• 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

390 results for: Manufacturing

Share:
Image of Pacific Car and Foundry plant, Renton, 1954
Photograph

Pacific Car and Foundry plant, Renton, 1954

The Pacific Car and Foundry Company got its start in Seattle in the early 1900s building railroad cars for the logging industry. The company expanded quickly and, in 1905, bought land in Renton for a new plant. Now known as PACCAR, the company has factories in five countries, making heavy-duty trucks and other vehicles, railcars, and mining equipment.This photo of…
ID Number:Lib1993.20.193
Date:1954
Image of Henry Kotkins, Seattle, June 1975
Photograph

Henry Kotkins, Seattle, June 1975

Founded in 1910 as the Seattle Suitcase, Trunk and Bag Manufacturing Co., Skyway Luggage Co. has been an innovated suitcase company, including introducting the first commercially successfull wheeled luggage to the United States. Still operating out of Kent, Washington, as of 2024, Skyway was run by Henry Louis Kotkins (1912-2002), son of the company founder, for decades. Kotkins was an…
ID Number:Lib1993.20.283
Date:1975
Image of Bethlehem Steel Company factory, Seattle, 1957
Photograph

Bethlehem Steel Company factory, Seattle, 1957

New York City-born William Pigott (1860-1929) founded two of Seattle's major industrial enterprises, Seattle Steel Company and Seattle Car Manufacturing Company (later Pacific Car and Foundry Company, or PACCAR). Seattle Steel Company (later Bethlehem Steel Company and Birmingham Steel Company) began operations in 1905 on 55 acres of tide flats in Humphrey (later Youngstown and West Seattle). The steel and…
ID Number:Lib1993.20.313
Date:1957
Image of Employees working in lead manufacturing plant, Seattle circa 1950
Photograph

Employees working in lead manufacturing plant, Seattle circa 1950

Beginning about 1917, the Northwest Lead Company operated at 1744 Fourth Avenue South in Seattle. The plant manufactured lead products for the plumbing trade, mainly from lead produced by the Bunker Hill Mining Company of Kellogg, Idaho, which had acquired the plant in 1920. This image shows employees working with sheets of lead at the Seattle plant. Caption information source:…
ID Number:Lib1995.5.6
Date:Circa 1950
Image of Employees working in lead manufacturing plant, Seattle circa 1950
Photograph

Employees working in lead manufacturing plant, Seattle circa 1950

Beginning about 1917, the Northwest Lead Company operated at 1744 Fourth Avenue South in Seattle. The plant manufactured lead products for the plumbing trade, mainly from lead produced by the Bunker Hill Mining Company of Kellogg, Idaho, which had acquired the plant in 1920. This image shows employees at work at the Seattle plant. Caption information source: The Seattle Sunday…
ID Number:Lib1995.5.8
Date:Circa 1950
Image of Employees working in lead manufacturing plant, Seattle circa 1950
Photograph

Employees working in lead manufacturing plant, Seattle circa 1950

Beginning about 1917, the Northwest Lead Company operated at 1744 Fourth Avenue South in Seattle. The plant manufactured lead products for the plumbing trade, mainly from lead produced by the Bunker Hill Mining Company of Kellogg, Idaho, which had acquired the plant in 1920. This image shows employees at work at the Seattle plant. Caption information source: The Seattle Sunday…
ID Number:Lib1995.5.9
Date:Circa 1950
Image of Lighthouse for the Blind brochure, Seattle, circa 1935
Ephemera

Lighthouse for the Blind brochure, Seattle, circa 1935

Seattle's Lighthouse for the Blind was started in 1916 and incorporated in 1918. The organization was founded as a means to "advance the general welfare of the blind." To accomplish this goal, the Lighthouse for the Blind ran employment and recreational training programs intended to help blind individuals regain their financial independence. In the early days these activities focused on…
ID Number:MS.COLL.1442
Date:Circa 1935
Image of Aerial of Boeing Plant #2 looking southeast, Seattle, 1943
Photograph

Aerial of Boeing Plant #2 looking southeast, Seattle, 1943

Boeing's Plant #2 was built in 1936 in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood next to the Duwamish River, with additional construction in 1941. The main saw manufacturing of iconic planes like the B-17 "Flying Fortress" bombers, B-29 "Superfortress" bombers, B-52 bomber, and the 737. A crucial site of production during World War II, the plant was camouflaged at one point during the…
ID Number:PI23924
Date:1943
Image of Men working on B-17 engines at the Boeing plant, November 1940
Photograph

Men working on B-17 engines at the Boeing plant, November 1940

In 1940, some 7,500 Boeing Aircraft Company employees worked 24 hours per day to build B-17 Flying Fortress bombers for the British and American military. These long-range propeller-driven planes were capable of attacking an enemy fleet more than 1,000 miles offshore and conducting bombing raids on Germany from England. At this time, the United States had not yet entered World…
ID Number:PI23926
Date:1940
Image of Man shaping a hat at the J.T. Hardeman Hat Company, Seattle, 1935
Photograph

Man shaping a hat at the J.T. Hardeman Hat Company, Seattle, 1935

Polk's 1935 Seattle city directory lists the J.T. Hardeman Hat Company at 700 Republican Street, in what is now known as the South Lake Union neighborhood. The firm made men's fur felt hats. Handwritten on negative: Hats Candid.Handwritten on sleeve: Hats - men's.Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a…
ID Number:PI23969
Date:1935
Previous 1 … 36 37 38 39 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