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Frederick & Nelson Records, 1901-1991

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Frederick & Nelson
Title
Frederick & Nelson Records
Dates
1901-1991 (inclusive)
Quantity
48 boxes , (42 linear feet)
plus oversize materials
Collection Number
1993.43
Summary
Papers, photographs, scrapbooks, recordings and audio-visual materials from the Frederick & Nelson department store, primarily from the flagship store in Seattle. Photographs includes images of early Frederick & Nelson stores, the downtown Seattle store, and a large number of photographs of Frederick & Nelson window and store displays, including World War II related displays and the annual Santa Claus window.
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

Frederick & Nelson was one of Seattle’s foremost department stores and was considered by many to be a Seattle institution. Founded by partners D.E. Frederick and Nels Nelson in 1890 as a second hand furniture store on Seattle’s Front Street, the store expanded steadily in its early years, starting with the sale of new furniture after the acquisition of the Queen City Furniture Co. in 1891. Early on, the store provided home delivery service, using its fleet of horse drawn delivery wagons. Among the store’s early customers were the local Native Americans, prospectors heading to the Yukon and the new hotels which had sprung up to accommodate the prospectors.

The store moved into the Rialto building at 2nd and Madison in 1897; the business gradually developed into a department store under the partners’ philosophy that their store should provide whatever merchandise their customers ask for. By 1906, Frederick & Nelson had annexed more space in the Rialto building, opened its first tearoom and introduced ready-to-wear men’s and women’s fashions, a novel alternative to fine clothing made-to-order.

Founder Nels Nelson fell ill and died on a New York bound steamer in 1907. Under the leadership of D.E. Frederick, Frederick & Nelson continued to grow, and by 1914, D.E. decided to build a six-story store at 5th Avenue and Pine Street. Though detractors referred to the decision to build outside of the city’s retail district as “Frederick’s folly,” the store, designed by architect John Graham, was an instant success. The new store included a tearoom, beauty salon, post office, auditorium, nursery and a fully equipped medical facility. The store also hosted many events, such as the weekly fashion shows staged each Wednesday in the tearoom.

In 1929, at age 69, D.E. Frederick decided to retire, selling the store to Marshall Field & Co. for six million dollars. In spite of the initial concern of its customers about Frederick & Nelson becoming part of a vast retail system, the store continued to grow both as a business and as a Seattle tradition. Marshall Fields executive William Street was hired to run Frederick & Nelson in 1938, and he guided the store through its successful period from the recovery after the Great Depression, through the World War II period, the post-war boom and the store expansion and growth of the 1950s. For example, Frederick & Nelson became involved in the war effort in the 1940s, opening a temporary branch store on the grounds of the Boeing’s No. 2 plant and winning a special merit award for its promotion of war bonds and stamps in the war loan drive. Later, as people began moving to the suburbs after the war, the first of the suburban branches opened in the Bellevue Shopping Square in 1946. After a major renovation, the flagship Seattle store reopened with 10 floors above ground and 12 shopping levels.

Over the years, Frederick & Nelson had supported the local community, for example by promoting the Seattle Symphony with special display windows and its black tie “Symphoneve” benefits. Its auditorium was also used by art groups as well as by civic organizations.

Though the tradition of in-store Christmas caroling by staff began as early as1918, the store tradition of the Santa Claus window at 6th and Pine began in 1943, with children posing with Santa for a holiday photograph.

Business eventually began to decline as discount retailers attracted customers and increasing control by the Marshall Fields inhibited local decision-making. In 1982, Batus, Inc. bought Marshall Fields & Co. and Frederick & Nelson became part of Batus’ retail division. Continuing to lose money, Frederick & Nelson was sold in 1989 to local investors who sought to restore the store’s reputation. Losses continued to mount, however, and the store filed for bankruptcy in 1991, finally closing its doors on May 31, 1992. The building was sold to Nordstrom, which reopened the building as its flagship store in 1998.

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Content Description

The collection is comprised of textual materials, photographs, scrapbooks and audio-visual materials from the Frederick & Nelson department store, primarily the Seattle store. The bulk of the collection seems to have originated from the Sales Promotion department, though the collection also includes materials from the Human Resources and Training departments, Food Service department, and Display and Sign department.

Sales Promotion materials include catalogs and mailers, and files about special events at the store such as autograph parties, fashion shows and other promotional events. This series also contains historical materials about the store which seem to have been collected for use in promotional and anniversary publications over the years, and specifically for use in the Frederick & Nelson centennial book “More than a Store” by Robert Specter. These materials include clippings, memos and ephemera such as menus and event programs.

Food service materials include a collection of menus from the various Frederick & Nelson eating establishments, such as the Tea Room and the Men’s Grill. Human Resources materials include over 70 years of the staff newsletter “Between Ourselves”, and training manuals and sales procedure guides, which illustrate the detailed attention that Frederick & Nelson paid to customer relations.

The Photographs series parallels the textual materials, containing photographs of in-store events such as book signings and fashion shows, and store anniversary events. Historical photos include images of store founders D.E. Frederick and Nels Nelson, and store executives, managers and staff over the years. Other photographs document the early Frederick & Nelson store, including the store in the Rialto building, and horse drawn delivery carts and delivery trucks from the early 1900s. Later store photos document the downtown Seattle flagship store as well as the several branch stores, including store openings and the remodel of the Seattle store in the early 1950s. The photographs also document interior store displays and window displays between 1939 and 1977, including the annual Christmas display and Santa Claus windows, and special displays such as the many war bonds promotional displays of the mid-1940s.

Audio-visual materials include recordings of radio and television ads, videotapes of fashion shows and films of Uncle Mistletoe puppet shows at the store in the 1960s.

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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

Frederick & Nelson Records, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into the following series and subseries. Many subseries are further arranged into subdivisions in the complete inventory. Materials within series and subseries are arranged roughly chronologically.

  • Series 1: Human Resources and Training Department
    • Subseries A: Staff newsletters
    • Subseries B: Staff training manuals
    • Subseries C: Other staff manuals and employment related papers
  • Series 2: Food Service
    • Subseries A: Menus
    • Subseries B: Other materials
  • Series 3: Marketing and Sales Promotion Department
    • Subseries A: Advertising
    • Subseries B: Marketing
    • Subseries C: Special Events
    • Subseries D: Miscellaneous publicity files
    • Subseries E: Historical Materials
  • Series 4: Display and Sign Departments
  • Series 5: Photographs
    • Subseries A: Historical photographs
    • Subseries B: Publicity photographs
    • Subseries C: "Between Ourselves" photographs
    • Subseries D: Centennial Book
    • Subseries E: Display
  • Series 6: Audiovisual materials
    • Subseries A: Videotape
    • Subseries B: Audiotape
    • Subseries C: Film (16mm)
    • Subseries D: Phonograph records
  • Series 7: Scrapbooks

Location of Collection

14a.1.10

Location of Collection

14a.2.2-10

Location of Collection

14a.3.2-8

Location of Collection

14a.3.10

Location of Collection

5A.3.3 and .5 (16 mm films)

Acquisition Information

Donated by the Sabey Companies in 1993

Processing Note

Processed by Jackie Lawson in 1994, Jennifer Evans in 1996, and Jody Hendrickson in 2006.

At the time of the final processing of the collection, it was not clear how much of the arrangement was the result of original order and how much had been imposed during previous processing. Materials were arranged according to department of origin, to the extent that this could be discerned.

Three items donated by Robert Spector in 2014 (Accession 2014.55) were added to the collection in 2015. Robert Spector is the author of the Frederick & Nelson centennial book "More than a store: Frederick & Nelson, 1890 to 1990."

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.

Bibliography

Specter, Robert. More than a store: Frederick & Nelson, 1890 to 1990. Bellevue, Wash. Documentary Book Publishers Corp., 1990.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Finding aid prepared by Jody Hendrickson
2006

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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