Hi! I’m Cameo, the newest collections intern for Southwest Seattle Historical Society. Part of my internship involves surveying the off-site collections held at South Seattle College through a grant from 4Culture. The survey will allow us to better care for the collections, but also lets us discover cool stuff.
We came across this beautiful porcelain bowl and wanted to share it with you all! According to our records, the bowl belonged to a Chinese cook working at the Alki Stockade Hotel in the early 1900s. The cook acquired the bowl in China around 1904. He later presented it to Ethel Kelsey as a gift during her stay at the hotel between 1914 and 1922. The pictures of the hotel are also in our collections.
Part of the survey process can involve basic rehousing of objects. Instead of the wads of tissue that were previously surrounding the bowl, we used archival ethafoam to secure the bowl without applying too much pressure on its sides.
