Bertha Ethel Knight Landes (1868-1943) was the first female mayor of a major American city, serving as mayor of Seattle from 1926 to 1928. Landes vowed to clean up city government, running for mayor on the platform of "municipal housekeeping." She served only one term as mayor but remained a civic leader in such organizations as the Women's University Club, the Woman's Century Club, the League of Women Voters, and the Women's Auxiliary of University Congregational Church.
In this image Mayor Landes bids goodbye to famed Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen as he boards the Great Northern Oriental Limited after a visit to Seattle. Amundsen and his team had arrived the previous day from Nome after the Amundsen-Ellsworth-Noble Polar Expedition, the first air expedition to the North Pole.
Handwritten on verso: Bidding goodbye to Capt. Roald Amundsen, Polar Explorer, Leaving Seattle at 8 P.M. June 28, 1926, Oriental Limited. Presented by CW Meldrum. Asst. Gen. Pass. Agt. Great Northern RR
Caption information source: The Seattle Daily Times, June 28, 1926, page 19
Physical Description: 1 photographic print : b&w ; 7.5 x 9.5 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
Credit: MOHAI, Collection on Bertha Landes, 1974.5855.17
