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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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869 results for: Performing Arts and Music

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Image of Grand Opera House, Seattle, circa 1910
Photograph

Grand Opera House, Seattle, circa 1910

Seattle’s Grand Opera House, at 213-217 Cherry Street, was designed by Edwin H. Houghton, a prominent Pacific Northwest theater designer. Owned by John Cort, the theater stood at the northern end of Seattle’s entertainment district. It was the city’s most important live theater when built, but its popularity declined as the city expanded northwards. It became a movie theater, and…
ID Number:SHS1107
Date:Circa 1910
Image of Chilkat people in dance costumes, Klukwan, Alaska, circa 1895
Photograph

Chilkat people in dance costumes, Klukwan, Alaska, circa 1895

The Chilkat are a Tlingit tribe who have lived in and around their village of Klukwan on the Chilkat River, in southeastern Alaska since time immemorial. They lived on foods available on their lands as well as trading with other tribes on the Pacific coast and inland. Settlers came to Chilkat lands in large numbers in the early 20th century,…
ID Number:SHS1769
Date:Circa 1895
Image of Wagner's First Regiment Band, Seattle, 1889
Photograph

Wagner's First Regiment Band, Seattle, 1889

Cornetist Theodore H. “Dad” Wagner arrived in Seattle in the mid-1880s. As leader of the Second Regiment National Guard Band, Wagner’s band gained community fame by providing free concerts at Pioneer Square after Seattle’s Great Fire of 1889. That same year, he led the First Regiment Washington National Guard Band in celebration of Washington’s statehood. His own band, Dad Wagner’s…
ID Number:SHS2514
Date:1889
Image of The First Regiment band of the Washington National Guard, 1892
Photograph

The First Regiment band of the Washington National Guard, 1892

During the period before statehood, the U.S. Federal Government authorized Washington Territory to form militia units to assist the civil authorities in maintaining law and order. A more permanent force was created on March 9, 1886, with the formation of the First Infantry Regiment of the Washington National Guard, led by Lieutenant-Colonel George D. Hill. The Second Infantry Regiment followed…
ID Number:SHS5837
Date:1892
Image of Performers from the
Photograph

Performers from the "Streets of Cairo" in the Oriental Village pose on the Pay Streak at AYPE, Seattle, 1909

The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYPE) was a world's fair held in Seattle to publicize the development of the Pacific Northwest. The fairgrounds were designed by the Olmsted Brothers landscape Architecture firm and located on the campus of the University of Washington. The AYPE's amusement park and midway area was located along what is now 15th Avenue, and was called the Pay…
ID Number:SHS7956
Date:1909
Image of Sourdoughs posing on truck at reunion, Seattle, August 1935
Photograph

Sourdoughs posing on truck at reunion, Seattle, August 1935

The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration by an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1896 and 1899. The events of the Klondike gold rush rapidly became embedded in North American culture, being captured in poems, stories, photographs, and promotional campaigns long after the end of the stampede. Some terminology from the…
ID Number:SHS10085
Date:1935
Image of Lillian Goon Dip posing in Chinese dance costume, circa 1925
Photograph

Lillian Goon Dip posing in Chinese dance costume, circa 1925

Lillian Goon was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1900. Her father was Seattle’s Chinese consul and hotel owner, Goon Dip. Until 1933, Lillian Goon lived with her family at the Milwaukee Hotel, in Seattle’s Chinatown. She graduated from the University of Washington in 1924. Ms. Goon studied ballet with several teachers, including Seattle’s well-known Mary Ann Wells, and she frequently…
ID Number:SHS14125
Date:1920
Image of Dancers Betty Myers and Donald Craft, Seattle, circa 1927
Photograph

Dancers Betty Myers and Donald Craft, Seattle, circa 1927

Mary Ann Wells King (1894-1971) was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, and moved to Seattle in 1915. Wells founded the ballet department at the Cornish School and directed the dance department for seven years. She later formed her own studio, the Mary Ann Wells School of the Dance at 804 1/2 Pine Street. Wells retired and closed the studio in 1958…
ID Number:SHS15643
Date:Ciirca 1927
Image of Lillian Goon Dip, 1937
Photograph

Lillian Goon Dip, 1937

Lillian Goon was born in Portland, Oregon in 1900. Her father was Seattle’s Chinese consul and hotel owner Goon Dip. Until 1933, Lillian Goon lived with her family at the Milwaukee Hotel, in Seattle’s Chinatown. She graduated from the University of Washington in 1924. Ms. Goon studied ballet with several teachers, including Seattle’s Mary Ann Wells, and she frequently performed…
ID Number:SHS15846
Date:1937
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