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Seattle Post Office Photographs and Other Material, 1889-1962

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Seattle Post Office
Title
Seattle Post Office Photographs and Other Material
Dates
1889-1962 (inclusive)
Quantity
1.5 cubic feet, (4 boxes, including 231 photographs)
Collection Number
1972.5319 (collection)
Summary
Photographs of employees, building construction and events, as well as albums and early records from Seattle and other post offices.
Repository
Museum of History & Industry, Sophie Frye Bass Library

P.O. Box 80816
Seattle, WA
98108
Telephone: 2063241126 x102
library@mohai.org
Access Restrictions

The collection is open to the public by appointment.

Languages
English.
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Historical Note

The first United States Post Office in Seattle--and the first in King County--opened in 1853 in pioneer Arthur A. Denny's log cabin home on Front Street (now First Avenue) and Marion Street, with Denny named the first postmaster. Previously, all mail for Seattle and Alki was delivered once a week by canoe from Olympia. The first post office consisted, as Denny's daughter Louisa Denny Frye later recalled, of a desk with small cubbyholes where the 30 year old Denny sorted the first small batches of mail to come directly to Seattle.

The Seattle Post Office lacked a permanent address for its first fifty years, moving from one location to another. From 1890 to 1899, the Post Office occupied a building on Columbia Street between Second and Third Avenues, constructed after the fire of 1889. Later it was in the nearby Boston Block, and later, in the Arlington Hotel Building at First and University. The first permanent home of the Seattle Post Office was the Beaux-Arts inspired building constructed between 1903 and 1909 at Third Avenue and Union Street. Also known as the Federal Building, this ornate structure originally also housed the United States Federal Court and Department of Customs, though the Post Office soon outgrew its space and took over the entire building. This building, which had become too cramped and had also begun to deteriorate, was demolished in 1958 and replaced by the modern three-story facility still used today.

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Content Description

Photographs comprise the bulk of the Seattle Post Office collection. Three groups of photographs portray postal employees: individual portraits from the late 19th century and group portraits of employees of various Seattle stations, taken in 1935 and 1952. Another series of 113 photographs documents the construction (1903-1909), from groundbreaking to completion, of the classical post office building that stood at Third Avenue and Union Street until its demolition in 1958. Other photographs depict a 1950 letter carriers convention, and the Terminal Annex on Jackson Street.

The collection also includes three albums: one volume of employee signatures, probably given as a retirement gift; an album of newspaper clippings documenting the early days of air mail service; and an album of photographs and clippings related to the Retired Letter Carriers Club and the associated Ladies Social Club for wives of retired letter carriers.

Post office papers includes early records from the Seattle and Olympia post offices, an account book from Wagner, Oregon, and post office ephemera.

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Use of the Collection

Alternative Forms Available

View selections from the collection in MOHAI's online collections.

Restrictions on Use

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.

Preferred Citation

Seattle Post Office photographs and other material, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged in 3 series:

  • Photographs
  • Papers
  • Albums

Location of Collection

2b.1.4-5

Acquisition Information

Source: United States Post Office, Seattle (James J. Symbol, Postmaster) on February 5, 1972.

Separated Materials

These materials are part of a donation that also included a number of artifacts. These artifacts are cataloged and stored separately by MOHAI's Collections Department.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

  • Photographs, circa 1890s-1956

    231 photographs

    • Employees

    • Buildings

      • Description: 93-205: Construction of the U.S. Courthouse, Custom House and Post Office building
        113 photographs

        This series of photographs documents the years-long construction of the ornate classical building on the southeast corner of Third Avenue and Union Street in Seattle, which housed the Post Office and well as the United State Federal Court and the Department of Customs. Offically named the U.S. Courthouse, Custom House and Post Office building, it was also referred to as the Federal Building. Many of the photographs are mounted on linen backing, and most are perforated with two holes along the left edge, suggesting they have been removed from an album.

        The first images document the vacant corner prior to the beginning of construction, after the two-story Plummer Block was lifted and moved two blocks north to Pine Street, where it became the Hotel Federal. Approximately one or two photographs per month document all stages of the construction, which include the regrade of Third Avenue in 1907, unanticipated in the building planning and requiring the addition of wide steps to connect the building with the sidewalk four feet below. Beginning in January 1908, some of the photographs document work on the building's interior, including 1909 images of finished rooms.

        Dates: 1903 December-1909 May
        Container: Box/Folder 1/8-19
        Location: Photographs, circa 1890s-1956 / Buildings
      • Description: 206-207: Interior of U.S. Courthouse, Custom House and Post Office building
        Pierson & Co. (photographer)
        Dates: 1909
        Container: Box/Folder 1/20
        Location: Photographs, circa 1890s-1956 / Buildings
      • Terminal Annex
        • Description: People working in the Terminal Annex building
          3 photographs

          These photographs are mounted on construction paper and are accompanied by typed captions indicating that the photographs were used to document congestion in various parts of the building, with employees working in close quarters with each other and with office equipment.

          Dates: 1949 February
          Container: Box/Folder 1/21
          Location: Photographs, circa 1890s-1956 / Buildings / Terminal Annex
        • Description: 211-212: Exterior of Terminal Annex

          Caption: "Terminal Annex, Seattle, Wash. Taken Oct. 31, 1955, by Frank Allyn, Training Officer, who retained negative."

          Dates: 1955 October 31
          Container: Box/Folder 1/21
          Location: Photographs, circa 1890s-1956 / Buildings / Terminal Annex

    • Miscellaneous

      • Description: 213: Crow sitting on mailbox

        Written on verso: "Glossy print courtesy of PI [ Seattle Post-Intelligencer] (Beth McKinnon). Crow was stealing letters from mail box. This photo caught him red handed."

        Dates: circa 1953
        Container: Box/Folder 1/22
        Location: Photographs, circa 1890s-1956 / Miscellaneous

  • Papers

    • History

      • Description: "Brief History of the National Federation of Post Office Clerks" by Fred McGee
        1 page
        Dates: undated
        Container: Box/Folder 2/1
        Location: Papers / History

    • Seattle Post Office

      • Description: National Association of Letter Carriers, Seattle Branch souvenir booklet
        2 copies

        Booklet containing photographs of Seattle letter carriers, listing names, home state and appointment dates.

        Dates: 1901
        Container: Box/Folder 2/2
        Location: Papers / Seattle Post Office
      • Description: Calls for proposals for airplane service between Seattle and Vicotoria, B.C.

        Includes calls for proposals, proposal cover letters, correspondence and clippings

        Dates: 1923, 1928-1929
        Container: Box/Folder 2/3
        Location: Papers / Seattle Post Office
      • Description: Mail schedules
        4 items

        Schedule of "Arrival and Departure of Princial Mails" (1917); train mail and air mail schedules (1930); and a map showing air mail transit hours between Seattle and other principal cities (1931).

        Dates: 1917, 1930, 1931
        Container: Box/Folder 2/4
        Location: Papers / Seattle Post Office

    • Olympia Post Office

      • Description: Arrivals and departures registers

        Records of arrivals and departures of mail by type of carrier: horse and cart, steamboat or railroad.

        Dates: 1889-1893
        Container: Box/Folder 2/5
        Location: Papers / Olympia Post Office
      • Description: Employees

        Includes letter carrier applications and letters of recommendation; appointment of Postmaster Val A. Milroy; reports of Letter Carrier Service; and oaths and bonds of letter carriers and Postmaster Val Milroy.

        Dates: 1890-1893
        Container: Box/Folder 2/6-7
        Location: Papers / Olympia Post Office
      • Description: Financial records

        Includes vouchers and reports on various types of delivery and sales; receipts for rent, utilities, salaries and purchases; and correspondence. Includes correspondence from the Post Office Department Salary and Allowance Division regarding salary, rent and other expenses; from the Office of the Auditor of the Treasury for the Post Office Department regarding collection of money from former Postmaster J.G. Kennedy; from Postmaster Milroy regarding funds for improvement of post office facilities, and other correspondence.

        Dates: 1889-1893
        Container: Box/Folder 2/8-9
        Location: Papers / Olympia Post Office

    • Wagner, Oregon Post Office

    • Ephemera

      • Description: U.S. Postal Service booklet of general information for the public

        Cover stamped "Ellensburg, WA. 98926"

        Dates: 1904
        Container: Box/Folder 2/11
        Location: Papers / Ephemera
      • Description: Material distributed by or available at post offices

        Includes Registered Mail envelopes, a poster announcing the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, a list of providers of produce, and a letter from the National Recovery Administration about the Code of Fair Competition (1934).

        Dates: 1934; 1940 ; undated
        Container: Box/Folder 2/12
        Location: Papers / Ephemera
      • Description: Banquet programs
        Dates: 1928; 1941
        Container: Box/Folder 2/12
        Location: Papers / Ephemera
      • Clippings
        • Description: "The G.P.O. Museum" by Pamela Steelcroft, published in the Strand Magazine, London

          Article clipped and mailed to Postmaster George Starr by Louis Nash, King County Auditor, with the inscription "Something for you scrapbook"

          Dates: 1897 September
          Container: Box/Folder 2/14
          Location: Papers / Ephemera / Clippings
        • Description: The Bundy Recorder free speech edition.

          The Bundy Recorder was the "official organ of the Seattle P.O. Clerks Union."

          Dates: 1909 August
          Container: Box/Folder 2/14
          Location: Papers / Ephemera / Clippings
      • Description: Miscellaneous

        Includes a New Year's card from Seattle Post Office to the Universal Postal Union (1909); two letters of recognition; and an announcement about excursions to Saratoga Lake for employees.

        Dates: 1893; 1909; undated
        Container: Box/Folder 2/15
        Location: Papers / Ephemera

  • Albums

    • Description: 229: Seattle Post Office employee signature album

      Titled on cover "Post Office Employes [sic]," this album consists of pages each signed by a postal employee, most indicating the employee's appointment date and position, and the current date. Signature dates range from 1895-1914, with groups at 1895-1899, 1903-1906 and 1914.

      The first page of the album is printed with a message to Postmaster Griffith Davies, indicating that this album was assembled in honor of his retirement.

      Inscription in album: "For your archive, This book belonged to my father, James W. Scott, who was one of the "original boys" --way back when. I'm hoping you will enjoy having it. Sincerely, Norma Scott Drimmel, May 2, 1949."

      Dates: 1894-1914
      Container: Box 3
      Location: Albums
    • Description: 230: Ladies of the Retired Letter Carriers Social Club album

      The front of the album consists of photographs of members of the Ladies Social Club (who were wives of retired letter carriers) and clippings about Club events, many by Club secretary Clara Newell. The album includes a list of charter members at the Club's founding in 1945.

      The back half of album consists of clippings about and photographs of members of Retired Letter Carriers Club of Seattle, as well as clippings about Seattle Post Office history.

      Dates: 1945-1962
      Container: Box 3
      Location: Albums
    • Description: 231: "History of Air Mail" clippings album

      Album apparently assembled by Seattle Post Office. Title on cover: "History of Air Mail - Clippings - Seattle Post Office"

      Dates: 1920-1940
      Container: Box 3
      Location: Albums

Finding aid prepared by Jody Hendrickson
2008

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