Ye Olde Curiosity Shop
Encyclopedia
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, founded in 1899. It has moved several times, mainly within the waterfront area, and is now located on Pier 54
Pier 54, Seattle
Pier 54 is a tourist pier Seattle, Washington. Previously an active shipping pier and warehouse, Pier 54 was originally known as Pier 3 until it was renumbered during World War Two. This pier was also known as Galbraith dock and the Galbraith Bacon dock...
. Best known today as a souvenir
Souvenir
A souvenir , memento, keepsake or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. The term souvenir brings to mind the mass-produced kitsch that is the main commodity of souvenir and gift shops in many tourist traps around the world...
shop, it also has aspects of a dime museum
Dime museum
Dime museums were institutions that were briefly popular at the end of the 19th century in the United States. Designed as centers for entertainment and moral education for the working class , the museums were distinctly different from upper-middle class' cultural events...
, and was for many years an important supplier of Northwest Coast art
Northwest Coast art
Northwest Coast art is the term commonly applied to a style of art created primarily by artists from Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth and other First Nations and Native American tribes of the Northwest Coast of North America, from pre-European-contact times up to the...
to museums. As of 2008, the store has been owned by four generations of the same family.
In 1933, the Seattle Star
Seattle Star
The Seattle Star was a daily newspaper that ran from February 25, 1899, to August 13, 1947. It was owned by E.W. Scripps and in 1920 was transferred to Scripps McRae League of Newspapers , after a falling-out within the Scripps family...
named Ye Olde Curiosity Shop one of the "Seven Wonders of Seattle", the only shop on the list. The other six Wonders were the harbor, the Ballard Locks, the Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
airplane factory, the Seattle Art Museum
Seattle Art Museum
The Seattle Art Museum is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, USA. It maintains three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill, and the Olympic Sculpture Park on the central Seattle waterfront, which opened on...
, the Pike Place Market
Pike Place Market
Pike Place Market is a public market overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle, Washington, United States. The Market opened August 17, 1907, and is one of the oldest continually operated public farmers' markets in the United States. It is a place of business for many small farmers,...
and the University District
University District, Seattle, Washington
The University District is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, so named because the main campus of the University of Washington is located there. The UW moved in two years after the area was annexed to Seattle, while much of the area was still clear cut forest or stump farmland...
's Edmund Meany Hotel (now Hotel Deca).
Owners
Steubenville, Ohio
Steubenville is a city located along the Ohio River in Jefferson County, Ohio on the Ohio-West Virginia border in the United States. It is the political county seat of Jefferson County. It is also a principal city of the Weirton–Steubenville, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area...
). He had already traded somewhat in curios and Indian goods as a grocer in Denver, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. When he moved to Seattle in 1899 because his wife's health required a lower altitude, he encountered a boom town supplying and benefitting from the Klondike Gold Rush
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...
. He founded the business in 1899. An exhibit at the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition
The Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition was a world's fair held in Seattle in 1909, publicizing the development of the Pacific Northwest.It was originally planned for 1907, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Klondike Gold Rush, but the organizers found out about the Jamestown Exposition being held...
(A-Y-P Exposition) in Seattle drew tourists, scholars, anthropologists and collectors and was enormous publicity for his already somewhat famous shop. It also won Standley a gold medal in the category of ethnological collections.
Standley's shop presented a jumbled mix of curiosities and significant art objects. He collected and sold what came his way, but also had local Native American artists make objects to his specifications. He sold genuine Tlingit totem poles, but also replicas by carvers descended from the Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
-based Nuu-chah-nulth tribe, who were living in Seattle, and even inexpensive souvenir totem poles made in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. A flair for the bizarre and grotesque led him to include items such as shrunken head
Shrunken head
A shrunken head is a severed and specially prepared human head that is used for trophy, ritual, or trade purposes.Headhunting occurred in many regions of the world. But the practice of headshrinking has only ever been recorded in the northwestern region of the Amazon rain forest...
s from the Amazon
Amazon River
The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...
(some of them definitely genuine, others probably not).
In addition to the shop, Standley built a home he called "Totem Place" on a 1 acres (4,046.9 m²) estate in West Seattle
West Seattle, Seattle, Washington
West Seattle comprises two of Seattle, Washington's thirteen districts, Delridge and Southwest and encompasses all of Seattle west of the Duwamish River. It was incorporated as an independent town in 1902 and was annexed by Seattle in 1907. Among the area's attractions are its saltwater beach parks...
. The estate's collection of totem poles, whale
Whale
Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
bones, and other curiosities replete with a Japanese-style teahouse and a miniature log cabin
Log cabin
A log cabin is a house built from logs. It is a fairly simple type of log house. A distinction should be drawn between the traditional meanings of "log cabin" and "log house." Historically most "Log cabins" were a simple one- or 1½-story structures, somewhat impermanent, and less finished or less...
drew sightseeing tourists in its own right.
In 1937 Standley, at the age of 83, was hit by a car on Alaskan Way, the road along the Seattle waterfront, and his leg was broken. He never fully recovered, although he remained active in the business to within 4 days of his death on October 25, 1940. Standley's son Edward joined the shop in 1907 and worked there until his death in 1945. Russell James first joined the business in 1912 and eventually married Standley's daughter. Except for his service in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, James worked there until 1952. Standley's grandson Joe James began working in the shop in 1946, and operated the business for over 50 years. Joe James's son Andy and daughter Debbie were also involved in running the business from at least the 1980s.
The shop's current owners, the aforementioned Andy James and his wife Tammy, also own Market Street Traders (founded 2007) in Seattle's Ballard
Ballard, Seattle, Washington
Ballard is a neighborhood located in the northwestern part of Seattle, Washington. To the north it is bounded by Crown Hill, ; to the east by Greenwood, Phinney Ridge and Fremont ; to the south by the Lake Washington Ship Canal; and to the west by Puget Sound’s Shilshole Bay. The neighborhood’s...
neighborhood. Market Street Traders specializes in fair trade
Fair trade
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...
goods. Prior to that, for about 25 years, the Jameses operated a second waterfront store on Pier 55, known at various times as Waterfront Landmark, Ye Olde Curiosity Shop II, and simply Ye Olde II. Ye Olde II closed around the same time Market Street Traders opened.
Name and location
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
's novel The Old Curiosity Shop
The Old Curiosity Shop
The Old Curiosity Shop is a novel by Charles Dickens. The plot follows the life of Nell Trent and her grandfather, both residents of The Old Curiosity Shop in London....
, and adopted the motto "Beats the Dickens."
Ye Olde Curiosity Shop and Indian Curio—the latter portion of the name was dropped around 1907—settled in at 813 on Railroad Avenue on Colman Dock. It would reside on Colman Dock for over 50 years, occupying several different locations on the dock and leaving briefly during periods when the dock was being remodeled. From February 7, 1916, to January 1, 1917, the shop operated on Second Avenue near Virginia Street. From some time in January 1937 to June 1, 1937, operated from 814 First Avenue near Columbia Street.
In 1963, as the Washington State Ferries system was taking over and completely reworking Colman Dock, the shop moved to the next pier north, Pier 51 (now also part of the ferry terminal). The Pier 51 store was designed by Paul Thiry
Paul Thiry (architect)
Paul Thiry was an American architect most active in Washington state, known as the father of architectural modernism in the Pacific Northwest. Thiry designed "some of the best period buildings around the state of Washington during the 1950, 60s and 70s." - Life :Thiry was born in Nome, Alaska, of...
and modeled after a longhouse. In April 1988, the shop moved to its current location on Pier 54 next to Ivar's
Ivar's
Ivar's is a seafood restaurant chain based in Seattle, Washington, United States, with operations in the Puget Sound region; in Spokane, Washington; and in Santa Clara, California....
Acres of Clams. Over a million objects were moved.
Customers
In recent times, the shop has about 1 million visitors a year.The shop has had many notable customers over the years. Visitors have included Teddy Roosevelt, J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
, Jack Dempsey
Jack Dempsey
William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey was an American boxer who held the world heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey's aggressive style and exceptional punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records, including the first...
, Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
, Red Skelton
Red Skelton
Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing...
, John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
, Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
, James Van Der Beek
James Van Der Beek
James William Van Der Beek, Jr. is an American television, film, and stage actor, known for his portrayal of Dawson Leery in The WB series Dawson's Creek...
, and Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
. Cartoonist Robert Ripley
Robert Ripley
Robert LeRoy Ripley was an American cartoonist, entrepreneur and amateur anthropologist, who created the world famous Ripley's Believe It or Not! newspaper panel series, radio show, and television show which feature odd 'facts' from around the world.Subjects covered in Ripley's cartoons and text...
of "Ripley's Believe It or Not" bought totem poles and other crafts for his New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
estate. The store's logs show that Queen Marie of Romania
Marie of Edinburgh
Marie of Romania was Queen consort of Romania from 1914 to 1927, as the wife of Ferdinand I of Romania.-Early life:...
visited and "sat in the Chinese chair" and that Louis Tiffany bought "curios, idols and a mammoth tusk,"
Many museum collections include items purchased from the shop, mostly objects from the Arctic regions. The Royal Ontario Museum
Royal Ontario Museum
The Royal Ontario Museum is a museum of world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With its main entrance facing Bloor Street in Downtown Toronto, the museum is situated north of Queen's Park and east of Philosopher's Walk in the University of Toronto...
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
has several such items, including a Haida stone totem pole and a mammoth
Mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...
tusk
Tusk
Tusks are elongated, continuously growing front teeth, usually but not always in pairs, that protrude well beyond the mouth of certain mammal species. They are most commonly canines, as with warthogs, wild boar, and walruses, or, in the case of elephants and narwhals, elongated incisors...
engraved with scenes of Eskimo
Eskimo
Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....
life in an Arctic village. George Gustav Heye
George Gustav Heye
George Gustav Heye was a collector of Native American artifacts. His collection became the core of the National Museum of the American Indian.-Biography:...
made many purchases from the shop for his Museum of the American Indian which later formed the core collection of the National Museum of the American Indian
National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum operated under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution that is dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the native Americans of the Western Hemisphere...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
The Newark Museum
Newark Museum
The Newark Museum is the largest museum in New Jersey, USA. It holds fine collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the ancient world...
in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
also features a collection from the shop, including Tlingit tools and woven baskets. The shop also supplied museums in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
and at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
. Standley normally gave museums a 35% discount, and occasionally donated items outright. It was a point of pride for him for his shop to supply such institutions.
The Palmer College of Chiropractic
Palmer College of Chiropractic
Palmer College of Chiropractic is a chiropractic school located in Davenport, Iowa. It was established in 1897 by Daniel David Palmer and is considered "The Fountainhead" as it was the first school of chiropractic in the world. For many years, Palmer College of Chiropractic was the world's largest...
in Davenport, Iowa
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...
was also a customer. In the early 20th century, Bartlett Joshua Palmer, the son of the school's founder, bought totem poles from the shop to use as part of an indoor amusement grotto. A national museum in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
bought one of the longest known pairs of prehistoric mastodon
Mastodon
Mastodons were large tusked mammal species of the extinct genus Mammut which inhabited Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and Central America from the Oligocene through Pleistocene, 33.9 mya to 11,000 years ago. The American mastodon is the most recent and best known species of the group...
tusks, more than 13 feet (4 m) in length.
As late as the period from 1976 though 1980, the shop auctioned off 2,000 pieces of Native American art.
Goods and exhibits
Princess Angeline
Princess Angeline , also known in Lushootseed as Kikisoblu, Kick-is-om-lo, or Wewick, was the eldest daughter of Chief Seattle. Born in what is now Rainier Beach in Seattle, Washington, she was named Angeline by Catherine Broshears Maynard, second wife of Seattle pioneer Doc Maynard...
, daughter of Chief Seattle
Chief Seattle
Chief Seattle , was a Dkhw’Duw’Absh chief, also known as Sealth, Seathle, Seathl, or See-ahth. A prominent figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship with David Swinson "Doc" Maynard. Seattle, Washington was named after him...
(after whom the city is named) made baskets to be sold there.
In its early years, much of the shop's stock came from Alaska. Standley acquired both recent and older Alaskan works of art and craft, as well as natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
specimens, from whalers, traders, revenue cutter captains, Alaska Natives
Alaska Natives
Alaska Natives are the indigenous peoples of Alaska. They include: Aleut, Inuit, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Eyak, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures.-History:In 1912 the Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded...
(always referred to at the time as "Eskimos") visiting Seattle, and Alaska shopkeepers functioning as middlemen. Some of those who brought him items, especially in the early years, are likely to have stolen those from their rightful owners in Alaska or to have dug them out of archaeological deposits. Native Alaskan Yup'iks and Inupiats, who had long been traders, were happy to find a market for items they considered "good for nothing" worn-out cast-off tools and implements.
From quite early times, Standley established what Kate Duncan calls the "scrim… [of] large and disparate natural history specimens and curios dangling from the ceiling and standing about" that dominates the shop visually and "transform[s] even the known into the curious".
Items for sale in recent times range from dime-store trinkets to a $10,000 totem pole. As of 2007, these included a $1.50 tailpipe whistle, bullwhips, jumping beans, matreshka dolls from Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, first-rate vegetable ivory
Vegetable ivory
Vegetable ivory is a product made from the very hard white endosperm of the seeds of certain palm trees. Vegetable ivory is named for its resemblance to elephant ivory. Species in the genus Phytelephas, native to South America are the most important sources of vegetable ivory...
carvings, goatskin imitation shrunken head
Shrunken head
A shrunken head is a severed and specially prepared human head that is used for trophy, ritual, or trade purposes.Headhunting occurred in many regions of the world. But the practice of headshrinking has only ever been recorded in the northwestern region of the Amazon rain forest...
s from Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, and the usual run of Seattle souvenirs. In the 1920s, the shop had at least six separate suppliers in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
making sewing baskets from the shell of an armadillo
Armadillo
Armadillos are New World placental mammals, known for having a leathery armor shell. Dasypodidae is the only surviving family in the order Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra along with the anteaters and sloths. The word armadillo is Spanish for "little armored one"...
, which would be lined with satin
Satin
Satin is a weave that typically has a glossy surface and a dull back. It is a warp-dominated weaving technique that forms a minimum number of interlacings in a fabric. If a fabric is formed with a satin weave using filament fibres such as silk, nylon, or polyester, the corresponding fabric is...
, and the tail fastened to the neck area to form a handle.
Nowadays, the most culturally significant items still in the store's collection are not for sale, though they are out to be viewed. Items on display but not for sale include an early 19th century Russian samovar
Samovar
A samovar is a heated metal container traditionally used to heat and boil water in and around Russia, as well as in other Central, South-Eastern, Eastern European countries,Kashmir and in the Middle-East...
, dozens of totem poles, East Asian weapons, woven cedar
Cedar wood
Cedar wood comes from several different trees that grow in different parts of the world, and may have different uses.* California incense-cedar, from Calocedrus decurrens, is the primary type of wood used for making pencils...
mats and fir
Fir
Firs are a genus of 48–55 species of evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. They are found through much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, occurring in mountains over most of the range...
needle baskets, netsuke
Netsuke
Netsuke are miniature sculptures that were invented in 17th-century Japan to serve a practical function...
, jade
Jade
Jade is an ornamental stone.The term jade is applied to two different metamorphic rocks that are made up of different silicate minerals:...
carvings, narwhal
Narwhal
The narwhal, Monodon monoceros, is a medium-sized toothed whale that lives year-round in the Arctic. One of two living species of whale in the Monodontidae family, along with the beluga whale, the narwhal males are distinguished by a characteristic long, straight, helical tusk extending from their...
tusks, and a walrus oosik. Also on display are two mummified
Mummy
A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
human bodies, "Sylvester" and "Sylvia". "Sylvester" (acquired in 1955) functions as an informal symbol of the shop. For years, the general belief has been that he was the victim of a late 19th century shooting in the Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
desert, and that the extreme dryness of the desert naturally mummified the body. However, CT scans in 2001, 2005 and an MRI in 2005 suggest an embalmer
Embalming
Embalming, in most modern cultures, is the art and science of temporarily preserving human remains to forestall decomposition and to make them suitable for public display at a funeral. The three goals of embalming are thus sanitization, presentation and preservation of a corpse to achieve this...
injected an arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
-based fluid shortly after death. The body is one of the best-preserved mummies known. Newly published information and a photograph from 1892 indicate that "Sylvester," originally named "McGinty," belonged to confidence man "Soapy" Smith
Soapy Smith
Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II was an American con artist and gangster who had a major hand in the organized criminal operations of Denver, Colorado; Creede, Colorado; and Skagway, Alaska, from 1879 to 1898. He was killed in the famed Shootout on Juneau Wharf...
until he sold it 1895 in Hillyard, Washington.
While Sylvester is almost certainly what the shop claims him to be, other artifacts are of far more dubious origins. The shop makes no claim of comparable pedigree for its taxidermically
Taxidermy
Taxidermy is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians...
stuffed mermaid
Mermaid
A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males and females are known as "merfolk"...
.
One of the store's several coin-operated attractions is Black Bart, a rather literal take on the phrase "one-armed bandit". It is a slot machine
Slot machine
A slot machine , informally fruit machine , the slots , poker machine or "pokies" or simply slot is a casino gambling machine with three or more reels which spin when a button is pushed...
in the form of a one-armed 6 in 5 in (1.96 m) wood and cast-iron model of a Wild West bandit. In the mid-1980s, the state gambling commission had the Seattle police confiscate it as an illegal gambling device, even though the shop had converted it to dispense plastic tokens with images of the Space Needle
Space Needle
The Space Needle is a tower in Seattle, Washington and is a major landmark of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and a symbol of Seattle. Located at the Seattle Center, it was built for the 1962 World's Fair, during which time nearly 20,000 people a day used the elevators, with over...
, Kingdome
Kingdome
The Kingdome was a multi-purpose stadium located in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood. Owned and operated by King County, the Kingdome opened in 1976 and was best known as the home stadium of the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League , the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball , and the...
and other local attractions. A month later, the commission conceded that Black Bart did not meet the criteria for a gambling device, and Black Bart was back in the store with a sign saying "On parole. Out on good behavior."
Influence
Standley and Ye Olde Curiosity Shop had an enormous influence on the broader world's perception of the native cultures of the Pacific NorthwestPacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
, especially of their art. Through him and through the shop, Franz Boas
Franz Boas
Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did...
's The Social Organization and the Secret Societies of the Kwakiutl Indians had an influence far beyond any Boas imagined or intended. Standley showed the book to local non-Kwakiutl carvers who created replicas and hybridizations of these pieces for the shop. He lent it to planners for the A-Y-P Exposition (1909) and the first Seattle Potlatch Days festival (1911). The latter used it to provide models for floats and costumes. Standley and his shop were instrumental in the world's perceiving Seattle as within the region associated strongly with totem poles, even though traditionally those had been associated with areas farther north. The cultural effect of the hybrid or imitative art fostered by Standley and the shop can be clearly seen as early as 1909, when anthropologist
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
Alfred Cort Haddon
Alfred Cort Haddon
Alfred Cort Haddon, Sc.D., FRS, FRGS was an influential British anthropologist and ethnologist.Initially a biologist, who achieved his most notable fieldwork, with W.H.R. Rivers, C.G. Seligman, Sidney Ray, Anthony Wilkin on the Torres Strait Islands...
, in Seattle to lecture at the A-Y-P Exposition purchased 109 items from the shop for the Horniman Free Museum. Among the items purchased were a carved club in the shape of a seal made as a tourist item, and at least two masks that had been copied by local carvers from Boas's illustrations.
In the early 20th century, Ye Olde Curiosity Shop was, as Kate Duncan's wrote in 2001, "the most varied and visible Indian collection in the city" and "became a stop for visiting Indians and Eskimos, as it remains today." The shop's guest book showed visits from prominent Indians including chiefs of the Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne are a Native American people of the Great Plains, who are of the Algonquian language family. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taeo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese .The Cheyenne are thought to have branched off other tribes of Algonquian stock inhabiting lands...
and Lakota. Most notable in Standley's view, Chief Joseph
Chief Joseph
Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, popularly known as Chief Joseph, or Young Joseph was the leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kain band of Nez Perce during General Oliver O. Howard's attempt to forcibly remove his band and the other "non-treaty" Nez Perce to a reservation in Idaho...
of the Nez Perce visited in 1902, two years before his death.
Consequently, Standley and his shop had an enormous influence on what was perceived as "authentic" to these cultures. While he always accurately presented (for example) ivory cribbage boards as tourist goods, he was probably himself not aware of the extent to which ivory miniatures and carved tusks from Alaska or Athapaskan beadwork were also hybrid goods produced for the tourist trade that had begun with the gold rush. Similarly, his exhibits in his store and elsewhere did not distinguish between pre-contact and post-contact artifacts.
Closer to home, Ye Olde Curiosity Shop also influenced local Seattle retailing of Indian artifacts. At the time Ye Olde Curiosity Shop was founded, the few existing Seattle shops selling Indian artifacts were focused mainly on baskets; such shops were mostly short-lived, although Emma M. Rhodes and her partner Fred B. Kendall operated at least from 1901 to 1914, offering a somewhat broader inventory. While Ye Olde Curiosity Shop was the unquestionable local leader in its field well beyond Standley's lifetime, its success brought some serious local rivals into the business. The Hudson Bay Fur Company (later Alaska Fur Company, no relation to the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
), founded in the 1880s, established a curio department in the 1900s with a stock similar to Standley's, though not as extensive. That department lasted into the 1940s; the business closed in the 1950s. Mack's Totem Shop was a smaller shop, very near Ye Olde Curiosity Shop along the raised pedestrian walkway that runs along Marion Street from Colman Dock to First Avenue. It operated from 1933 at least into the 1950s. All of these shops commissioned items from many of the same Nuu-chah-nulth carvers living in Seattle, as did several other less notable shops.
The shop was also influential, or at least ahead of its time, in welcoming people from all walks of life, including those for whom such a store was only ever likely to function as a museum, not as a retail outlet.
Further J. E. Standley influence in Seattle
Standley was a constant booster of Seattle, to the point of being described toward the end of his life as a "one-man-chamber-of-commerce". Not all of his influence in Seattle was through the shop itself. From 1904, he provided exhibits for the informal museum of the city's Alaska Club (merged in 1908 into the Arctic Club). He provided an ethnological exhibit for the 1909 A-Y-P Exposition's Alaska Building, as well as lending natural history specimens for the Washington State Building. His Alaskan ethnological exhibit won the exposition's gold medal in its category, and its contents were eventually purchased by George Gustav HeyeGeorge Gustav Heye
George Gustav Heye was a collector of Native American artifacts. His collection became the core of the National Museum of the American Indian.-Biography:...
for the Museum of the American Indian in New York.
Also at the time of the A-Y-P Exposition, he helped promote the then-private Ravenna Park
Ravenna Park (Seattle)
Ravenna Park and Cowen Park comprise a single contiguous recreation and green space in the Ravenna neighborhood of Seattle, Washington in the United States...
not far north of the exposition grounds. At the time, the park still contained a considerable number of old growth
Old growth forest
An old-growth forest is a forest that has attained great age , and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. An old growth forest has also usually reached a climax community...
trees, as well as various tourist amenities. Standley provided a set of six totem poles and a war canoe
War Canoe
A war canoe is a watercraft of the canoe type designed and outfitted for warfare, and which is found in various forms in many world cultures. In modern times, such designs have become adapted as a sport, and "war canoe" can mean a type of flatwater racing canoe.-War canoes as sport:War canoe is...
for the private park and played a role in the sale of the park to the city in 1911.
External links
- Official site
- Market Street Traders site
- Highlights from Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, Seattle Times, March 25, 2003. Nine photographs of items from a 2003 exhibit at the Washington State History MuseumWashington State History MuseumThe Washington State History Museum is located in downtown Tacoma, Washington. It is owned and operated by the Washington State Historical Society under the official approval of the Washington State Legislature....
, Tacoma, WashingtonTacoma, WashingtonTacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...