A City at Work: Images from the Seattle Municipal Archives Photo Collection
Searching the Online Photograph Collection
 Seawall Inspection, 1950 |
The Photograph Collection Index can be searched by entering descriptive terms (from captions or controlled vocabulary) into the search term box, time period drop-down menu, neighborhood district drop-down menu, or any combination of the three.
Most cataloged images have received additional index terms from the Seattle City Clerk Thesaurus, including neighborhood designations from the Seattle City Clerk's Neighborhood Map Atlas.
 Montlake Bridge, 1914 |
The Photograph Collection Index uses a Boolean search engine that retrieves images with data that provide an exact match with the search query. One may connect search terms with "and/or/not" connectors ("and" is the default connector), and the wild card characters "?" and "$" allow users to search using multiple possible spellings (either by replacing variable letters or word-endings).
 Street Cleaning Parade, 1961 |
Can't find what you are looking for? More information about how to search the collection is available at Search Tips - Photographs. Also, only about ten percent of the Photograph Collection is available to search online, especially for images created after 1960. Contact us for if you need assistance searching the Online Collection or to inquire about images not yet available online - by email (archives@seattle.gov) or telephone (206-386-4052).