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Cooper and Levy families photograph collection, circa 1860s-1950s

Overview of the Collection

Title
Cooper and Levy families photograph collection
Dates
circa 1860s-1950s (inclusive)
Quantity
241 photographs (8 boxes) ; various sizes
Collection Number
PH0722
Summary
Photographs of the families of Isaac Cooper and Louis Levy, prominent Jewish businessmen in Seattle during the early years of the 20th century, and the Cooper & Levy store
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

The collection is open to the public.

Request at UW

Additional Reference Guides

These materials form part of the Cooper and Levy Families Papers, which are described and indexed in the guide to the Cooper and Levy Families Papers .

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was partially provided through a grant awarded by King County 4Culture
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Biographical Note

The Cooper and Levy families were Seattle merchants, civic leaders, and philanthropists.

Isaac Cooper and brother-in-law Louis Levy formed Cooper & Levy in 1892, a retail and mail order grocery, hardware, and woodenware business. Supplying most of the prospectors during the Alaska-Klondike gold rush, they acquired a considerable fortune by the time they sold out ten years later to the Bon Marché department store.

Aaron Levy organized Ohaveth Shalom, Seattle's first reform congregation, in 1889. Esther Levy and daughter Lizzie Levy Cooper organized the Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Society (LHBS) in 1892 to provide aid to needy Jewish families. Esther served as president of the LHBS until 1900, and Lizzie from 1900 to1915. Lizzie also served as president of the Seattle Council of Jewish Women and vice president of the State Council from 1903-1906, and was president of the Temple De Hirsch Ladies Auxiliary from 1913-1914.

Louis Levy's two brothers, Aubrey Levy, a lawyer, and Eugene Levy, a motion picture theater promoter, together with Isaac Cooper, formed the Republic Operating Company and built the Republic Building at Third Avenue and Pike Street in 1927. All of the income from the building was willed in 1945 and again in 1959 to three service organizations: the Jewish Welfare Society, the Caroline Kline Galland Home for the Aged, and the Seattle Children's Orthopedic Hospital of Seattle.

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Content Description

The collection contains photographs of members of the Cooper and Levy families who were prominent Jewish merchants and civic leaders in Seattle in the early years of the 20th century. It includes views of the Cooper & Levy store that supplied outfits for Klondike gold rush prospectors in the late 1890s.

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Use of the Collection

Alternative Forms Available

View selections from the collection in digital format

Restrictions on Use

Restrictions may exist on reproduction, quotation, or publication. Contact Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries for details.

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Administrative Information

Custodial History

Collected by the Washington State Jewish Historical Society.

Processing Note

Processed by Gina Rappaport; 2008; Erik Rath, 2009.

Photographs were relocated from the Cooper and Levy Families Papers, MSS Collection No. 2366, in Special Collections, UW Libraries.

Separated Materials

2 scrapbooks from Eugene Levy relating to theater in Seattle from 1917-1920 were relocated from the Cooper and Levy Families Papers to the Special Collections Pacific Northwest Scrapbook Collection in 1977.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 


2009 (Last modified: 11/27/2017)

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