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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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525 results for: Government and Public Services

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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
Image of Central Area youth with Ed Devine at Mayor's office, August 20, 1965
Photograph

Central Area youth with Ed Devine at Mayor's office, August 20, 1965

On August 19 and 20, 1965, a group of nine youths from the Central Area Youth Action Council occupied the reception area outside Mayor Dorm Braman's office in attempt to speak with the mayor. On both days, the mayor's administrative assistant, Ed Devine, told the group the mayor was expected to be out all day. The group made several requests…
ID Number:1986.5.18799.9
Date:1965
Image of Battery Street Tunnel tenders at manhole, February 2, 1960
Photograph

Battery Street Tunnel tenders at manhole, February 2, 1960

Groundhogs, also known as woodchucks, are not native to Washington State, so on Groundhog Day in 1960, a reporter for the Seattle PI checked in with a different sort of subterranean creature. Shown here are Seattle Engineering Department employees George Gregory and Bruce Gordon, who briefly emerged from the underground control chamber in the Battery Street tunnel to speak to…
ID Number:1986.5.26496.2
Date:1960
Image of Suman Gupta with her daughter after receiving permanent residency, Seattle, March 1966
Photograph

Suman Gupta with her daughter after receiving permanent residency, Seattle, March 1966

Twenty-two-year-old Suman Gupta arrived in the U.S. from India in November 1963 to join her husband, Har Krishan Lal Gupta, in Olympia, Washington. Since she didn't have a visa, Immigration and Naturalization Service placed her in the legal custody of her husband. Her status was upgraded after a 1965 change in immigration law, the Hart-Celler Act, abolished an earlier quota…
ID Number:1986.5.27165.4
Date:1966
Image of Suman Gupta and family in office after she received permanent residency,  March, 1966
Photograph

Suman Gupta and family in office after she received permanent residency, March, 1966

Twenty-two-year-old Suman Gupta arrived in the U.S. from India in November 1963 to join her husband, Har Krishan Lal Gupta, in Olympia, Washington. Since she didn't have a visa, Immigration and Naturalization Service placed her in the legal custody of her husband. Her status was upgraded after a 1965 change in immigration law, the Hart-Celler Act, abolished an earlier quota…
ID Number:1986.5.27165.11
Date:1966
Image of Akia Kuniyuki, Philip Hayasaka, and Ruth Chinn at Jackson Street Community Council office, Seattle, 1960
Photograph

Akia Kuniyuki, Philip Hayasaka, and Ruth Chinn at Jackson Street Community Council office, Seattle, 1960

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Seattle’s public-school system was growing. Proposition 22, a $5.5 million funding levy, appeared on the November ballot in 1960. While some of the money was for normal operations and maintenance, the Seattle School Board pointed to the system’s needs to cover additional pupils, rising supply costs, teacher salary increases and staffing of new…
ID Number:1986.5.32067.1
Date:1960
Image of Suzie Ordogh and John Boyd reading her order of parole, Seattle, December 26, 1956
Photograph

Suzie Ordogh and John Boyd reading her order of parole, Seattle, December 26, 1956

In October 1956, Soviet forces invaded Hungary in response to a populist uprising. At that time, Hungarian athletes were competing in the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, and 40 of them defected to the United States. Urged by her parents not to return home, freestyle swimmer Zsuszu (“Susanna," “Suzie,” “Susie”) Ordogh, age 16, was among the defectors. She was…
ID Number:1986.5.37960.1
Date:1956
Image of Suzie Ordogh completing Alien Address report with John Boyd, Seattle, January 4, 1962
Photograph

Suzie Ordogh completing Alien Address report with John Boyd, Seattle, January 4, 1962

In October 1956, Soviet forces invaded Hungary in response to a populist uprising. At that time, Hungarian athletes were competing in the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, and 40 of them defected to the United States. Urged by her parents not to return home, freestyle swimmer Zsuszu (“Susanna," “Suzie,” “Susie”) Ordogh, age 16, was among the defectors. She was…
ID Number:1986.5.37961.1
Date:1962
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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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