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Bytes and Boxes

Category Archives: Videos and film

Celebrate Archives! Photo-ops for Puerto Rico, local activism, and moving history

18 Wednesday Oct 2017

Posted by kcarchivist in Archives Month, Events, Other, Videos and film

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If you are near downtown Seattle between 9am and 4pm on Wednesday, October 25, be sure to stop in the lobby of the Chinook Building at 5th & Jefferson, because…

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In celebration of Archives Month, the King County Archives will be setting up in the lobby of King County’s Chinook Building! We will be sharing exhibits, information about the collection, archival film and video footage, and even some Archives-themed swag.

Best of all, as part of the King County Employee Giving Campaign, visitors will be able to put themselves inside historical images in our Archives “photo booth.”

Donations will go to Project HOPE, to help hurricane victims in Puerto Rico.

Assistant Archivist Jill Anderson drops in on the King County Assessor’s Office, circa 1936.

Activism in Archives at Douglass-Truth

That evening, head up the hill to the Douglass-Truth Branch of the Seattle Public Library in Seattle’s Central District, and join the King County Archives, the Seattle Municipal Archives, and Seattle ARCH (Activists Remembered Celebrated & Honored) for stories of local activism, as told through archival records.

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Learn the histories of local organizing against new freeways in the 1960s and 1970s, Seattle’s open housing campaign, the citizen-led movement to have the King County logo changed from a crown to the likeness of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and more, from the recent and not-so-recent past.

 

Moving History returns: Sound & Color

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Archives Month may end on October 31, but we will continue celebrating! Mark your calendars for another Archival Screening Night on Sunday, November 12, at the Northwest Film Forum. Happy hour starts at 6:30pm, show begins at 7:30pm. For this showing, we will be contributing more gems from the Kingdome collection.

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Disability Awareness Month – a history of Metro’s Accessible Transit Services

05 Thursday Oct 2017

Posted by kcarchivist in Commemorative observances, Disability Awareness Month, Other, Videos and film

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Above: Metro Bus, 1978. A10-024, King County Metro Historic files, King County Archives.

King County Metro: By the People

Today an industry leader in public transit, Metro has been shaped by citizen involvement since its establishment by the voters of King County 60 years ago. One significant area of Metro leadership and citizen engagement has been the development of accessible transit services for people with disabilities.

The Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (“Metro”) was formed in 1958 with a public mandate to improve local water quality. Over time, Metro expanded to other civic projects and services. The Forward Thrust bond campaign, headed by community activist James Ellis, promoted a range of regional projects, such as development of parks and pools and the construction of a multi-use stadium, the Kingdome.

Forward Thrust: A Transit System for King County

In 1968, a proposal for a regional integrated transportation system was brought to the voters as a Forward Thrust bond measure. The first two Forward Thrust transit referendums, in 1968 and 1970, were rejected by voters facing an uncertain economy. But in 1972, King County voters authorized Metro to expand its services and operate a regional bus system that would incorporate the Seattle and Overlake transit systems.

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Above: King County Council Motion 900, August, 1972, endorsing the Forward Thrust transit plan. County Council Motions, Series 306, Box 11, 1972, King County Archives.

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Above: Schematic of regional transit system, circa 1972. A10-024, King County Metro Historic files, King County Archives.

Buses as public transit in King County – a brief history

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Above: Trolley buses in Seattle, 1941. A10-024, King County Metro Historic files, King County Archives.

Commuters, shoppers, and day-trippers in King County’s early years relied on scheduled wagon runs and water transport (the “Mosquito Fleet” of steam ferries) for public conveyance. In the late 19th and early 20th Century, street railways and cable cars provided for most public transit. With the rise of the automobile in the early 1900’s, auto stages — precursors to buses — ran scheduled routes. Trolley and motor buses were introduced in Seattle the 1920s and would by 1941 replace street railways and cable cars as the primary means of efficiently moving large groups of people within and between urban areas. (For more King County transit history, see Metro’s Transit Milestones timeline.)

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Above, Seattle Transit bus, 1948. A10-024, King County Metro Historic files, King County Archives.

Opinions about Buses

Civic activism has a long history in the Northwest, and the development of the new Metro transit system in the 1970s was no exception. Residents debated the merits of electric trolley versus diesel and the practicality of articulated buses. They weighed in at meetings and in newspaper articles and letters to editors.

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Above: From “Metro Proposal Not a Diesel vs. Trolley Issue,” Seattle P-I, August 24, 1972 p. 12. Misc. clipping for graphics, A10-024, King County Metro Historic files, 1970-1979, King County Archives.

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Above: Cartoon by Alan Pratt appearing in the Seattle Times [ca. 1972]. Misc. clipping for graphics, Accession A10-024, King County Metro Historic files, 1970-1979, King County Archives.

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Above: Metro Transit Express, circa 1973. Series 1247, Department of Transportation, Office of the Director, Box 1, DVD 001, King County Archives.

The Elderly and Handicapped Transportation Project Task Force

In in the mid-1970s, the Elderly and Handicapped Transportation Project task force was formed. In keeping with the active civic involvement in the development of the transit system, the group consisted of a Citizens Action Committee working with advisors from Metro, King County, and the City of Seattle. The group studied ways to make public transportation accessible to people with disabilities.

The project report included input from local service organizations, transportation professionals and the general public. Their findings, published in 1976, laid out not only the significant physical and economic barriers to access, but social/psychological and administrative/bureaucratic ones as well.

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Detail from “The Elderly and Handicapped Transportation Project Task Force findings: barriers to access,” 1976. Department of Planning and Community Development, Planning Division, Series 291, Box 8, 1977-1980, King County Archives. (Click on image to open findings (PDF).)

 

The Right to Accessible Public Transit

In 1975, Metro put out a bid for 145 new buses to expand the system. Before it was finalized, John Martin, a University of Washington student with disabilities, requested a restraining order on the bid. Martin argued that without including access for persons with disabilities Metro was violating state laws that prohibit discrimination in public transportation.

The restraining order was rejected by the court as not reflecting an emergency situation, but Martin was later called to testify at Metro hearings on the subject. Martin’s protest brought attention to the issue of accessible transit. Metro subsequently revised the bid to include a requirement for wheelchair lifts on all 145 buses. In 1980, the buses, newly outfitted with wheelchair lifts, arrived.

In the resolution accepting the delivery of the new buses, the Metro Council declared, “With the delivery of these buses, Metro was able to begin accessible service.”

The initial wheelchair lifts installed turned out to be flawed, however, and the first buses including them were rejected.

Newspaper clipping: “Metro gets go-sign on bid for 145 buses.” A10-024, King County Metro Historic files, King County Archives.

Engineering a Wheelchair Lift

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Above: Modifications to Flyer model bus for wheelchair lift, 1979. A10-024, King County Metro Historic files, Box 2, King County Archives.

Metro committed to finding a wheelchair lift that would work – and put significant effort into making it happen. This was at a time when the majority of transit agencies were not supporting the move toward lift-equipped fleets.

A former Boeing engineer, Ed Hall, became interested in the problem and experimented in his garage with lift designs for public transportation. Hall’s successful design, marketed under the name “Lift-U”, was approved and his wheelchair lifts were installed on the new Metro buses, and eventually on the entire fleet.

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Above: Photographs showing belt securing wheelchair in bus, 1981. A10-024, King County Metro Historic files, Box 2, King County Archives.

New Infrastructure and Services

In 1978, Metro applied for and received $1.7 million in Federal Urban System funds to put in place improvements at bus zones, including ramps and other aids for disabled riders.

In addition to the inclusion of wheelchair lifts, Metro staff, working with a Metro advisory committee of blind and deaf-blind transit users, pioneered the use of Bus Identifier cards for blind, deaf-blind and limited English speaking riders. Transit operators were trained in the specific needs of these groups.

Access Vans

Along with accessible buses and services tailored to specific groups with disabilities, a fleet of vans, operating jointly between Metro and local service organizations, were acquired to provide door-to-door service for disabled riders.

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Access Van, A10-024, King County Metro Historic files, Box 2, King County Archives.
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The Americans with Disabilities Act

In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was ratified in Congress and signed into law by President George H. W. Bush. The Act codified the rights of individuals with disabilities to equal access to employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications and access to state and local government programs and services.

The road to the ADA had been long one. Equal access in public transportation had first come to the public eye many years before, spurred by the Urban Mass Transit Act of 1964. A later revision in 1974 included provisions for accessible access, but it was not until the late 1980’s that congress took the steps that led to the passage of the ADA.

Changes under the Americans With Disabilities Act

In 1992, King County voters approved the merger of Metro and King County government, bringing Metro transit services into a new County Department of Transportation.

A special task force established at the request of the County Council reviewed Metro’s paratransit programs, both to ensure their compliance with the law and to identify potential cost savings where the needs of seniors and people with disabilities might be met through changes to the overall transit system or through other programs.

A Council report showed that at the time of the ratification of the federal American with Disabilities Act in 1990, paratransit services had accounted for 1% of the Metro transit budget. The report projected that by 2004, that percentage would rise to 11%. Representatives from King County’s Accessible Services Committee, senior and disability interest groups, and the general public participated on the task force, and input was sought from Metro transit customers.

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Excerpts from public comments regarding proposed changes to Access transportation’s paratransit program, submitted to the King County Special Transportation Services Task Force in 1998 and 1999. A11-028 Department of Transportation, Transit, Paratransit policy background, 1997-1999, Box 2, King County Archives.

 

Training for Metro Operators

From Metro Transit’s earliest days, Metro drivers received training in how to serve riders with disabilities. The below excerpts from training videos in the Archives collection instruct drivers not only in policies and procedures, but also in the importance of treating all riders with respect.

Outtakes from “Metro Regional Reduced Fare Permits,” 1995, Metro. A17-035 Department of Transportation, Transit / Paratransit Rideshare Operations, Outreach and training videos, King County Archives.

The following video provides Access drivers training in serving passengers with disabilities who use letter boards to help communicate.

Outtakes from Metro Access driver training video, “Communications with Letter Boards,” (circa 2000), King County Metro. A17-035 Department of Transportation, Transit / Paratransit Rideshare Operations, Outreach and training videos, King County Archives.

Access was providing more than 1,000,000 trips to King County residents by 2006. That year, King County Executive Ron Sims ceremoniously presented keys to 21 new vans, paid for by a grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation, to local service agencies such as Senior Services, Puget Sound Essential Services, and Providence Elder Care.

King County Executive Ron Sims presenting Access van keys to non-profit agencies, 2006. A17-035 Department of Transportation, Transit / Paratransit Rideshare Operations, Outreach and training videos, King County Archives.

Metro Accessible Services Today

Today, Metro accessible services, including Access vans, provide over 1.3 million trips per year.

Community involvement was influential in the development of the regional transit system and the push to provide services to the disabled community. Thanks to the collaborative work of the task forces and the contributions of civic minded residents, King County Metro provides services beyond the requirements established by ADA.

Citizens continue to have an important influence in shaping Metro’s transit and paratransit services. The Transit Advisory Commission, comprised of King County residents, plays an active role in consulting and advising the Regional Transit Committee. In addition, Metro is forming an Access Community Advisory Group to help Metro strengthen its Paratransit Access service.

For more information about Metro’s paratransit services or to learn about joining the Advisory Group, please visit:
http://metro.kingcounty.gov/tops/accessible/programs/index.html

For Further Research

This post is based on documentation in the King County Department of Transportation’s historical files, records of the King County Council, and other series in the King County Archives collection. Note that the majority of historical records from the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle, prior to merging with King County in 1994, and Seattle Transit are held by the Puget Sound Regional Branch of the Washington State Archives.

Please feel free to contact us with your research questions!

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Archives and the arts: painting, music, and silent film

05 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by kcarchivist in Community Events, Events, Videos and film

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Boogie Up the Block 2017

On August 19, 206 Zulu, our neighbors at Washington Hall, held their second annual graffiti painting contest using the exterior walls of the King County Archives and Records Center buildings. Aerosol artists started early in the morning and worked throughout the day, as local musicians performed. It was a lively event and the paintings represented a variety of styles.

 

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Above, paintings in progress.  Below, detail from the winning panel.

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Silent films from the King County Archives to be set to music

On Saturday, September 30, the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood will be closing out its 8-day Local Sightings series with a montage of silent films from local archives.

The compilation of clips will feature the King County Assessor’s color and black-and-white films produced to document the 1936 Land Use Survey project, as well as footage from the Seattle Municipal Archives and the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections. The film montage will be accompanied by live music composed for the event by the group Baywitch.

Below are two segments from the Assessor’s films. The complete collection of films is featured in our online exhibit about the WPA-funded Land Use Survey project.

We hope to see you there!

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Moving history strikes back – an archival screening night at Northwest Film Forum

14 Wednesday Jun 2017

Posted by kcarchivist in Events, Videos and film

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MIPoPSPresents

Join us!

On Thursday, June 22, the King County Archives will be participating in “Moving History Strikes Back!”—an archival screening night at Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum, presented by Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound (MIPoPS).

Earthworks revisited

At MIPoPS’ first screening in 2013, the King County Archives contributed clips from interviews with artists participating the King County Art Commission’s 1979 Earthworks: Land Reclamation as Sculpture demonstration project and symposium.  

In this screening, we will be sharing a newly digitized video from the same Earthworks collection. In this interview, New York artist Mary Miss discusses her plans for an “airport free zone” adjacent to SeaTac International Airport.

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Still from interview with artist Mary Miss, 1979. King County Archives Series 1747.

Airport Free Zone

Miss’s project proposal was distinct from those of the other Earthworks artists, who were assigned damaged sites such as landfills and gravel pits. This site, once a residential area, had been cleared of homes due its proximity to the airport. Thus it did not require environmental remediation, but instead needed “social reclamation.” Miss envisioned a public artwork/park in the buffer between the airport and nearby homes and businesses. A walkway through interwoven structures would relate to remnants of the former neighborhood, such as an abandoned road and old building foundations.

 

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Model and site plans for Aiport Free Zone earthwork by Mary Miss. King County Archives Series 1747.

A variety of videos

“Moving History Strikes Back!” will include an engaging variety of material from MIPoPS partner organizations who are working to preserve historical video recordings.

We will get to enjoy clips from videos that are unique or rare, freshly digitized for access and preservation.

Participating organizations include the Southwest Seattle Historical Society – Loghouse Museum, the Sally Sykes Group, Scarecrow Video, the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Public Schools, the Wing Luke Museum, the Seattle Municipal Archives, and the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections.

We hope to see you there!

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An executive transition in King County

20 Friday Jan 2017

Posted by kcarchivist in Events, From the Vault, Videos and film

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Tim Hill’s county identification card. Record Group 140, County Executive Tim Hill, King County Archives.

In 1993 King County Executive Tim Hill was campaigning for a third term.  King County government was verging on a transition: the merger with the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (METRO), to start on January 1, 1994.  Tim Hill had put in much groundwork for this day.  He appealed to voters that he was the best person to continue overseeing the merger.

Excerpts from promotional video on the King County-METRO merger, Architects of Change, 1993. Series 1423 Office of Information Resource Management, photographs, audio/visual material, King County Archives.

 

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Gary Locke

On November 3, 1993, King County voters chose popular state legislator Gary Locke as County Executive; and Tim Hill found himself stepping down after eight years in office.

The Seattle Times and cartoonist Brian Bassett commented on the challenges facing the Executive-elect on the day after the election.

Gary Locke. Series 473, Box 3, Folder 1
Below: newspaper clippings, Series 1931, Box 2, Folder 3, King County Archives.

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Also on the day after the election, Gary Locke wrote to Tim Hill.

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Series 1880, Box 7, Folder 18

 

Gary Locke: from campaign to public office

Records of Joan Yoshitomi, transition manager for Gary Locke, provide insight into the democratic process of peacefully transferring elected authority. In the first days after the election, the Locke team had to:

  • Conclude business arrangements regarding its rented campaign office space
  • Arrange for the new executive to receive attorney-client briefings from Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng
  • Plan and cost inauguration
  • Raise funds for inauguration from donors
  • Hire a management consulting company
  • Develop a communication strategy for the Executive; solicit speechwriters/ assistant
  • Solicit input regarding Locke Administration priorities
  • Develop a “first 120 days” action plan that could be communicated to the public
  • Receive instructions for operating Executive Office computers
  • Solicit suggestions for new department directors and executive staff
  • Request resignations of the current administration’s Executive Office staff and department directors

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Letter of resignation by Parks, Planning and Resources Department Director Lois Scwennesen.  Series 1880, box 7, folder 13, King County Archives.

 

Tim Hill: from public office to private citizen

At the same time, Tim Hill and his Executive Office staff were:

  • Arranging transition materials from County executive departments
  • Arranging exit counseling, making vacation leave arrangements, and holding unemployment briefings for persons who were being asked to resign
  • Making arrangements with the Locke team for paying transition personnel

Tim Hill retired from elected politics but continued public service in the Seattle-King County area as a teacher and as a board member for various nonprofit organizations. He remains involved in politics as a private citizen.

Tim Hill’s records to the Archives

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Detail of handwritten notes, Series 435, Tim Hill management work papers, King County Archives.

On leaving public office Tim Hill also took care to make arrangements with University of Washington Libraries for the transfer of some of his executive working papers to its manuscript collections. The papers were returned to the King County Archives a few years later as Series 435, Management work papers, and Series 436, Project files.

 

Governor Locke

Gary Locke was sworn in as King County’s fifth county executive on January 3, 1994. After a year in office, Executive Locke addressed the Council about his vision for a new way of governing, challenges facing the County, and how to work through differences between governmental branches and political views. Below is the conclusion of that speech, in which he embraces the political cartoon with him as “Captain Locke” of the starship U.S.S. King County.

Conclusion of King County Executive Gary Locke’s State-of-the-County Address to the King County Council, (ca. 1995) Series 1423 Office of Information Resource Management, photographs, audio/visual material, King County Archives.

Locke served until 1996 when he was elected Washington State governor. He later served in the Obama Administration as Secretary of Commerce and ambassador to China.

County Executive Records, 1981-1996

The Locke transition records are a small part of a large collection of King County Executive records processed by King County Archives staff between 2008 and 2016. The twenty-three series, from the administrations of Executives Randy Revelle, Tim Hill and Gary Locke, include county agency files, board and commission files, chronological correspondence files, legislative files, news releases, proclamations, studies and reports, and Metro transition files. Taken together, the records document a wide range of important policy issues, including:

  • Expansion of the Farmlands Preservation Program
  • Construction of a new county detention facility in downtown Seattle, and a Regional Justice Center in Kent
  • Onset of AIDS in King County, and the county’s response to the epidemic
  • Ongoing discussions with the Seattle Mariners over their continued tenancy in the Kingdome stadium
  • Beginning of efforts to replace the Kingdome with new stadiums
  • Land use planning under the Growth Management Act
  • Approval of the Regional Transit Authority, later known as Sound Transit
  • Merger of the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle with King County government

The King County Archives invites researchers to contact us regarding this significant collection.

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Boeing Field: the Making of Milestones

21 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by kcarchivist in Discoveries, Photographs, Videos and film

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The Archives just digitized “Boeing Field: the Making of Milestones,” a documentary about King County International Airport, produced by King County around 1990.

Using still photographs with voice-over narration, occasional sound effects, and a musical theme fit for a ’90s action TV show, the video tells us about the history of the airport and gives us an understanding of Boeing Field’s role in the region at the time the video was produced, promoting the airport’s importance to the local economy and its role in bolstering Seattle’s status as a major city.

The video was a timely discovery, as we recently provided a number of historical photographs to the King County International Airport for use in celebration of the Boeing Company’s 100th anniversary.

King County Department of Public Works Airport Division, circa 1990. Office of Information Resource Management: Service Development / Printing and Graphic Arts photographs, audio/visual material. Series 1423, Box 32.

 

A History of King County International Airport

Starting at 4 minutes and 48 seconds into the video, we learn of Boeing Field’s development from a racetrack (horse racing and automobile racing took place at the Meadows) to an international airport owned and operated by King County.  The brief history highlights Boeing Field’s significance in the aviation industry and during World War II.

A copy of a copy?

“The Making of Milestones” as we see it appears to have been created by video-recording a screen projection of the original, which may have been film or another video format. This version could very well be a third or fourth generation copy. Such copies are frequently all that remains in collections of audio-visual recordings.

The Magnetic Media Crisis and video preservation

Because videotapes are quickly becoming unplayable as their life spans run out (see The Magnetic Media Crisis), digitization was a crucial step toward preservation. We were able to digitize this video thanks to our participation in Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound (MIPoPS).

Early Photographs of Boeing Field

As with videotape copies, the origins of photographs can be murky. Compared with today, cameras in the early 20th Century were uncommon, but reproduction allowed the same image to be acquired by many.

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Above: C. K. Hamilton at the Meadows, Seattle, 1910.  Series 400, Department of Transportation, Road Services Division, photograph and moving image files, item 400.77.225 (95-005-1755-N), King County Archives.

Most of the earliest Boeing Field photos in the King County Archives are copies of photos that also exist in other repositories and/or that were created by private parties. King County staff collected these photographs because they documented the airport’s milestones, and in that sense they represent a record of the agency. But we don’t always know their origin.

The above photo of Charles Hamilton, who made Seattle’s first heavier-than-air flight when he flew his bi-plane (first into a pond, and the next day with more success) to entertain crowds at the Meadows, appears in the King County Archives and elsewhere. Although the photograph was not originally created by King County staff, the Archives’ collection includes a negative copy, enabling good-quality reproductions.

More Recent Photographs

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Above:  North end of Boeing Field (no date).  Series 400, Department of Transportation Road Services Division, photograph and moving image files, item 400.77.225 (95-005-4387), King County Archives.

Most of the later Boeing Field photographs in the  collection were produced by or for King County to document airport events and facilities, though in some instances individual images may have been collected by staff from other sources.

The above photograph shows Boeing Field when it served as the regional airport for commercial passenger airlines, pre-SeaTac.  The charming employee photo below is from a series of photographs taken in 1979 during the dedication of a new hangar for use by the Federal Aviation Administration.

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Above:  [Airport employee] FAA Hangar dedication, 1979.  Series 400, Department of Transportation, Road Services Division, photograph and moving image files, item 400.140.50 (2622), King County Archives.

More on Flickr and at the Archives

More historical photos of Boeing Field are now on our Flickr page. You can also search our collection database or contact us to learn about other records of the King County International Airport, including agency records, historical maps and drawings.

From Boeing Field…to King County Parks

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King County Parks program participants: airport departure, circa 1950-1959.  Series 467, Park System, photograph files.  Box 14, folder 5, King County Archives.

The image above serves as a nice segue. Taken at Boeing Field, the photograph is from the King County Park System. We see participants in the County’s program for children with disabilities ready for departure on an airline trip.  In the first week of October, Bytes and Boxes will focus on this innovative Parks program, as we commence our celebration of American Archives Month, for which the Washington State Archives has decreed this year’s theme to be “Washington Loves Parks.”

Look here for more on King County Parks throughout the month of October!

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Visit the Archives

1215 East Fir Street
Seattle, WA 98122
(206) 263-2480
9am-4pm Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri

***Closed Wednesdays***

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Email: archives@kingcounty.gov
Twitter: @KingCoArchives
Web: kingcounty.gov/archives

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