• 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

376 results for: Manufacturing

Share:
Image of Boeing Children's Christmas Party program, 1953
Program

Boeing Children's Christmas Party program, 1953

The workforce and economy of Seattle from WWII through the 1970s was largely dependent on the Boeing Company and the commercial-airplane market. In 1957 business was booming due to the rise of the jet airplane. At the time Boeing employed about 100,000 people, including half of King County's manufacturing workers, while the Seattle's total population was only 550,000. This program…
ID Number:2018.3.3.31
Date:1953
Image of Washington Shoe Mfg. Co. letter, July 7, 1908
Correspondence

Washington Shoe Mfg. Co. letter, July 7, 1908

Seattle's first shoe company, the Washington Shoe Manufacturing Company, was founded in 1891 by T. J. Thorsen, L. B. Allain, and G. M. Barber. The company made boots and shoes for outdoor workers and prospered due to high demand during the Alaska Gold Rush. The letter pictured here on company letterhead refers to an ad in the "Seattle Trade Register."…
ID Number:2018.3.3.86
Date:1908
Image of Seattle Hat Factory letter, May 9, 1903
Correspondence

Seattle Hat Factory letter, May 9, 1903

The letter pictured here was written by West William Barkman (1873-1946), a partner in Lillagar & Barkman (later West W. Barkman). The body of this letter refers to a cut, or illustration, that was used in the "Seattle Trade Register," the first commercial newspaper in Seattle, which was published by Canadian immigrant Lovett Mortimer Wood (1858-1914) from at least 1893-1914.…
ID Number:2018.3.3.87
Date:1903
Image of Black Manufacturing Company trade catalog, 1924
Ephemera

Black Manufacturing Company trade catalog, 1924

George Black founded the Black Manufacturing Company in Seattle in the early 1900s. In this 1924 catalog, the Black Bear label is seen on a wide variety of work and dress clothing for men and boys for activities ranging from logging to hiking to office work. The company also sold bedding, household linens, gloves, socks, and underwear. Black Manufacturing remained…
ID Number:2018.3.3.107
Date:1924
Image of Bacon & Matheson Forge Company, Catalog No. 21, 1921
Ephemera

Bacon & Matheson Forge Company, Catalog No. 21, 1921

Bacon & Matheson of Seattle made heavy-duty iron and steel hardware and equipment for the mining, logging, construction, trucking, maritime and shipping industries. The firm's 1921 catalog includes images of their plant at West Lander Street, Seattle, images of small and large products, and equipment in action.
ID Number:2018.3.3.108
Date:1921
Image of Directory of Pacific Coast Salmon Packers, 1915
Ephemera

Directory of Pacific Coast Salmon Packers, 1915

This Pacific Coast Salmon Packers directory for 1915 lists packing companies in California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, giving names of officers, addresses, number of canneries, and brand names packed at each location. The volume also includes a detailed description of the 1914 salmon pack; a sample of these pages is shown here.
ID Number:2018.3.3.109
Date:1915
Image of Anderson & Thompson Ski Company catalog, 1956
Ephemera

Anderson & Thompson Ski Company catalog, 1956

In the 1930s, Norwegian Jorgen Aaland experimented with making a laminated wooden ski. He lived in Seattle at the time and took his idea to Ray Anderson, a ski instructor and president of the city's General Furniture Company. Anderson developed the idea further and received a patent from the US Patent Office in May 1933. Anderson and mountaineer Ben Thompson…
ID Number:2018.3.3.110
Date:1956
Image of Care and Adjustment of Model
Document

Care and Adjustment of Model "G" "Iron Chink," circa 1906

In 1903, Seattle inventor Edmund A. Smith (1870-1909) developed a machine that gutted and cleaned salmon for canning 55 times faster than human workers. Most Northwest cannery workers were Chinese immigrants, and Smith, with "unselfconscious racism" (in the words of historian Carlos Schwantes), called his invention the "Iron Chink." The innovation increased cannery profits, but forced thousands of people to…
ID Number:2018.3.3.128
Date:Circa 1906
Image of S.C. Renner business card, circa 1917
Ephemera

S.C. Renner business card, circa 1917

Sydnia C. Renner (circa 1874-1924) owned S. C. Renner North West Radiator and Fender Works, repairing and manufacturing automobile parts, which operated between 1914 and 1920. Mr. Renner was president of the Mutual Businessmen's Club in 1919 and "one of the youngest successful businessmen on the [automobile] row," according to a Seattle Daily Times article in 1917, having worked on…
ID Number:2018.3.3.140
Date:Circa 1917
Image of Official Ground Plan of the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition, Seattle, 1909
Cartographic material

Official Ground Plan of the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition, Seattle, 1909

Seattle held its first world’s fair, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYPE) in 1909 on what is now the main University of Washington campus. The fair promoted the region’s growth and prosperity that had begun with the 1897 arrival of the first shipment of Yukon gold. Fair promoters distributed this detailed “Official Ground Plan” of the fairgrounds. Fairgoers could visit the Mines,…
ID Number:2018.3.8.2
Date:1909
Previous 1 … 30 31 32 33 34 … 38 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