Melvin Albert (Bert) Weed was born on April 3, 1882 in Jackson, Iowa to Charles Albert and Gertrude Tyler Weed. The Weed family relocated to Seattle around 1890. After finishing high school in 1898, Melvin Weed worked as a clerk at the Bartell Drug Company before enrolling in the University of Washington’s School of Pharmacy. Weed completed the two-year program and graduated with a Ph.G. (Graduate in Pharmacy) degree in 1902. After graduation, Weed partnered with businessman Albert G. Keene, and worked as a pharmacist at Lake Washington Pharmacy, located at 2711 Jackson Street. According to city directories, the store was renamed Keene & Weed in 1904. In 1905, the pharmacy moved to its permanent location at 2601 Jackson Street. The store name reverted to Lake Washington Pharmacy in 1907, and around this time, A.G. Keene sold his interests in the pharmacy to Weed, who was now Keene's son-in-law (Weed married Keene's daughter Mamie Luella Keene in 1906). The store became Weed’s Pharmacy in 1910, and operated in the same location until Melvin Weed’s retirement in 1958.
Melvin Weed was also involved in the pharmaceutical community. He was a member of the Washington State Pharmaceutical Association, and was one of the founders of the West Coast Wholesale Drug Company.
Melvin Weed died in January 1962.
The collection contains various materials pertaining to Weed’s Pharmacies. Advertisements promote not only the store but the wide array of drugs available. Materials from the pharmacy include prescriptions, photo processing envelopes, stationary, and copies of
Arranged in six series:
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The collection is open to the public by appointment.
The Museum of History & Industry is the owner of the materials in the Sophie Frye Bass Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from MOHAI before any reproduction use. The museum does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
Collection on Weed's Pharmacy, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle
Gift of Luell Weed Guthrie (Melvin A. Weed's daughter); received in 1971.
The donation includes a number of artifacts related to Weed's Pharmacy. These items are catalogued and stored separately by MOHAI's Collections Department.
Weed Family Papers, Accession No. 2000.3.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.
Includes ads for Medicinal olive oil, Euthymol, Colchi-sal, Hydrozone
Removed from M.A. Weed's University of Washington Toxicology notebook
Cover for small notepad, printed "compliments of M.A. Weed, Ph. G., Lake Washington Pharmacy" and printed with ads for Weed products.
Single page letter on Weed's Pharmacy letterhead.
5 folders of prescriptions arranged by number stamped on prescription: 21736 through 217948 plus miscellaneous
Burned/damaged
Notebook with alphabetical divisions used to list pharmaceutical drugs and the drawer location of each.
November, December
November, August
Monthly, missing April and June.
January, February, April, May, June
Photographs of Weed's Pharmacy 50th anniversary, showing Melvin A. Weed, Mamie Luella Weed and customers in Weed’s Pharmacy.
Handwritten on verso: Bartell Drug Store // Jackson St. betw. 27th-28th south side 1900 // Melvin Albert Weed First worked there - then purchased store as Lake Washington Phcy
Photograph set in oval frame made of two sheets of Weed's Pharmacy letterhead.
Written on paper: Uncle Bert
Mounted
Mounted
Mounted
Weed in front row on right
Card printed with names of A.G. Keene and M.A. Weed Ph. G. Address listed as 2711 Jackson Street.
Multiple obituaries for Weed, articles on store’s 50th anniversary
Thank you letter to M.A. Weed from Garfield High School for giving a talk on pharmacy (1936); personal letter to Bert and Mamie Weed on G.O. Guy Drugs letterhead (1956); letter announcing the death of William W. Warren, from Board of Directors of West Coast Wholesale Drug Co., including M.A. Weed (1941); letter to Luell Weed Guthrie accompanying photos of 50th anniversary of Weed's Pharmacy.
Blank stationery, envelopes, receipts for Weed's Pharmacy and Lake Washington Pharmacy.
Folder also includes letterhead for organizations to which M.A. Weed belonged: Washington State Pharmaceutical Association, Rainier Heights Commercial Club, Sons of the American Revolution, as well as from the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition.
United Profit Sharing Coupons for Wrigley’s (Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company), Smith Brothers, and Union Tobacco Company.
Scrapbook including a variety of promotional cards advertising Weed's Pharmacy and its products; also a few cards for Lake Washington Pharmacy. Also includes other stickers and ads for Weed's Pharmacy, and a number of blank sheets from Weed's Pharmacy prescription pads, printed with letterhead of various doctors.
Written in address book
Notebook of diagrams describing the effect of various pharmaceutical agents on body systems. Probably from Weed's student days at University of Washington School of Pharmacy.