During and after World War II, many of Seattle's school children collected newspapers to help the war effort, and to alleviate later paper shortages caused by the war. Here, a group of enthusiastic Garfield High School students weigh bundles of newspapers being uploaded from a student's car. The school had collected 114 tons of paper in 5 days, and more bundles were pouring in on the closing day of the drive. The students believed they had set a national record for waste paper collection. Garfield student Karl Ivarsson brought in about 5 tons of papers to the school by himself. "He has a trailer on his jeep" explained drive committee chair Joan Gorin, "and he has secret contacts."

Caption information source: "'Secret contacts' enable school to establish record," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 22, 1947, p. 9.