WELCOME TO THE WEB PAGE OF ARCHIE SATTERFIELD

Commissioned Histories.
“My career as a book author was just getting started when a wonderful thing happened. I had recently co-authored a book on Alaska bush pilots that involved some aviation pioneers who later became members of Alaska Airlines’ board. The new management liked the book and invited me to write a warts-and-all history of the airline for its 50th anniversary.

“A year or two later an advertising friend recommending me to write the history of Crescent Foods on the occasion of its 100th birthday.

“Then another writer friend recommended me to the incoming CEO of Darigold who wanted a history of the dairy cooperative.

“Finally the obvious occurred to me: I should seek out these commissions on my own rather than waiting for further generosity from friends. Since then I have written several other corporate histories, a family history and the history of the small town I lived in for fifteen years.”

Here is what clients say about Satterfield’s work:

ALASKA AIRLINES:
At the time this was written the airline had changed quickly from one with a history of poor or inefficient management into the highest-rated regional airline in North America. With their 50th anniversary approaching, they asked Satterfield to write their history.

"He did an outstanding job. He captured living history."
James A. Johnson
Vice President


DARIGOLD
The Seattle-based dairy cooperative, one of the largest and most successful in America, wanted a history of the cooperative written as its 75th year approached.

"Thank you for the tremendous job you did with the manuscript. The book is a major factor in our 75th anniversary celebration."
Wesley E. Eckert
President & CEO

TILLAMOOK CHEESE
The Tillamook Creamery and Dairy Association liked what he had written about their competitor, Darigold, so they hired me to write their history as well.

“Archie has captured the essence of Tillamook as well as anyone could. I have lived here all my life and reading the book brings back memories I had forgotten.”
Harold Schild
General Manager

PEMCO FINANCIAL CENTER
This insurance and banking company wanted to document its success that is based on service to members.

“He is an outstanding writer who brings forth historical reality for positive guidance for future generations.”
Stanley O. McNaughton
CEO


TRILLIUM CORPORATION
This timber and agricultural development company was just entering on the world stage when Satterfield was hired to write its history.

“Archie creates a whole new definition of concern and interest in his writing subjects. He really cares.”
David R. Syre
Founder and Chairman


CRESCENT FOODS
When the spice company's centennial was near, the owners hired me to produce a book based on interviews with the owners and longtime employees.

"Archie produced exactly what we wanted: A conservative chronicle that we used for gifts and public relations."
Dick Weaver
Vice President


SAHALEE GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB
After the Redmond, Washington, club became well established, the founders assembled material for a book and hired me and an associate to edit, design and print it.

"Archie was delightful to work with. We are very pleased. Our book is unique."
Harry Wilson
Founder, Sahalee Country Club.


CITY OF EDMONDS, WASHINGTON
The city council created a Centennial Committee for the statewide celebration in 1989 and offered a contract to me to write and produce a pictorial history of the city.

"Archie was cooperative and understanding. He considered everyone's suggestions. That is especially difficult when working with a committee."
Linda McCrystal
Centennial Coordinator
City of Edmonds




How I write commissioned histories:

“I work directly with one person who is designated the project editor. This person knows where all the files are and how they are organized, can help arrange interviews and when the manuscript is completed, will show it to key people and decide which of the suggested changes and corrections I should incorporate.

“I do not require an office. I only need access to people, files and a copy machine. I go to great lengths to avoid disrupting the normal office routine.

“The writing process is simple but very time consuming. I go through records and scrapbooks, and I interview officers and employees about projects they have worked on and the changes they have witnessed or helped inaugurate.

“It is important that interviews be conducted in one-on-one sessions. The subjects set the time and place because it is important that we talk without interruption. I am available for interviews anytime seven days a week.

“When the research and interviewing is done, I write the first draft, often finding that I need more information and supplemental interviews. The draft manuscript is delivered to the client, who shows copies to a selection of key people to check for accuracy, make comments and suggestions. When this information is approved, I go back to work, do additional research and sometimes more interviews, and deliver a completed manuscript within a specified time frame.

“When the completed manuscript is accepted, it then goes to a book producer whose staff checks it for grammar, punctuation, spelling and consistency. At the same time a designer is at work merging text with illustrations and preparing a cover design.
When all of these things are approved, the book then goes to the printer."

For further information, please contact Satterfield at: byarchie@​msn.com

Newspaper Profile
Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce
Edmonds author completes pictorial on city's centennial

BY LESLEE JAQUETTE
Special to the Journal

EDMONDS - This month Archie Satterfield, author of "The Seattle GuideBook" and many general trade books, celebrates the publication of the 126-page book he authored and produced for the City of Edmonds. "Edmonds: The First Century" offers readers a pictorial and written recollection of Edmonds' first 100 years. Available locally, the book makes Edmonds' history come alive with photos and reports Satterfield resurrected through hundreds of hours of research and interviews.
Linda McCrystal, staff coordinator for the Edmonds Centennial Committee, says “Archie was very cooperative and understanding. He considered everyone’s suggestions. That is especially difficult when working with a committee.”
The Edmonds saga is first cousin to a new kind of history book Satterfield produces with increasing regularity--the corporate history.
Author of over 20 books and countless articles, Satterfield writes histories for corporations as diverse as Alaska Airlines, Crescent Fools and Eddie Bauer. Just as the City of Edmonds wants to document its history, many corporations get a little teary-eyed as significant anniversaries roll around. Management takes the opportunity to chronicle the past for owners, employees and potential public relations use.
Satterfield, who lives in Edmonds, is a former editor and columnist for the Seattle Post-ntelligencer.
"One thing I like about corporate histories is you are dealing personally and positively with people, unlike many other kinds of books," says Satterfield from his office in Edmonds. “They are invariably fine people. They want a history because they love their company."
In 1981 Satterfield started work on his first corporate history for Alaska Airlines. The company approached Satterfield, founding editor of award-winning Northwest Living Magazine, to write a history in celebration of the airline's 50th anniversary. It was a natural union. Years before Satterfield published a number of articles and books including Chilkoot Pass, Alaska Bush Pilots and After the Gold Rush.
Alaska Airlines needed someone with Satterfield's diverse experience to piece together their history. "Archie has a knack and a flair about him,'' says Jim Johnson, Alaska Airlines senior vice president of public affairs in charge of the book. "He did an outstanding job. He captured living history.''
Johnson explains the company later used Satterfield's book as the basis for a video commemoration. Of the 1000 copies published, a tenth were special editions used by the chairman for personal gifts.
For Satterfield the Alaska Airlines Story was a benchmark. The Northwest company offered him a contract he couldn’t resist at a time he was ready for a change.
Alaska retained Satterfield for 18 months and he traveled all over the country accumulating material for the book. Together with royalties from over a dozen books, the corporate history helped Satterfield become self-employed.
In addition, the previous year, Satterfield came into contact with well-known family/​corporate historian, Richard V. Sawyer of Seattle. Sawyer shared the fundamentals of writing corporate histories with Satterfield and the two writers traded clients. One of these trades started Satterfield's three-book relationship with Eddie Bauer, the first titles in the Eddie Bauer Outdoor Library Series.
"Sometimes I think I should be writing best sellers," Satterfield joked. "But I'm a journalist. I report and write. Besides, I think writing these histories is interesting and enormously useful."
There is a number of similarities when it comes to researching projects. According to Satterfield, the writer needs to interview key people, have access to company archives and allowed time to research all kinds of clippings and articles, usually preserved by a single person, "a keeper of clips."
One of a handful of writers in the region who write corporate histories, Satterfield wrote a history for Crescent Foods Inc. in celebration of the Seattle company's 100th anniversary in 1983. Former owner Dick Weaver says Satterfield produced exactly what the company wanted, a very conservative chronicle that they used for gifts and public relations work. Satterfield supplied the owners with outlines and transcriptions of every interview.
"I guess the toughest part is deciding who gets mentioned and who doesn't,'' says Weaver with humor in his voice. "Ultimately we made joint decisions in all these matters with Archie's help."
Companies interested in creating corporate histories need to be aware that it takes at least a year to put together a book. It is most helpful if one person is in charge of the publication details. This person can usually push for decisions faster and easier than “book by committee."
However, Satterfield notes one main frustration with corporate histories: It is hard to separate businessmen from work long enough to interview them. “You realize your project is a low priority for a busy company.”
A number of clients approach Satterfield not to write their copy but simply to edit and produce their story. A founders committee at Sahalee Country Club in Redmond chose that option. They wanted to save money and author their own words, yet they needed professional help to finish the anniversary history, "Sahalee Country Club: The First Twenty Years."
"It was their book," says Satterfield, who has similarly edited and produced a history for the Seattle Surgical Society. "They paid me for a variety of things but mostly I helped them do what they wanted to do. A good editor helps the writer accomplish his goals."
Chairman and founding member Harry Wilson says, "Archie was delightful to work with. He did a great job proofing our writing. We are very pleased."
Sahalee board members initially expressed doubts about Satterfield's ability to write about the club because he wasn't an experienced golfer. Satterfield says that is a common fear.
People assume you can't write about something unless you are a professional in the field. When, actually, by the time Satterfield researches a company or subject for a year or more he has become quite educated in corporate that area.
"You learn to listen," says Satterfield. "It's fun to learn about new things. In fact, it's a lot like getting a masters degree.”
Since the conclusion of the Edmonds pictorial, Satterfield has focused his energies toward a fall completion of his second World War II book, "The Day the War Began." It is largely an oral history of peoples' remembrances of Dec. 7, 1942, the day the bombed Pearl Harbor. Satterfield says the military side of the war has been covered. But his book looks at what civilians all over the country were doing on that date and how the war affected the remainder of their lives.