Kiehl-Mann Photograph Collection

Series

Identifier: 9945-01

Staff Only

Scope and Contents note

The original Kiehl negatives and photograph albums are at the University of Washington Special Collections. Most of Kiehl's photographs were taken while he was stationed at Fort Lawton although images include ones of his family at Fort Lawton, Port Townsend and other locations. Photographs of the family camping, the children posing, and automobile trips, are included with photographs of buildings and work at Fort Lawton. The material documenting Fort Lawton was collected and donated by Sara Smith, the granddaughter of H. Ambrose Kiehl. Copy negatives of Ambrose Kiehl's glass plate negatives are included, along with an index in the form of a photocopy of his photo notebook. The originals are at the University of Washington Special Collections. The material was in the hands of another photographer who lived on Bainbridge Island, Frederick Mann, for a time. Mann's photographs for Fort Lawton taken in the 1970s during the adaptive reuse planning are also included in this collection. Mann's work as an architect for Millegan Jaddi Architectural Engineers of the Yesler Way Incline Bridge is included in this collection. Photographs and background material on Fort Lawton and Discovery Park, from various sources, is included in this collection as well. Copy negatives of buildings in Olympia and buildings in California from the mid-1950s are also in this collection.

Dates

Creation: 1891-1987

Creator

Kiehl-Mann Photographers (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access note

Records are open to the public.

Historical Note

H. Ambrose Kiehl was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1865 and attended Ohio State University in the 1880s trained to be a civil engineer. He opened an engineering office (Kiehl & Hogg) in Port Townsend, Washington. Kiehl married Louisa Jean Stock; their first child, Laura Adele Kiehl, was born in 1892. Their second child, Lorena Miriam Kiehl, was born in Seattle in 1895.

In 1895, Kiehl began work with the US Army in Seattle, as his business in Port Townsend was suffering from the 1893 depression. Kiehl was employed to survey the land under consideration for a military post on Magnolia Bluff. He also supervised clearing and grading, laid out the road and building locations, and supervised construction of what was to be Fort Lawton. Kiehl completed assignments at Forts Worden, Flagler and Casey at Admiralty Inlet, Forts Columbia, Canby and Stevens at the mouth of the Columbia River, and at Fort William Henry Seward near Haines, Alaska. Louisa Kiehl died of cancer in 1917. In the early 1920s, Kiehl was transferred to Wyoming. He died in September, 1942.

The Kiehl photographs were in the care of Laura Kiehl who lived in Port Townsend. She loaned the collection to the Frederick Mann with the understanding it would be made available to the public at Discovery Park. Frederick Mann was a Seattle architect hired by the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department to photograph the buildings at Fort Lawton. His subsequent interest in the site led to his collection of prints and other historical material.

Extent

3.5 Cubic Feet (12 boxes)

68 digital image files

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement note

Arranged by subject: Seattle Parks, Seattle City Views, Seattle Buildings, Pike Place Market, Seattle Bridges, Seattle City Light Dams, Washington Outdoors, Washington People and Places (not Seattle), Other States, Other Countries, and Art and Business.