Preview up to 100 items from this collection below. Seattle’s first World’s Fair, the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, made Seattle a Pacific Rim gateway. View materials from SPL and the Museum of History and Industry in this collection.
Invitation from the City of Seattle by its mayor and council to visit the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, 1909
Printed invitation to be sent to invitees and signed by the Mayor and President of the Council. With colored A.Y.P.E. seal. “The City of Seattle, by its Mayor and Council, extends to [space for invitee name] a cordial invitation to visit the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition to be held in this City from June the first to October sixteenth, one thousand nine hundred and nine. [signed] President of the Council, Mayor.”
Identifier: mohai_ayp_2006.3.46.2
Date: 1909
Invitation from the New England Club of Seattle to dance at the Washington State Building, September 11, 1909
Printed invitation inscribed to “Esquire Grant.” Includes small printed image of a ship labeled "Mayflower, 1620." Seal reading "New England Club Landing. A-Y-P Sept. 11" with an image of a ship is affixed to the invitation. Written in Old English.
Identifier: mohai_ayp_2006.3.47.1
Date: 1909-09-11
"Seattle opens doors of country to Japanese commissioners," Pacific Northwest Commerce, October 1909
An article detailing the Northwest stops on a 3-month tour of the United States by the Honorary Japanese Commercial Commission, chaired by Baron E. Shibusawa. The commission's itinerary included visits to the A.Y.P.E. on September 1 and on Japan Day, September 4. Pacific Northwest Commerce magazine (official publication of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce) 1.4 October 1909: 11-19, illustrated.
Identifier: spl_ayp_362611_oct1909_11
Date: 1909-10
"Smithsonian and National Museum Exhibit," The Coast, July 1909
An article describing the Smithsonian and National Museum Exhibit within the Government Building at the A.Y.P.E. The author notes the particularly educational quality of this exhibit. U.S. development in terms of land and water transportation, telegraphy and the political, religious and economic history of the Pacific states are also discussed. The exhibit also includes a portrait gallery of important persons involved in the history and discovery of America. A special feature of the exhibit is the display of an excavation of the Casa Grande Reservation showing settlements of Indian ancestors in Arizona. Also discussed are displays concerning Pacific Islanders. Coast 18.1 (July 1909): 26-29, illustrated.
Identifier: spl_ayp_179583_jul1909_26
Date: 1909-07
Dolls, ca. 1925
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_34
Date: 1925
Letter to H. E. Hibler, regarding the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, December 24, 1957
Hand-typed letter dated 24 December 1957 from librarian Beatrice Hager of the Municipal Reference Library to Mr. H. E. Hibler of Cambridge, Massachusetts answering a series of questions posed by Mr. Hibler to the library regarding the A.Y.P.E. "Gives information on dates, official authority, financing, attendance and paid admissions, purposes, medal, and official song." 3 pages, 28 cm.
Identifier: spl_ayp_2150864
Date: 1957-12-24
Coupon ticket book of Mrs. Delia T. Whittelsey, 1909
Coupon ticket book inscribed with bearer’s name, Mrs. Delia T. Whittelsey, and photograph of bearer attached inside front cover, embossed with signature of Charles R. Collins, treasurer, and A. D. Bannall, chief of Bureau of Admissions, A.Y.P.E., 1909. Inscribed "One Hundred Coupon Tickets $10.00 / Delia T. Whittelsey / Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, June 1 to Oct. 16, 1909."
Identifier: mohai_ayp_2006.3.50.3
Date: 1909
"Canadian display makes distinct impression," Pacific Northwest Commerce, October 1909
A brief article discussing the Canadian Pavilion and the work of Commissioner William Hutchinson who "has assembled one of the most effective exhibits to be found at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition" (p. 24). Describes layout of exhibit and the various displays contained therein such as a displays for beavers, fish and other wildlife. Pacific Northwest Commerce magazine (official publication of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce) 1.4 October 1909: 24-26, illustrated.
Identifier: spl_ayp_362611_oct1909_24
Date: 1909-10
Invitation from the Officers and Directors of the Alaska-Pacific-Yukon Exposition to the ground breaking ceremony in Seattle, Washington, June 1, 1907
Printed invitation to the reception to be held at 2:00.
Identifier: mohai_ayp_2006.3.47.2.3
Date: 1907-06-01
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition educational exhibit, 1909
Small pamphlet including purpose and scope of Educational Exhibit. From page 3, "the contents of all these exhibits will set forth organization, legislation, administration, finances, general statistics, relating to schools and education, curriculum, principles and methods of instruction, results obtained, etc." 1 folded sheet which when folded creates 4 pages, 15 cm.
Identifier: spl_ayp_2528464
Date: 1909