Preview up to 100 items from this collection below. Explore the early history of the Pike Place Market through letters, receipts, plans, rental agreements and other documents related to the market’s business.
Pike Place Market post office, ca. 1925
Pike Place Market post office and postal worker. The office has signs for drafts and money orders, stamps, travelers checks and a telephone pay station.
Identifier: spl_sh_00004
Date: 1925?
View this itemMunicipal News v. 55, no. 20, Nov. 22, 1965
Identifier: spl_mn_818362_55_20
Date: 1965-11-22
View this itemAerial photograph of Pike Place Market looking south
Aerial photograph of Pike Place Market facing south from the intersection of Western Avenue and Lenora Street. The viaduct and waterfront piers can be seen on the right side of the photo.
Identifier: spl_sh_00010
View this itemLetter to Mrs. Tanable regarding her high light bill, December 11, 1928
Letter informing Mrs. Tanabe, a flower farmer, that her electricity usage is much higher than other vendors and the cost will have to be added to her rent if she continues to use such a disproportionately large amount.
Identifier: spl_sh_00059
Date: 1928-12-11
View this itemConstruction on Pike Place
Excavating for new bulkhead Pike Place, Aug 23 1939.' Photograph depicts trench built for new bulkhead along with the backs of vendor stalls in the main arcade.
Identifier: spl_sh_00014
Date: 1939-08-23
View this itemLetter from Pacific Northwest Theatres, Inc. to Arthur Goodwin regarding the United Artists Theatre in Pike Place Market, February 26, 1927
Letter from Pacific Northwest Theatres, Inc. asking permission from Arthur Goodin to install a lighted sign for the United Artists Theatre (formerly known as the Liberty Theater) at Pike Place Market. The letter states that the sign will not only help the United Artists Theatre but other businesses as well because 'the sign will light up what is at the present time a rather desolate spot.'
Identifier: spl_sh_00115
Date: 1927-02-26
View this itemLetter from Arthur Goodwin to Clare Boulton regarding expanding her business in the Economy Public Market, June 30, 1927
Letter from Arthur Goodwin to Clare Boulton, a vendor in the Economy Market, discussing the possibility of moving and expanding her business. Enclosed is a list of tenants and vacancies in the lower floor of the Economy Market listing the stall numbers and rental costs for each vendor.
Identifier: spl_sh_00072
Date: 1927-06-30
View this itemLovers
Frank Asakichi Kunishige was born in Japan on June 5, 1878. He came to the United States via San Francisco in 1895. After graduating from the Illinois College of Photography, he opened a small photography studio in San Francisco. Kunishige moved to Seattle in 1917. In the same year, he married Gin Kunishige and began working in the studio of Edward S. Curtis where he became acquainted with Ella McBride who he worked for in later years. Kunishige was well known for his use of Pictorialism, a popular painterly style of photography. He developed his photographs on "textura tissue," a paper of his own creation, which allowed him to produce almost dreamlike prints. His work was featured nationally and internationally in exhibitions and publications such as Photo-Era and Seattle's Town Crier. In 1924, Kunishige became one of the founding members of the Seattle Camera Club, a group of local photographers including Kyo Koike, Yukio Morinaga, Iwao Matsushita and Fred Y. Ogasawara who gathered to share techniques and ideas, as well as their deep love of the medium. Although the group was initially solely Japanese, they soon welcomed more members including Ella McBride, their first female member. When World War II struck and the country's Japanese internment policy was put in place, Kunishige and his wife were forced to leave Seattle for Idaho where they were interned at the Minidoka camp. After their release, Kunishige spent two years working at a photography studio in Twin Falls, Idaho but eventually returned to Seattle due to his poor health. Frank Kunishige passed away on April 9, 1960.
Identifier: spl_art_367924_47
View this itemJewish Transcript v. 1, no. 10, May 13, 1924
Identifier: spl_jt_3018328_01_10
Date: 1924-05-13
View this itemLetter from Frank Stier Goodwin to Arthur Goodwin regarding payment for his article on foreign markets, September 28, 1927
Letter from Frank Stier Goodwin thanking Arthur Goodwin for sending him 35 dollars in payment for his article on foreign markets, 'Through the Levant with a Market-Basket.'
Identifier: spl_sh_00093
Date: 1927-09-28
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