• Visit
    • Museum Accessibility
    • Community Access
    • Group Visits and Tours
    • Programs
      • History Café
      • MOHAI Mercantile Literary Series
      • First Thursday
      • Denny Lecture
      • Al Young Educator of the Year
      • Everyday Heroes
    • MOHAI Mercantile
    • Gourmondo at MOHAI
  • Exhibits
  • Events
  • Collections and Research
    • Collections Search
    • Themed Collections
    • Research Library
    • Image Ordering
    • Donate an Artifact
    • Curator’s Fellowship
  • Support
    • Donate
    • Membership at MOHAI
    • Gift Memberships
    • Corporate Support
  • Education
    • Field Trips
      • Self-Guided School Year Explorations
      • Creating Our Community
      • Cracking the History Code: Salish Stories
      • Cracking the History Code: Settling Around the Sound
      • Hands on History
      • Self-Guided Summer Field Trips
      • Homeschool Group
    • Portable Museum Program
    • Scholarships
    • Education FAQ
    • Primary Source Analysis
    • Online Curricula
    • Teen Programs
    • Idea Lab
    • Discovery Packs
    • Summer Camps
  • About
    • Annual Reports
    • The MOHAI Blog
    • Contact MOHAI
    • Opportunities
    • Leadership
    • Private Events
  • Donate
  • Tickets
  • Membership
HomeCollections and ResearchCollections Search

Collections Search

Explore stories in Northwest history through highlights from MOHAI’s collections. Search by keyword below or browse the entire online collection by entering the asterisk symbol (*). Filter your search by type of materials.

Download lower resolution images directly from an item page. MOHAI offers high-resolution digital reproductions of photographs and other materials from our collections for personal and professional use.

We have many more items in our collections and not everything you see online is on view at the museum. We have additional materials online at the University of Washington’s Digital Collections.

MOHAI Statement on Harmful Content

Search by Collection

Not finding what you are looking for?
Ask the MOHAI Collections Staff

393 results for: Central Area

Share:
Image of Protesters and police at 23rd Avenue S. and S. Alder Street, Seattle, May 26, 1969
Photograph

Protesters and police at 23rd Avenue S. and S. Alder Street, Seattle, May 26, 1969

In late May 1969, members of the Black Student Union (BSU) and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) demonstrated for several days in Seattle’s Central District. Their focus was the lack of Black representation on the board of Seattle Community College (now Seattle Central College), and they wanted one member of the five-man board to resign in favor of a…
ID Number:2000.107.153.09.07
Date:1969
Image of Millie Russell speaking at hearing on discrimination in schools , February 18, 1986
Photograph

Millie Russell speaking at hearing on discrimination in schools , February 18, 1986

Millie Bown Russell (1926-2021) was born and raised in Seattle’s Central Area, and graduated from Seattle University (SU) in 1948, the first African American to graduate from the school’s medical technology program. She worked at Puget Sound Blood Center for over 25 years, and returned to SU in 1971 to receive a secondary science-teaching certificate. She received an M.S. in…
ID Number:2000.107.158.25.01
Date:1986
Image of Millie Russell campaigning for Seattle School Board position, Seattle, September 19, 1989
Photograph

Millie Russell campaigning for Seattle School Board position, Seattle, September 19, 1989

Millie Bown Russell (1926-2021) was born and raised in Seattle’s Central Area, and graduated from Seattle University (SU) in 1948, the first African American to graduate from the school’s medical technology program. She worked at Puget Sound Blood Center for over 25 years, and returned to SU in 1971 to receive a secondary science-teaching certificate. She received an M.S. in…
ID Number:2000.107.158.25.02
Date:1989
Image of Eddie Rye, Jr., Seattle, February 3, 1970
Photograph

Eddie Rye, Jr., Seattle, February 3, 1970

In 1969, Eddie Rye, Jr., personnel officer for the Seattle-King County Economic Opportunity Board, was named Director of the Central Area Motivation Program’s (C.A.M.P.) Education Talent Search Project (E.S.T.P.). E.S.T.P.’s mission was to find promising minority scholars and arrange financial aid for them to attend college. Continuing a life of community activism and advocacy, Rye served as chair of the…
ID Number:2000.107.158.38.01
Date:1970
Image of View of Atlantic Street neighborhood, Seattle, 1983
Photograph

View of Atlantic Street neighborhood, Seattle, 1983

Seattle's Atlantic neighborhood (which has also been referred to as Yesler/Atlantic and Judkins Park) is a triangular community in the Central District area, between Mount Baker Ridge and Beacon Hill. One of Seattle's oldest residential neighborhoods, it was home to Seattle's largest Italian enclaves during the early years of the twentieth century. Like other neighborhoods in central and southeast Seattle,…
ID Number:2000.107.165.05.01
Date:1983
Image of Baker at Gai's Seattle French Baking Company, May 1981
Photograph

Baker at Gai's Seattle French Baking Company, May 1981

Italian immigrant Giglio Gai opened New Home bakery at 20th Avenue South and South Jackson Street in 1931, selling French bread baked in a brick oven. The family business became Gai's Seattle French Baking in 1941, and was the top specialty-bread baker in the state. After brothers Phil and Henry Gai took charge in the 1970s and 80s, Gai's diversified…
ID Number:2000.107.165.07.02
Date:1981
Image of Emerald City Bank, formerly Liberty Bank, June 20, 1988
Photograph

Emerald City Bank, formerly Liberty Bank, June 20, 1988

Emerald City Bank was a short-lived successor to Liberty Bank, the first principally Black-owned bank in Seattle. Liberty Bank was founded by a group of leading figures in Seattle’s Black community in partnership with Japanese and Jewish community leaders from the Central Area. It opened on May 31, 1968 with 518 stakeholders, most of whom were Black people of limited…
ID Number:2000.107.165.11.05
Date:1988
Image of Dior Seck at Black Community Festival, Seattle, July 30, 1993
Photograph

Dior Seck at Black Community Festival, Seattle, July 30, 1993

In this image Dior Seck of Senegal is surrounded by handmade Senegalese dolls in traditional dress. Seck is the owner of Sahle International Arts and Crafts in the University District and was selling African art, old and new, at the two-day Black Community Festival at Judkins Park in the Central District neighborhood of Seattle. Caption information derived from captions written…
ID Number:2000.107.165.25.01
Date:1993
Image of Activists posing in vacant lot, Seattle, February 28, 1981
Photograph

Activists posing in vacant lot, Seattle, February 28, 1981

In this image, members of the Central Area Housing Alliance stand in the vacant lot they want to purchase at 24th Avenue and Yesler Way. From left are, Rena Boyd, Anna David, Viola Johnson, Eloise Graham, Gerald Lenoir, and Lillian Feist. The Alliance protested the proposed sale of the property to build a 50-unit condominium, saying they wanted new housing…
ID Number:2000.107.168.29.03
Date:1981
Image of Commercial Club officers discussing projects, Seattle, March 5, 1951
Photograph

Commercial Club officers discussing projects, Seattle, March 5, 1951

The East Madison Commercial Club organized in 1935 in order to improve Seattle's Madison Park neighborhood. In 1959 the club, by then known as the East Union - East Madison Commercial Club, merged with the Central Community Club.In this image the officers of the East Madison Commercial Club talk about upcoming club projects. The individuals are identified from left as…
ID Number:2000.107.170.25.06
Date:1951
Previous 1 … 15 16 17 18 19 … 40 Next

Land Acknowledgement

MOHAI stands on the historic and contemporary lands and shores of the Duwamish, Suquamish, Muckleshoot, and other Coast Salish Nations. We acknowledge the forced displacement of Native Communities from this land while honoring the endurance of the Duwamish people who still live here.
Address: 860 Terry Ave N, Seattle WA, 98109
Phone: 206 324 1126
  • Plan a Visit
  • Directions and Parking
  • Accessibility
  • Group Tours
  • About

Sign up to Receive our Newsletter

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright 2026, Museum of History & Industry. All Rights Reserved