Museum of History and Industry

Brief information

The Museum of History and Industry ended up in South Lake Union not simply because of expansion: its previous location in Montlake had to be vacated due to the reconstruction of the SR-520 bridge. So the current address is connected not only with the museum’s growth, but also with urban construction that literally moved the institution to a new place.

Its beginnings were far less museum-like: in 1911, guests at a Founder’s Day party brought artifacts and documents about early Seattle to the home of Morgan and Emily Carkeek. A few years later, a historical society grew out of such gatherings. This fact changes the way one looks at the museum: behind the display cases and archives there is not a ready-made state scheme, but the city’s memory, first collected by private individuals.

What to Notice Right Away

Information about the building’s appearance in the source text is limited, but the museum’s internal logic is clearly visible through the names of its spaces. One can compare the Faye G. Allen Grand Atrium with the thematic galleries: the atrium establishes a common center, while the separate halls lay out Seattle’s history through different ways of reading the city.

True Northwest presents it as a “journey through Seattle,” the McCurdy Family Maritime Gallery highlights the maritime theme, the Bezos Center for Innovation links the city with invention, and the Walker Special Exhibits Gallery leaves room for rotating exhibitions. The Sophie Frye Bass Library is worth noting separately: it is where manuscripts, photographs, maps, books, and motion pictures are kept. In this way, the museum reads not only as an exhibition of objects, but also as an archive where the city’s history rests on different types of evidence.