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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.

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508 results for: Government and Public Services

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Image of Defendants in City Council demonstration case at police court, July 26, 1963
Photograph

Defendants in City Council demonstration case at police court, July 26, 1963

In July 1963, demonstrators occupied City Council chambers in Seattle for four days in protest over Mayor Gordon S. Clinton’s nominees for the newly created Human Rights Commission. Protesters objected to the fact that the 12-member commission, charged with writing an open housing ordinance, had only two Black members. On the fourth day of the protest, police removed and arrested…
ID Number:1986.5.5928.2
Date:1963
Image of Man getting a haircut, Civilian Conservation Corps, Longmire, ca. 1937
Photograph

Man getting a haircut, Civilian Conservation Corps, Longmire, ca. 1937

Part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal legislation, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a government work relief program that employed about 3 million men age 18 to 25 from 1933 until 1942. Men served for a minimum of six months and worked 40 hours a week, with a portion of their income sent home to their parents. At…
ID Number:1986.5.6728.4
Date:Circa 1937
Image of City workers installing parking meters, Seattle, November 1941
Photograph

City workers installing parking meters, Seattle, November 1941

On November 7, 1941, the city of Seattle began installing hotly-debated metal parking meters, hoping the move would eliminate traffic congestion and make driving safer in the city's central business district. Over 1600 meters were installed between First and Fifth Avenues, and Yesler Way and Virgina Street. Drivers were charged 5 cents an hour to park between 7:00 am and…
ID Number:1986.5.10115.1
Date:1941
Image of Reporter Jack Jarvis measuring distance from parking meter to crosswalk, Seattle, October 1961
Photograph

Reporter Jack Jarvis measuring distance from parking meter to crosswalk, Seattle, October 1961

In this image Seattle Post-Intelligencer veteran reporter and editor Jack Jarvis (1913-1972) holds a measuring tape, demonstrating that a parking meter placed at Ninth Avenue and Pine Street in downtown Seattle had been illegally placed too close to the crosswalk. Caption information source: The Seattle Times, April 4, 1972, p. 44
ID Number:1986.5.10122.1
Date:1961
Image of L. R. Maynock collecting parking meter fees, Seattle, January 1942
Photograph

L. R. Maynock collecting parking meter fees, Seattle, January 1942

On November 7, 1941, the city of Seattle began installing hotly-debated metal parking meters, hoping the move would eliminate traffic congestion and make driving safer in the city's central business district. Over 1600 meters were installed between First and Fifth Avenues, and Yesler Way and Virgina Street. Drivers were charged 5 cents an hour to park between 7:00 am and…
ID Number:1986.5.10123.1
Date:1942
Image of Aerial of Seattle Public Library under construction from northeast, Seattle, 1959
Photograph

Aerial of Seattle Public Library under construction from northeast, Seattle, 1959

Since 1906 Seattle Public Library's central branch has been located at 1000 Fourth Avenue. The original Carnegie building was demolished after 50 years of service to make way for the second Central Library. This southwest view over Fifth Avenue shows the early construction stages of the new library that opened in 1960. Handwritten on sleeve: SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY, New, construction.Date…
ID Number:1986.5.11240.1
Date:1959
Image of Pageant queen inviting mayor to Pow Wow, Seattle, July 21, 1948
Photograph

Pageant queen inviting mayor to Pow Wow, Seattle, July 21, 1948

The Rainier District Pow Wow began in the midst of the Great Depression as a day-long community picnic at Seward Park. Between 1934 and 1992, when it ended, pow wow events paralleled what was going on in the rest of the country, celebrating neighborhood commerce in the 1930s, patriotism during World War II, the Baby Boom of the late 1940s…
ID Number:1986.5.11294.1
Date:1948
Image of Tunnel driller for Metro sewer project, Seattle, 1967
Photograph

Tunnel driller for Metro sewer project, Seattle, 1967

Handwritten on sleeve: SEATTLE, SEWERS, Metro tunnel project.Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a month or more): April 9, 1967.
ID Number:1986.5.11781.1
Date:1967
Image of Unemployed camp at City Hall Park near Third and Yesler, Seattle, 1939
Photograph

Unemployed camp at City Hall Park near Third and Yesler, Seattle, 1939

Demonstrators erected this tent in City Hall Park with the sign 'Governor Martin's Starvation Camp No. 2' in response to King County's relief crisis. 'Camp No. 1' was in Spokane. The donated tent contained chairs and benches and there were plans to open a commissary there. Another tent was planned to hold foodstuffs donated by merchants to be distributed to…
ID Number:1986.5.15173.1
Date:1939
Image of WPA bookmobile at Grayland School, June 8, 1940
Photograph

WPA bookmobile at Grayland School, June 8, 1940

During the Great Depression, libraries all over the United States had to lay off staff members and reduce salaries of those who remained. From the mid-1930s until the outbreak of World War II, several New Deal programs provided money to improve public and school library buildings and services. In Washington state, two federally-funded bookmobiles carried reading material to communities in…
ID Number:1986.5.16696.1
Date:1940
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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
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