Lu Jacobson Collection of Latimer and Denny Family Material
See letters, photographs and other ephemera from two of Seattle's early families.
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Martinez seizes Colnett's ship
Parker McAllister, born in 1903 in Massachusetts, was a Seattle Times artist from 1924 to 1965. McAllister started his career as an illustrator at 14 for a Spokane publication; he joined the art staff at the Seattle Times in 1920. His first Sunday magazine cover was a poster-type illustration celebrating the University of Washington crew races in spring 1924. During McAllister's career, he created illustrations depicting “local color” events and situations now routinely handled by photographers. As the technology improved, he expanded his repertoire - he illustrated articles, drew covers for special sections and the weekly Seattle Sunday Times Magazine, and drew diagrams, comics, cartoons, and portraits for the Times’ editorial page. In 1956, an exhibition of his watercolor and oil paintings of Pacific Northwest scenes and historical incidents - including some paintings from the “Discovery of the Pacific Northwest” series - were exhibited at the Washington State Historical Society Museum in Tacoma. He was also a member of the Puget Sound Group of Men Painters. McAllister retired from the Seattle Times in 1965; he passed away in Arizona in 1970.
Identifier: spl_art_291985_16.149
Date: 1955
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Unknown woman in Galesburg, Illinois, ca. 1880
Photograph taken by Thomas Harrison in Galesburg, Illinois.
Identifier: spl_lj_034
Date: 1880?
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Unknown girl, ca. 1865
Tintype portrait of unidentified young girl.
Identifier: spl_lj_016
Date: 1865?
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Emma Chesney Latimer Reynolds, ca. 1880
Emma Chesney Latimer Reynolds was the daughter of Alexander and Sarah Latimer and sister to Narcissa Latimer. Emma married Charles Reynolds in 1886 in Minnesota.
Identifier: spl_lj_020
Date: 1880?
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Native American baskets in home of Mabel Thompson, ca. 1900
Transcribed from back of photograph: "Part of Mabel's collection of Indian baskets. A corner in her room - photo by O.O.W. Denny. Mabel Thompson in Seattle." In the 1900 census, H.G. and Mabel Thompson are listed at 1108 Seneca St. (later 1204 Boren), the same address as Orion Denny. Mabel was the daughter of Orion Denny and Eva Flowers Coulter (who he married in 1874 and divorced a few years later). Mabel married Howard G. Thompson in 1894.
Identifier: spl_lj_060
Date: 1890?
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Clara Latimer Bickford letter to mother Sarah Latimer, February 16, 1892
Clara Latimer Bickford was the daughter of Alexander and Sarah Latimer and sister of Narcissa Latimer Denny. She married Arthur Farrington Bickford in 1888 in Minnesota. They lived in Seattle from roughly 1892-1900 before moving to Oregon. The letter discusses Clara's sister and brother-in-law Narcissa and Orion Denny, along with Clara's daughter Ethel and other family matters.
Identifier: spl_lj_009
Date: 1892-02-16
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Unknown man in Abington, Illinois, 1879
Photograph taken by C.H. Smith in Abingdon, Illinois.
Identifier: spl_lj_033
Date: 1879
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Letter from Edward S. Curtis to Harriet Leitch, July 11, 1949
Letter from Edward Curtis to Harriet Leitch, apologizing for his slow response and explaining he is deep in his work on "The Lure of Gold." He writes that the size of the project is overwhelming and he is ""praying that I will live long enough to finish the job." Curtis discusses his climbs of Mount Rainier and his friendship with Ella McBride. He notes that she was one of the few women to summit the mountain unassisted and describes her as "my star helper" both in climbs of Mount Rainier and later, as an assistant in his photography studio. He writes that she lived with the Curtis family and was like a second mother to his daughters.
Identifier: spl_esc_012
Date: 1949-07-11
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Nude
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_07
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