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Mildred T. Powell photograph and ephemera collection, circa 1904-1952
Overview of the Collection
- Collector
- Powell, Mildred T., 1886-
- Title
- Mildred T. Powell photograph and ephemera collection
- Dates
- circa 1904-1952 (inclusive)18991956
circa 1935-1952 (bulk)19351952 - Quantity
- 92 photographic prints; 1 drawing (1 box) ; sizes vary
- Collection Number
- PH0558
- Summary
- Photos document the civic and other activities of Mildred Towne Powell, Seattle city councilwoman
- Repository
-
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu - Access Restrictions
-
Collection is open to the public.
- Languages
- English
Biographical NoteReturn to Top
Mildred Towne Powell was a Seattle area political activist and civic leader. She served as the only woman member of the Seattle City Council from 1935-1955, and is the second longest serving woman on the council. She was born on February 9, 1886, in New London, CT, to parents Walter Alanson Towne and Alice Nichols Warner. Following her graduation from New London's Williams Memorial High School (a public school for girls), Powell attended Wellesley College for one year before transferring to Smith College where she received a bachelor’s degree in 1908. She taught school in Connecticut and Massachusetts until 1910, when she married Francis Foster Powell and moved to Montana. In 1923, the Powell family--including children Francis, Jr., Alanson, and Alice--moved to Seattle. Powell was actively involved in the local community, including serving as the president of the Seattle Parent Teacher Association. After her husband died in 1934, she was urged by prominent leaders, among them Bertha Knight Landes, to run for the City Council. She ran as Mrs. F. F. Powell (in honor of her husband) and was elected in 1935. She was re-elected for her second term in 1938 with the highest number of votes of any candidate and was the third woman to ever sit on the City Council. She served in many positions on the Council including the Council President and acting Mayor of Seattle (three times).
At the end of WWII, she was chosen to represent the U.S. to lecture on municipal government in England and Germany. In 1950, she ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the First Congressional District. She was active in the Moral Re-Armament (MRA) movement, which was based on Christian ideals that promoted world peace and unity and opposed Communism. It was founded by Frank Buchman in the 1920s, was ecumenical in nature, and by the 1950s, encouraged the spread of the MRA ideology through the production of plays such as The Vanishing Island . At that time it maintained a popular international following and worked to stop the spread of Communism. In 1955, she was invited to join a peacemaking journey to 28 countries in Asia and the Middle East by the MRA. She encouraged Myrtle Edwards to fill her Council position. When Mildred resigned from the City Council, more than 40 organizations and leaders, including the Governor of Washington, praised her years of service on the Council. She continued to be active in the MRA for many more years until her health brought her home to Seattle, where she died on June 16, 1977.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
This collection contains photographs of Mildred T. Powell as well as other civic and national leaders of her day, such as Mayor William F. Devin (Seattle mayor, 1942-1952), Raymond Allen, president of the University of Washington, and Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of president Franklin Roosevelt.
Photographs of Mildred Towne Powell's political activities on the city council, her unsuccessful run for a congressional seat, and her work on the MRA (Moral Re-Armament) movement that opposed Communisum. The collection also include views of her home in Laurelhurst that were made for the "Better Homes and Gardens" magazine
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Acquisition Information
Possibly donated by M. Powell 1/20/1972.
Processing Note
Processed by Zach Hooker and Jocelyn Spicer, 2002.
Mildred Powell Photograph Collection (2017062601) has been merged with this accession.
Separated Materials
Material Described Separately: Mildred Powell Papers (Mss Coll 1829)Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
Series 1: PortraitsReturn to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
---|---|---|---|
Folder | item | ||
1 | 1 | Mildred Towne,
high school graduation
Giles Bishop and Son,
Conn. (photographer)
|
1904 |
1 | 2 | ||
1 | 3 | Drawing of
Mildred Powell, possibly from a memorial service program |
|
8 | Mildred Powell
photographs and campaign portraits |
1940s-1950s |
Series 2: City Council ActivitiesReturn to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
---|---|---|---|
Folder | item | ||
2 | 4 | 1952 | |
2 | 5 | Mildred Powell
and Mayor Devin
Heib,
Seattle (photographer)
|
1952 |
2 | 6 |
Seattle City
Council
Heib,
Seattle (photographer)
Robert Harlin, M.B. Mitchell, Clarence Massart, Mildred Powell,
and Frank Laube are identified.
|
1952 |
2 | 7 |
City Council
group, including Mildred Powell, Frank Laube, and M.B. Mitchell
Fred Carter,
Seattle (photographer)
Powell, Laube, and Mitchell's city council terms overlapped
during the period 1941-1954.
|
|
2 | 8 | City Council
group including Mildred Powell |
|
9 | Service Pin
Awards |
1954 | |
10 | City Suggestion
Award Plan |
1955 |
Series 3: Other Civic ActivitiesReturn to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
---|---|---|---|
Folder | item | ||
3 | 9-14 | Summer, 1941 | |
3 | 15 | ca. 1935-1943 | |
3 | 16 | Dec. 10, [1948?] | |
3 | 17 | Beryl Northcott
from London, England (of British American Associates), and Mildred Powell,
Seattle |
Oct., 1951 |
3 | 18 | Seattle Gas
Company function with Mayor Devin, Henry Gellert, and Mildred Powell
|
Winter, 1952 |
3 | 19 | Mildred Powell,
Nancy Curtis, Frank McCaffrey, and Joy Lawson looking at "Out of the Frying
Pan"
Positive Pictures,
Washington D.C. (photographer)
|
|
3 | 20 |
Raymond Allen,
president of the University of Washington, Mildred Powell, and Frank P.
Helsell, president of the Civic Unity Committee
Gerald Beaudin,
Seattle (photographer)
|
|
11 | Mildred visiting
pilots |
1950s | |
12 | Associations and
civic organizations
Parent Teacher Board for child welfare 1934, Seattle Council
Founder's Day 1947, British American Associates 1949, and other
organizations.
|
1934-1949 | |
13 | Mildred lecturing at Heidelberg University,
Germany |
1949 | |
14 | Eleanor Roosevelt |
1941 |
Series 4: Moral Re-ArmamentReturn to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
---|---|---|---|
Folder | item | ||
3 | 21 | Mildred Powell
leaving for Moral Re-Armament civic conference in San Francisco |
1940 |
4 | Newspaper
clippings: MRA, Peter Howard |
1965 |
Series 5: Mildred and Francis Powell, HomesReturn to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates |
---|---|---|
Folder | ||
5 | Montana Ranch |
1910-1922 |
6 | House: 4404 52nd NE, Laurelhurst |
1938 |
7 | House: 4132 42nd Ave |
1930s |
Series 6: MiscellaneousReturn to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates |
---|---|---|
Folder | ||
15 | Miscellanous |
1950-1960s |
16 | Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
1946, 1967 |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- City councils--Washington (State)--Seattle--Photographs
- Civic leaders--Washington (State)--Seattle--Photographs
- Mayors--Washington (State)--Seattle--Photographs
- Visual Materials Collections (University of Washington)
- Women city council members--Washington (State)--Seattle--Photographs
Personal Names
- Devin, William F. (William Franklin), 1898-1982--Photographs
- Powell, Mildred T., 1886- --Archives
- Powell, Mildred T., 1886- --Photographs
- Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962--Photographs
Corporate Names
- Seattle (Wash.). City Council--Photographs
Geographical Names
- Seattle (Wash.)--Politics and government--20th century--Photographs