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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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283 results for: Retail and Department Stores

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Image of Currin-Greene Shoe manufacturing employees, Seattle, 1955
Photograph

Currin-Greene Shoe manufacturing employees, Seattle, 1955

Hugh Currin and Warren Greene founded the Currin-Greene Shoe Manufacturing Company in 1908. They built their first plant on Seattle’s Eastlake Avenue and moved in 1920 to a new plant on Western Avenue. The company specialized in specialty and heavy-duty work boots and shoes, which they sold throughout the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. The company later acquired the Rainier shoe…
ID Number:2013.114.24
Date:1955
Image of The Bon Marché Soda Grill menu, June 29, 1944
Menu

The Bon Marché Soda Grill menu, June 29, 1944

The Soda Grill was located inside the Bon Marché department store located at 3rd Avenue and Pine Street. This menu features a simplified map on the cover with local landmarks labeled.The Office of Price Administration (OPA) was established during World War II to control prices on food and other necessities. This menu contains a statement indicating the prices are at…
ID Number:2014.3.1.37
Date:1944
Image of Woman posing in front of grocery store, Seattle, circa 1950
Photograph

Woman posing in front of grocery store, Seattle, circa 1950

In addition to his Seattle jazz club images, photographer Al Smith took many photos of family and friends in the city's Black community. Here, an unidentified young woman in sunglasses poses with arms akimbo in front of a neighborhood grocery store. Written on negative sleeve: Old Timers
ID Number:2014.49.005.030.0353
Date:Circa 1950
Image of University Book Store textbook cover, Seattle, circa 1940
Ephemera

University Book Store textbook cover, Seattle, circa 1940

Two University of Washington students who had visited student bookstores at eastern colleges are credited with starting the University Book Store at UW. The original bookstore was located in a closet near the university president’s office. Financial challenges and increasing needs for space plagued the student-run organization, and a 1924 fire precipitated the bookstore’s move off campus to 4326 University…
ID Number:2014.81.56
Date:Circa 1940
Image of Schwabacher Bros. truck waiting to join parade, Seattle, July 29,1938
Photograph

Schwabacher Bros. truck waiting to join parade, Seattle, July 29,1938

The Schwabacher Brothers, Louis (1837-1900), Abraham (1838-1909), and Sigmund (Sig) (1841-1917), were pioneering Bavarian-born Jewish merchants, important in the economic development of the Pacific Northwest. They owned several businesses bearing their family name, and opened an branch store in Seattle in 1869. Within a short time, the firm became Puget Sound's major wholesaler of canned goods, dry goods, and other…
ID Number:2015.30.2
Date:1938
Image of Schwabacher Bros. parade wagon, Seattle, July 29, 1938
Photograph

Schwabacher Bros. parade wagon, Seattle, July 29, 1938

The Schwabacher Brothers, Louis (1837-1900), Abraham (1838-1909), and Sigmund (Sig) (1841-1917), were pioneering Bavarian-born Jewish merchants, important in the economic development of the Pacific Northwest. They owned several businesses bearing their family name, and opened an branch store in Seattle in 1869. Within a short time, the firm became Puget Sound's major wholesaler of canned goods, dry goods, and other…
ID Number:2015.30.3
Date:1938
Image of Schwabacher Bros. band waiting to join parade, Seattle, July 29, 1938
Photograph

Schwabacher Bros. band waiting to join parade, Seattle, July 29, 1938

The Schwabacher Brothers, Louis (1837-1900), Abraham (1838-1909), and Sigmund (Sig) (1841-1917), were pioneering Bavarian-born Jewish merchants, important in the economic development of the Pacific Northwest. They owned several businesses bearing their family name, and opened an branch store in Seattle in 1869. Within a short time, the firm became Puget Sound's major wholesaler of canned goods, dry goods, and other…
ID Number:2015.30.4
Date:1938
Image of Children on Schwabacher Bros. parade float, Seattle, July 29, 1938
Photograph

Children on Schwabacher Bros. parade float, Seattle, July 29, 1938

The Schwabacher Brothers, Louis (1837-1900), Abraham (1838-1909), and Sigmund (Sig) (1841-1917), were pioneering Bavarian-born Jewish merchants, important in the economic development of the Pacific Northwest. They owned several businesses bearing their family name, and opened an branch store in Seattle in 1869. Within a short time, the firm became Puget Sound's major wholesaler of canned goods, dry goods, and other…
ID Number:2015.30.5
Date:1938
Image of Colleen Moore's Doll House at Frederick & Nelson exhibit poster, Seattle, August 14-28, 1937
Poster

Colleen Moore's Doll House at Frederick & Nelson exhibit poster, Seattle, August 14-28, 1937

In 1928, silent film star Colleen Moore (1899-1988) assembled a legion of her industry colleagues to help craft a miniature home of fantastic proportions. Horace Jackson, an architect and set designer who worked for First National Studios, created the floor plan and layout of the doll house with the basic idea that "the architecture must have no sense of reality.…
ID Number:2015.70.1
Date:1937
Image of The Bon Marche March and Two Step, 1904
Music, notated

The Bon Marche March and Two Step, 1904

Between 1900 and 1925 Seattle was a thriving music publishing center with at least half a dozen houses printing songs. As many as 10,000 copies of each would be sold, some of them peddled from door to door. Most songs were written by amateur or professional singers, although many songs were written as "singing commercials" to promote a product or…
ID Number:2016.39.1
Date:1904
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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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