives including government, historical societies, companies, and personal collections
why archives are not neutral and how bias enters through preservation practices
salmon, treaty rights, racial covenants as tools of spatial power
Sanborn insurance maps, council minutes, and the money logic behind record keeping
Frederick’s next book on importing European songbirds and the challenge of scattered sources
Animal highlight: Kingston dogs, shifting freedom, and changing control over time
Date Recorded: 2 April 2026
Frederick L. Brown is an independent scholar, book indexer, and retired National Park Service historian. He received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Washington. He is the author of the award-winning book, The City is More Than Human: An Animal History of Seattle (University of Washington Press, 2016). He is currently finishing up the manuscript for his second book, Birds of Home:How House Sparrows, Starlings, and Other European Songbirds Became American (University of Washington Press, 2027). He divides his time between Seattle, Washington, and Corvallis, Oregon.
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