Digital photo collection by Margaret Heather Pihl (née McAuliffe)
WPA Project: The digital photo collection is comprised of nearly 3,000 digital images of photos taken in Fremont in 1937 as part of a countywide Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. The WPA project was conducted between 1937 and 1941 and involved documentation and a photo survey of properties in King County for taxation purposes. The survey was conducted in north-south strips (township ranges), starting at the western end of King County and ending by the Cascades. All of Seattle was done in 1937. The Eastside was done by 1938, and the rest of King County to the east by the end of 1941. The final project included approximately 200,000 photos. 10-15% of the funding for the project was from King County, and the rest from a federal government grant. The project started and stopped, following the flow of funding. After the WPA project was finished, the King County Assessor’s Office took over surveying properties and updating the records. The Puget Sound Regional Branch of the Washington State Archives includes the King County property records up to 1972.
Fremont Photo Project background: Fremont resident Heather McAuliffe created the collection over a period of 11 weeks in 2004, making weekly trips to the Puget Sound Regional Branch of the Washington State Archives. She photographed all available early property photos of Fremont that were archived with King County Assessor Property Record Cards. She used a Canon G-2 Power Shot digital camera mounted on a light stand provided by the Archives to photograph the available images. She chose the boundaries for project to be from 8th Ave NW to Stone Way N. and from the Ship Canal to N. 50th Street, based on Fremont’s Neighborhood Plan. She created the collection to be an enjoyable and useful resource for the neighborhood and to raise awareness of Fremont’s history and the need to preserve it. The collection is not copyrighted and she has donated copies of the collection to the Fremont Historical Society, the Puget Sound Regional Branch of the Washington State Archives and the Fremont Library with the intent that the images be freely duplicated and used for educational purposes.
Missing photos: Users of the collection may find that there is no photo for some properties. It may be for one of the following reasons: 1) The structure was not built yet; 2) Only a negative may be available at the Archives; 3) The structure may have been moved; 4) The property address may have changed. In some cases where the 1937 photo was not available, a later photo was substituted.
Prints
available at the state archives:
The photos are not as sharp as they would be if printed directly from the
negatives and are sepia toned in appearance. Prints are available from the
Puget Sound Regional Branch of the Washington State Archives.
Fremont Historical Society
The Fremont Historical Society was founded in July 2004 by Heather McAuliffe to provide education on Fremont’s history. The Historical Society is working in partnership with the Fremont Branch of the Seattle Public Library to build a library collection of hardbound/electronic items related to Fremont’s history.