In 1899, shortly after arriving in Seattle with his family, J. E. Standley (1854-1940) opens a store on 2nd Avenue and Pike Street that purveys Indian curios and other items. In November 1901, Standley relocates "The Curio" to the foot of Madison. In June 1904, "Ye Olde Curiosity Shop" moves to the Colman Ferry Dock on Pier 52. After several more moves it is today (2001) located at Pier 54, next to Ivar's Acres of Clams. Ye Old Curiosity Shop becomes a famous stop for tourists, a market for traditional and newly made Indian artifacts such as totems and baskets, and also purveys non-Indian toys, miniatures, and curiosities. Standley and his shop receive famous visitors from all over the world, and exert an odd but profound influence on Northwest Indian culture. According to Kate C. Duncan, in 1001 Curious Things , Standley had a much-thumbed edition of the well-known book by Franz Boaz The Social Organization and the Secret Societies of the Kwakiutle Indians (1897), which describes with detailed illustrations the culture of the Northwest Coast tribe. He showed the book to non-Kwakiutle carvers and they began to reproduce these images in carvings that were then sold in the store. Thus Standley and his store became an influence in a hybrid Northwest Coast art produced for the tourist trade. Standley loaned the Boaz book to planners for the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition held on the University of Washington campus, and Boas-inspired Indian images were used widely in the Exposition. Standley also collected and sold thousands of genuine articles from the tribes of the Northwest Coast and Alaska, and some of these items were purchased by museums or found their way into museums. He became a major market for Indian makers of moccasins and baskets (particularly Makah baskets), totem poles, and clothing. He collected and sold whaler's tools, whalebone (baleen) and ivory carvings, masks both historic and prehistoric, spears, canoes, fishing tackle, and so on. He developed friendships with a number of local Indians, such as Dan White and Sam Williams, and purchased items from Native craftspeople almost every day. The store was an eclectic mix of confused and fused Indian items, along with genuine Indian items both old and new, plus strange non-Indian items such as the Lord's Prayer printed on the head of a pin. Standley received many renowned visitors, both white and Indian, to his shop. These included Chief Joseph who visited with his nephew Red Thunder in 1902, and Cheyenne Chief Mad Wolf, in town for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909. They included the developer of chiropractic healing, B. J. Palmer; founder of the Museum of the American Indians, President Theodore Roosevelt, Sir Thomas Lipton, Jack Dempsey, J. Edgar Hoover and Katherine Hepburn.

After Standley died in 1940, the shop, a family business, continued to thrive mainly in the tourist paraphenalia. It acquired examples of the bizarre and macabre, such as a pig in a jar, and mummies, one "Gloria" purchased in the late 1940s, and another "Sylvester," acquired in 1955. After several moves it is up till now located on Pier 54, next to Ivar's Acres of Clams.

For a complete history of the shop and its owners, I recommend the following recently published book for reading: Kate C. Duncan, 2000. 1001 Curious Things, Ye Olde Curiosity Shop and Native American Art. University of Washington Press. 273 pp with numerous b/w illustrations and pictures. Available at NaturArt.be. Ask for info.

Online Source: HistoryLink.org: J. E. Standley opens predecessor to Seattle's Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in 1899. (accessed November 15, 2004).

Postcards are out private collection of Yves Terryn, NaturalArt.be, Belgium.