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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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707 results for: Labor and Labor Unions

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Image of Indigenous men, women, and children working in hop field, Kent, circa 1895
Photograph

Indigenous men, women, and children working in hop field, Kent, circa 1895

From the late 1860s to the early 1890s, hop farming was an important activity in the valleys of the Puget Sound region, including Puyallup, White River, and Snoqualmie. Indigenous workers came from throughout the Pacific Northwest, Canada, and Alaska (but especially from regional tribes like the Puyallup, Snoqualmie, Muckleshoot, Duwamish, Sammamish, Lummi, and Nisqually) as a seasonal labor force to…
ID Number:SHS1975
Date:Circa 1895
Image of August Wenzel in front of his blacksmith shop at 7th and Pike, Seattle, 1889
Photograph

August Wenzel in front of his blacksmith shop at 7th and Pike, Seattle, 1889

August Joseph Wenzel (1856-1945) was born in Kingdom of Prussia, Germany, and moved to Seattle in 1888 with his wife Maria and their 8 children. He opened a blacksmith and cooper shop on Pike Street between Fourth Avenue and Fifth Avenue. Next door to the blacksmith shop he owned a wagon works shop and next to that a meat market.…
ID Number:SHS2303
Date:1889
Image of Theodore Wernecke and employees inside fur store, Seattle, circa 1898
Photograph

Theodore Wernecke and employees inside fur store, Seattle, circa 1898

An estimated 100,000 prospectors migrated to the Klondike region of the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1896 and 1899. Most of them stopped in Seattle to purchase supplies, greatly contributing to the city's economic success. Ohio-born Charles Theodore Wernecke (1852-1922) came to Seattle around 1897 and operated at least one store catering to miners headed to Alaska during the Klondike…
ID Number:SHS2508
Date:Circa 1898
Image of Exterior of C.T. Wernecke fur store, Seattle, circa 1897
Photograph

Exterior of C.T. Wernecke fur store, Seattle, circa 1897

Fur trading in the Pacific Northwest dates back to the 1700s. The first raw fur auction in the United States was organized in Seattle in 1898, coinciding with the Klondike Gold Rush, which had started in 1896. Ohio-born Charles Theodore Wernecke had come to Seattle in 1897 and ran a store that bought raw furs, manufactured fur clothing, and catered…
ID Number:SHS2525
Date:Circa 1897
Image of Smith Logging Company, Monroe, 1912
Photograph

Smith Logging Company, Monroe, 1912

Darius Kinsey (1869-1945) was a prominent photographer in the Pacific Northwest, specializing in logging photography. After five years as a photographer for the Seattle and Lake Shore Railroad Co, in 1897 he opened a photography studio in Sedro-Wooley with his wife Tabitha working as his photography assistant. In 1906, he moved his photography studio to Seattle, but continued to document…
ID Number:SHS2626
Date:1912
Image of Carstens Bros & Dashley Meat Market employees outside store, Nome, October 1908
Photograph

Carstens Bros & Dashley Meat Market employees outside store, Nome, October 1908

In 1890 German emigrant Julius August Carstens (1873-1949) arrived in Seattle with his brothers, Thomas and William. Together they founded the Carstens Brothers Meat Markets, later expanding the business into meat packing. In this image employees of the Carstens Brothers and Dashley Meat Market pose outside the shop in Nome, Alaska. In 1899 the brothers had expanded their business north…
ID Number:SHS3098
Date:1908
Image of William Myers and Frank Krauland in Georgetown Market, Seattle, 1911
Photograph

William Myers and Frank Krauland in Georgetown Market, Seattle, 1911

Louis Steen (1845-1922), a butcher born in Germany, came to the U.S. in about 1867 and opened his meat market in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood on Duwamish Avenue, now Airport Way. In this image, two of Steen's employees stand in the interior of the market. William Myers, left, is listed as a meat cutter in the 1911 Seattle City Directory, and…
ID Number:SHS3643
Date:1911
Image of Workers pouring concrete for Beacon Hill reservoir, Seattle, circa 1911
Photograph

Workers pouring concrete for Beacon Hill reservoir, Seattle, circa 1911

Washington's Cedar River originates in the Cascade Mountain Range and drains into Puget Sound via Lake Washington. Since 1899 the upper Cedar River watershed, and its subsequent reservoirs and pipeline infrastructure, have been operated by Seattle Public Utilities, providing drinking water for about two-thirds of King County. The population of Seattle and King County grew quickly after the establishment of…
ID Number:SHS3768
Date:Circa 1911
Image of Railroad construction workers and locomotive at the Green River crossing, 1885
Photograph

Railroad construction workers and locomotive at the Green River crossing, 1885

In the 1880s, Chinese laborers were recruited by railroad companies because they worked for lower pay than whites. Chinese men were often assigned to such dangerous tasks as blasting through rock and laying tracks in tunnels or on river bluffs. Of the 20,000 men that built the Northern Pacific branch line between Pasco and Tacoma, 15,000 were Chinese.This 1885 photo…
ID Number:SHS5907
Date:1885
Image of Hop pickers near Auburn, Washington, circa 1900
Photograph

Hop pickers near Auburn, Washington, circa 1900

Brewers use the fruit of the hop plant to flavor beer. Beginning in the 1880s, hop growing brought great prosperity to western Washington state. In 1888 alone, over three quarters of a million pounds of hops were harvested in the area. The boom waned in the early 1890s when the fields were attacked repeatedly by an insect pest.This photo, taken…
ID Number:SHS6026
Date:Circa 1900
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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
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