506 results for: Government and Public Services
Ephemera
Official Instructions for air raid or gas attack, 1942
In 1942, Crescent Soda, a national soft-drink company, reprinted and distributed official civilian defense releases from the Office of Civilian Defense and the Washington State Defense Council. Printed here on one page, the instructions give step-by-step information on what to do if the city has an air raid or gas attack.
ID Number:Lib1996.28.19a
Date:1942
Ephemera
Rules for Test Blackout Night, March 7, 1941
The City of Seattle ran a Test Blackout Night on March 7, 1941. Mayor John E. Carroll declared an official emergency for the duration of the blackout, and the city distributed this handbill telling people what to expect and what to do. All male citizens of Seattle were called upon to report violations to city authorities.
ID Number:Lib1996.28.19b
Date:1941
Correspondence
William Pickering's letter to Arthur Denny about Lincoln assassination, Washington, DC, May 4, 1865
Early in 1865, Governor William Pickering made the long journey from Olympia, Washington Territory, to Washington DC on territory business. British-born Pickering had been appointed governor of Washington Territory by Abraham Lincoln, whom he had known in Springfield, Illinois. This is one of a series of letters that Governor Pickering wrote to Territorial Register of Deeds Arthur Denny during the…
ID Number:MS.COLL.1489.1
Date:1865
Photograph
United States Immigration Station and Assay Office, Seattle, 1932
The federal immigration station building opened in 1932 at on Airport Way South near Maynard Avenue South. In 2004, the US Department of Homeland Security opened a new facility in Tacoma, and closed immigration services at this location. Handwritten on image: U.S. Immigration.Handwritten on sleeve: U.S. Immigration Station - Seattle.Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph…
ID Number:PI20985
Date:1932
Photograph
Engineers Town near site of Grand Coulee dam, circa 1937
Thousands of workers from all over the United States poured into the central Washington to work on the Grand Coulee Dam. Whether they were engineers, office workers or unskilled labor, all of these people and their families needed places to live. In December 1933, at the start of the dam project, workers graded the land for Engineers Town. Six months…
ID Number:PI22025
Date:Circa 1937
Photograph
Change of shift at dam construction site, circa 1937
Work started on the Grand Coulee Dam in the fall of 1933 and was finished ten years later. Workers used a system of cranes, trestles, and conveyor belts to move the concrete and other construction materials into place. The men labored in shifts around the clock in winter and summer to build the dam on the Columbia River.This photo, taken…
ID Number:PI22031
Date:Circa 1937
Photograph
Trestles and traveling cranes at dam construction site, circa 1937
Large concrete dams, like Grand Coulee Dam, are actually built as a series of immense blocks, not as one solid structure. At Grand Coulee, workers poured concrete five feet at a time into wooden forms at the top of each column. A system of trestles and traveling cranes moved the workers and building materials to where they were needed.This photo,…
ID Number:PI22037
Date:Circa 1937
Photograph
Men emptying cement into form at dam construction site, circa 1937
After much research, the United States Bureau of Reclamation and its contractor, the MWAK Company, developed a very strong type of concrete for the Grand Coulee Dam. Two concrete mixing plants built at the dam site supplied 640 cubic yards of concrete per hour, breaking all earlier records. Traveling cranes moved the concrete to the building site in huge buckets.This…
ID Number:PI22043
Date:Circa 1937
Photograph
West side of Grand Coulee Dam showing powerhouse, March 1941
The Columbia Basin Project, including Grand Coulee Dam, was designed to supply irrigation water from the Columbia River to the dry lands of eastern Washington state. The dam also harnessed the power of the river to supply electricity to the Pacific Northwest. Irrigation and cheap hydroelectric power stimulated the growth of both agriculture and industry throughout the region.This photo, taken…
ID Number:PI22057
Date:1941
Photograph
Inside a powerhouse at Grand Coulee Dam, August 1941
When Grand Coulee Dam was completed in 1943, its huge generators were the largest in the world, and the dam itself was one of the world's largest power plants. During World War II, the cheap electric power from Grand Coulee and Bonneville Dams stimulated the growth of the Pacific Northwest's aluminum, aircraft and shipbuilding industries and lit the homes of…
ID Number:PI22065
Date:1941