Archives West Finding Aid

The collection is comprised of photo albums, documents, and large/oversized photographs and portraits. The captions for each photograph in the albums were handwritten by the donor, Cora Dollart. There are both photographs and documents in which a person is identified, but the relation to the Dollart family could not be determined, whether they were relatives or family friends.

The first album has a red velvet cover and contains mainly cabinet cards. This album contains photographs of Johanna Dollart’s mother and brother, as well as photographs of Frank Dollart. The album documents Frank and Johanna’s growing family in Roslyn and includes photographs of Henry F. Dollart in uniform for World War I, and friends from both Roslyn and Riga.

The second album was a Christmas gift from 1906, with a padded cover depicting children playing. It was created to hold cabinet cards, with space in the back few pages for carte-de-visites. The photographs in this album are often duplicates of the photos found in the first album. The carte-de-visites are not duplicates, however, but are actually tintypes depicting Johanna Dollart (Mertins at the time of the photo) before she moved to Roslyn, and photos of Frank Dollart in St. Paul, Minnesota prior to moving to Roslyn.

In addition to the two photo albums, there is a sleeve containing six “gem-sized” tintypes, measuring ¾”x1” of Johanna Dollart, Mertins at the time, taken in Riga in 1887. There is also a tintype of Frank Dollart measuring 1”x2” taken in Riga in 1886.

The document collection is expansive, spanning several generations from the 19th century through the 20th century. Many of the older documents are in German and/or Russian, some coming from the German Consulate in Riga. The collection includes government documents such as birth certificates, certificates of baptism, and naturalization papers, as well as household documents such as bills, ads, and small books. Materials also include greeting cards and letters to Frank and Johanna Dollart, as well as Sunday school records, Henry and Cora Dollart’s school report cards from both Roslyn and Seattle, and Cora’s artwork from school. Memorabilia from Henry Dollart’s service in World War I, including discharge papers and a veteran’s card, are also part of the collection.