Elaine Jensen smilingly ponders her choice of fine china at Friedlander & Sons on April 30, 1958. Friedlander & Sons were jewelers located at 919 Broadway but also carried a line of Lenox and Flint Ridge china. Here a cordial sales person, manager Frank Impala, helps Miss Jensen with her selection. She was to eventually choose Del Rio china from Franciscan. Elaine Jensen was listed in the 1958 City Directory as a nurse residing at 1108 So. Tyler. Her engagement to Chester Barr was announced in the News Tribune on March 9, 1958. Miss Jensen, a graduate of Stadium High School and the Tacoma General Hospital School of Nursing, would be married on May 10, 1958. Photograph ordered by Friedlander & Sons. (TNT 3-9-58, D-8, TNT ad 5-13-58, C-9)

Friedlander & Sons, Inc. (Tacoma); Jewelry stores--Tacoma--1950-1960; Porcelain; Jensen, Elaine; Impala, Frank;

ca. 1891. A small room in the Harry Ball Block was an early location of the Tacoma Public Library. This photograph by Librarian William Curtis Taylor, circa 1891, shows an unidentified mustached gentleman engrossed in reading. Three partially filled bookcases line the wall behind him. Light is provided by two overhead lamps and a desk, covered with books and files, is next to the man. The library would move to more spacious rooms on the fifth floor of (Old) City Hall, 625 Commerce St., in 1893. (TNT 4-7-1953, E-10)

Tacoma Public Library (Tacoma); Public libraries--Tacoma--1890-1900; Bookcases--Tacoma; Books; Reading--Tacoma;

ca. 1892. William Curtis Taylor, the first paid Librarian in Tacoma, in the Library when it was in the "Ball Block" building at 919-21 Broadway. Mr. Taylor was nearing 70 at the time but had the vigor of a much younger man. Born in Philadelphia and educated at the Pennsylvania Charter School, he came to Tacoma in November of 1889. A former photographer, he became librarian for the Public Library in 1892. He built up the library from 900 to over 5000 volumes by 1896 and had increased visits by Tacoma residents to 85,000. Mr. Taylor tirelessly spent time raising funding for the library and even contributed to the library's decoration himself. In 1893 the library moved to the (Old) City Hall as it had outgrown the Ball Block quarters. Due to charter amendments, Mr. Taylor was forced out of his job after four years in 1896. Despite efforts by many friends of the library, he was not re-appointed to the position by Mayor Fawcett. William Curtis Taylor died in Germantown, Pennsylvania on February 17, 1905. (Tacoma Daily Ledger, 4-22-1896-article)

Taylor, William Curtis; Tacoma Public Library (Tacoma); Public libraries--Tacoma--1890-1900; Librarians; Books; Bookcases--Tacoma;