Theodore E. Peiser (1853 - 1922) was an early photographer in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington and the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

. His studio and many of his photographs were lost in the

Great Seattle Fire The Great Seattle Fire was a fire that destroyed the entire central business district of Seattle, Washington on June 6, 1889. The conflagration lasted for less than a day, burning through the afternoon and into the night, and during the same sum ...

of 1889. His surviving photographs include one of the few photographs of the Seattle skyline from Beacon Hill before the fire as well as the Yesler-Leary Building in 1885, several years before it burned in the fire. He also captured the first and second Occidental Hotel buildings that preceded the Seattle Hotel and Sinking Ship. He also documented the debut of the first

Seattle Street Railway The Seattle Municipal Street Railway was a city-owned streetcar network that served the city of Seattle, Washington and its suburban neighborhoods from 1919 to 1941. It was a successor to the horse-drawn Seattle Street Railway established in 1884 ...

horse-drawn streetcar in 1884 with mayor John Leary. Peiser's photography studio called the Theo E Peiser's Art Studio, Seattle, 1884 (PEISER 17)

Peiser photographed the memorial service for assassinated U.S. president James Garfield held in Occidental Square in front of the

Occidental Hotel The Occidental Hotel opened in 1861 in San Francisco, California. It was destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire of 1906. It was one of the many hotels named Occidental in the United States, and it was among the few luxury h ...

on September 27, 1881. He also captured the territory's legislators in 1883. Peiser photographed the Washington Husky football team in 1900, not long after statehood and the school's transition from being Territorial University of Washington. He also photographed

Arthur A. Denny Arthur Armstrong Denny (June 20, 1822 – January 9, 1899) was one of the founders of Seattle, Washington,, Special Collections, Washington State Historical Society (WSHS). Accessed online 8 March 2008. the acknowledged leader of the pioneer Den ...

and a then elderly pioneer Carson D. Boren. He captured images of the area's legislators, such as Samuel H. Piles addressing a crowd at the dedication of the Alki Point Monument. He also photographed

Henry Yesler Henry Leiter Yesler (December 2, 1810 – December 16, 1892) was an entrepreneur and a politician, regarded as a founder of the city of Seattle. Yesler served two non-consecutive terms as Mayor of Seattle, and was the city's wealthiest resident ...

and his wife Sarah. Peiser photographed groups of students and faculty at the Territorial University (predecessor of

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

). His images also included

Soapy Smith Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II (November 2, 1860 – July 8, 1898) was an American con artist and gangster in the American frontier. Smith operated confidence schemes across the Western United States, and had a large hand in organized cri ...

Washington Territory legislators, probably in Seattle, 1883 (PEISER 90)

Territorial University faculty group portrait, Seattle, 1883 (PEISER 111)

Peiser photographed sights at Alki Point including bathers at

Alki Beach Alki Beach Park is a park located in the West Seattle, Seattle, West Seattle neighborhood of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington that consists of the Elliott Bay beach between Alki Point, Seattle, Alki Point and Duwamish Head. It has a of be ...

and the Stockade Hotel on the day a pioneer monument ( Alki Point Monument) was being dedicated. He also photographed firemen and community leaders such as businessmen. Peiser lived at 7543 Sunnyside Avenue in Seattle. After the fire and its devastation to his business he fell ill. His doctor advised him to move to California and he planned to sell off his remaining photographic works and equipment. Peiser moved to California in 1907. He died there in 1922.

Writings and testimony

Peiser included poetry in his newspaper advertisement. He wrote a July 1, 1919 column in '' The Evening News (San Jose)'' about Emerson P. Harris' book ''Cooperation and the hope of the consumer'' about combatting high prices. Peiser testified about the immigration of Japanese people to San Francisco in a congressional committee hearing in 1921. He recalled his time in Hawaii from 1879 until 1880 during the hearing and expressed fears about the immigration of Japanese people.

Work

His work includes cabinet photos. Territorial University students, Seattle, 1864 (PEISER 89)

A collection of his photographs is held by the

Gallery

File:Soldiers taking a break, Fort Lawton, August 1900 (PEISER 64).jpeg, Soldiers at Fort Lawton File:Seattle baseball team portrait taken in Seattle, 1886 (PEISER 110).jpeg, Seattle Bank baseball team File:Seattle, bird's eye view looking east, ca1884 (PEISER 137).jpeg, Bird's eye view of Seattle looking east File:Looking southwest from Denny Hill over Seattle, 1882 (PEISER 69).jpeg, View of Seattle from Denny Hill in 1882 File:Restaurant workers in front of business with Owl sign in window, Seattle, nd (PEISER 15).jpeg, In front of The Owl File:Fourth of July parade, 1888, Seattle (CURTIS 1279).jpeg, 1888 Fourth of July Parade on First Avenue File:US soldiers from Company A, 7th Regiment, in Seattle about to leave for China, August 1900 (PEISER 59).jpeg, Soldiers preparing to go to China in 1900 ( Boxer Rebellion) File:Seattle waterfront north from King St from Elliott Bay, ca 1884 (PEISER 24).jpeg, Seattle waterfront north from King St from

Elliott Bay Elliott Bay is a part of the Central Basin region of Puget Sound. It is in the U.S. state of Washington, extending southeastward between West Point in the north and Alki Point in the south. Seattle was founded on this body of water in the 1850s ...

File:Central School showing students posed in front, Seattle, 1884 (PEISER 100).jpeg, Central School and students in 1884 File:Looking northeast from King St and Western Ave, Seattle, 1881 (PEISER 42).jpeg, Looking northeast from King Street and Western Avenue (1881) File:Yesler-Leary Building viewed from the intersection of 1st Ave and Yesler Way, Seattle, ca 1885 (PEISER 16).jpeg, Yesler-Leary Building File:Seattle Volunteer Fire Co engine Number 1 in 1883 at Seattle engine house on Columbia St (CURTIS 48).jpeg, Seattle Volunteer Fire Company engine Number 1 in 1883 at the engine house on Columbia Street

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peiser, Theodore 1853 births Photographers from Washington (state) People from Seattle 1922 deaths

Writings and testimony

Work

Gallery

See also

Further reading

References