This post is about a library within a library. For anyone interested in anything related to early Seattle History through photos, maps, newspapers, and other historical material, this should be your first stop. Below is an overview of my first visit.
Repository
Sophie Frye Bass Library
Located at the MOHAI Resource
Center
5933 6th Ave South
Seattle, WA
Overview:
The Sophie Frye Bass Library is
located in the resource center for the Museum of history and industry (MOHAI). The library provides and preserves over 3
million pieces of historic archival materials.
It covers the Seattle metro area and other parts of Washington as well
as some parts of Alaska.
The MOHAI resource center also
houses the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society and the Black Heritage
Society of Washington.
The library is open by appointment
only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 1-4pm.
You can find this information on the MOHAI website at: http://www.mohai.org/research/sophie-frye-bass-library
My Experience
In order to get access to the
library you must email ahead and set up an appointment with the archivist in
charge, Carolyn Marr. When arriving you
are buzzed in and personally escorted to the actual library. Once there the archivist will use her online
catalog to find whatever the specific item is that you are looking for. She can look by artifact ie; diary, letters,
photos, or by name. The back of the
library holds the boxes and folders.
There is a standard card catalog as well. There is also a newspaper archivist on hand that
can assist with newspaper retrievals.
There is a large table in the middle of the room that can seat about 6-8
people and a box of archival gloves on hand at all times.
The archivist assists in the
computer catalog set up but then allows you to browse your topic as needed. I decided to look under letters and the list
contained a little over 200. I browsed
each one until I found some of interest.
Each item contained information about the artifact including the
condition. The materials were categorized by box and folder.
I was very impressed by the
friendliness and helpfulness of the archivists. They seemed to have extensive
knowledge and were also busy helping a college journalism student with old
newspapers as well as helping a local writer with historic maps of the
area. When my items were chosen I gave
the archivist the box and folder number and she retrieved the materials for
me. I was allowed to look through the
entire box and folder contents and was asked to wear gloves on sensitive and
fragile items. My only time limit was
that of the library hours.
The Records
Since I was working on an assignment for the Boston University Genealogical Research course I needed to look for an original, unpublished document. This was the perfect place to find such a thing! I found a folder of letters, photos and artifacts that had been donated by the wife of N.A. Carle, a
man who climbed Mount Rainier with Major E.S. Ingraham a well known
mountaineer and first superintendent of the Seattle School District.
The Letter I transcribed was thought to have been written by Ingraham, and had been labeled as such, but after reading it and doing some research on it I discovered it was
not written by Ingraham at all. Instead it had been written by another
climbing party member, H.E. Holmes.
Henry Elliot Holmes climbed with Mount Rainier with Major Ingraham's
party and took his
15 year old daughter Helen with him. She was 1 of 3 women climbers on this trek and 1 of 5
during this time period to reach the top. I am excited to go back to this lovely library and go
through the other papers in this collection!
