Activities at Annie Wright Seminary. A sign over the map says, "AWS Goes to College". Strings run between locations on the map to cards on the bulletin board with the names of colleges and names of Annie Wright students attending them.

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1940-1950; Students--Tacoma--1940-1950; Teenagers--Tacoma--1940-1950; Maps; Universities & colleges;

Annie Wright students and a faculty member pose in what appears to be the Seminary's library. These girls are busy reading from books and are wearing the traditional sailor style uniforms of the lower classes. This picture was published in the 1955 "Shield," the yearbook for Annie Wright Academy. This are the 5th & 6th classes of the lower school posed around Miss Edgerly, the school librarian. See yearbook for the student names.

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Private schools--Tacoma; Children reading & writing--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Five Annie Wright teachers are feeding a guinea pig that is sitting on the table in what appears to be one of the lower school classrooms. The teachers are, left to right, Mrs. Hatcher, 5 year old kindergarten, Mrs. Harding, 4 year old kindergarten, Mrs. Headley, 5 year old kindergarten, Miss Anderson, assistant in the lower school and Mrs. Post, Charles Wright Academy. ("The Shield," 1955 edition)

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Private schools--Tacoma; Teachers--Tacoma--1950-1960; Classrooms--Tacoma--1950-1960; Pets;

May Day festivities, Annie Wright Seminary. Younger girls dressed in white dresses with sashes at their waists and dark ballet shoes perform a traditional Maypole dance to the delight of May Queen Becky Broughton and her court. The dancing girls are members of the school's third class. The dancers will twist the pole's streamers in an attractive pattern by going over and under the others' streamers. This largely European holiday celebrates the coming of summer. (TNT 5/20/1956, pg. D-1)

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Private schools--Tacoma; Festivals--Tacoma--1950-1960;

May Day festivities, Annie Wright Seminary. One of the biggest social activities at Annie Wright was that annual rite of spring, May Day. A May Day queen would be crowned in the midst of performances and activities for parents and students. The queen was traditionally a senior and her maid of honor a junior. These girls appear to be middle school age students, dressed in matching polka dot skirts. They will possibly be performing for the festivities, using the umbrellas. (TNT 5/20/1956, pg. D-1)

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Private schools--Tacoma; Festivals--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Annie Wright Seminary. Students and teacher in chemistry lab. Upper level students prepare to cook up an experiment with the assistance of their teacher Miss McKay. Miss McKay was the Annie Wright instructor of science and mathematics. (The Shield, 1954 issue)

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Private schools--Tacoma;

Dads visited their daughters' classrooms during Dads' Day at Annie Wright Seminary on May 18, 1957. They were able to observe their children at work and at play. These girls are possibly in the Lower School. Photograph ordered by Annie Wright Seminary.

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Private schools--Tacoma;

It appears that this father, although swinging mightily, is going to avoid contact with the ball during the 1957 Dads' Day baseball game at Annie Wright Seminary. The catcher has his arms extended to catch the ball. Other fathers await their turn at bat. Annie Wright annually held a Dads' Day in the spring where fathers and daughters bonded in various campus activities. Photograph ordered by Annie Wright Seminary.

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Private schools--Tacoma; Baseball--Tacoma--1950-1960; Baseball players--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Annie Wright Seminary for yearbook "The Shield." Girls basketball team in play. Note: Darkness of this image illustrates damage caused to Kodak safety film by exposure to deteriorating diacetate film; it was copied as part of the library's preservation work. Photograph was taken on February 25, 1953.

Students--Tacoma--1950-1960; Basketball--Tacoma--1950-1960; Basketball players--Tacoma--1950-1960; Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1950-1960;

Annie Wright Seminary senior Erin Lombard was chosen the 1953 Queen of May. She has evidently been crowned as she is already wearing her tiara. She is flanked by two beaming kindergarteners in white who were possibly herald and crown bearers. May Day festivities were well attended by alumnae, students and friends. Activities were held both on the seminary lawns and within the school buildings.

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Private schools--Tacoma; Festivals--Tacoma--1950-1960; Lombard, Erin;

Annie Wright Seminary had a large Lower School in the 1950's. Most students would attend school functions such as the annual May Day festival and probably perform in some capacity. Here a group of nineteen little girls smile happily, and in some cases shyly, for the camera. They may have been dressed to participate in a program of modern dance which was presented before the Queen and her court.

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Private schools--Tacoma; Group portraits; School children--Tacoma--1950-1960; Festivals--Tacoma--1950-1960;

A smiling Kai Wonderly poses on the lawn of Annie Wright Seminary, 827 Tacoma Ave. No., as she waits to be introduced to the many parents and students during the school's 1968 May Day festival. Her long white train is being carefully tended by two young girls, members of the school's lower division. Kai, a senior at Annie Wright, is holding a ribboned bouquet of daisies. Photograph ordered by Annie Wright Seminary. (TNT 5-26-68, D10, 11)

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1960-1970; Private schools--Tacoma; May Day; Wonderly, Kai; Festivals--Tacoma--1960-1970; Students--Tacoma--1960-1970; School children--Tacoma--1960-1970;

The timeless beauty of Tudor Gothic-style architecture is reflected in the ivy-covered columns of Annie Wright Seminary. The school was designed by the architectural firm of Sutton, Whitney & Dugan and built in 1924 by J.E. Bonnell, contractor. In 1957 Annie Wright grew to include the construction of new classrooms and a music room. It was primarily a girls' school and attracted students from as far away as Hawaii. Photograph ordered by Annie Wright Seminary.

Private schools--Tacoma; Vines--Tacoma; Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--Buildings;

These little girls lounging on the grass at Annie Wright Seminary were probably part of the Lower School. They were waiting to participate in the school's annual May Day festival. It is likely that they would be performing a dance, perhaps ballet, for the enjoyment of parents and fellow students. Sepia photograph ordered by Annie Wright Seminary.

Private schools--Tacoma; School children--Tacoma--1950-1960; Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1950-1960;

The Annie Wright May Day Queen's train bearers smile winsomely at the camera. They are, left to right, Jean Buttorff and Nancy McGoldrick. Every year the students of Annie Wright Seminary celebrated the arrival of spring to the gray Northwest with the May Day festivities. A senior was chosen to rule over the festivities, with the younger girls as attendants. Lower school (primary) girls were chosen to serve as heralds, train bearers, flower girls, scepter bearers, crown bearers and pages.

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Private schools--Tacoma; Festivals--Tacoma--1950-1960; Buttorff, Jean; McGoldrick, Nancy;

Mrs. William A. Merrill and Mrs. Gardner's class of sixteen young pupils at Annie Wright Seminary smile for the camera on February 19, 1966. The children's names are written on railroad cars that decorate the blackboard. This was probably a pre-kindergarten or younger-aged kindergarten class. Photograph ordered by Annie Wright Seminary. TPL-8732

Private schools--Tacoma; School children--Tacoma--1960-1970; Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1960-1970;

March 13, 1961, photograph of twelve small girls in classroom. Scholastic Magazines news map dated 1959-60 on blackboard wall behind them. These children, wearing school uniforms, were from the Lower School of Annie Wright Seminary.

School children--Tacoma--1960-1970; Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1960-1970; Private schools--Tacoma; Classrooms--Tacoma--1960-1970; Maps;

ca. 1934. Annie Wright Seminary. A group of young girls in school uniforms, sailor dresses, pose in front of the fireplace in the school's "Great Hall." Building by Sutton, Whitney and Dugan, Architects, 1924. (filed with Argentum) (same group in photograph labelled series 888 image 3)

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1930-1940;

ca. 1934. Russian Play at Annie Wright Seminary, circa 1934. The cast models their ornate costumes; while the teenage girls are standing and socializing and two young girls and a boy are sitting on the floor. (filed with Argentum)

Private schools--Tacoma; Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1930-1940; Theatrical productions--Tacoma; Students--Tacoma--1930-1940;

ca. 1934. Raynor Chapel, Annie Wright Seminary. Women's choir and organist in chapel. The choir and organist all appear to be wearing a robe and mortarboard. (filed with Argentum)

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1920-1930; Raynor Chapel (Tacoma);

ca. 1938. Aerial view of North End Tacoma showing Annie Wright Seminary, surrounding neighborhood and Commencement Bay. The Tudor Gothic building was built in 1924 on a design by Sutton, Whitney & Dugan.

Aerial photographs; Private schools--Tacoma; Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--Buildings;

Annie Wright Seminary May Day activities, May 1, 1935. Processional, many girls in dresses on lawn, audience in folding chairs. (filed with Argentum)

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1930-1940; May Day--Tacoma;

Annie Wright Seminary May Day activities, May 1, 1935. Little girls in short dresses dancing on lawn. The dance is a modern one, utilizing white scarves.

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1930-1940; May Day--Tacoma;

The culmination of the festivities on May day at Annie Wright School, located at 827 Tacoma Avenue North, is the winding of the May Pole. In this photograph from 1935 the school's younger pupils dance around the pole to the approving gaze of upper classmen, friends and relatives. Originally known as Field Day, the May Day celebration included music, dance, sports and the crowning of the May Queen; it is one of the most treasured traditions of the school. In 1935 Marian Guyles was crowned May Queen.

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1930-1940; May Day--Tacoma; May poles--Tacoma;

Annie Wright Seminary Field Day, also known as May Day, 5/1/1935. Girls leaving pitch after playing Field Hockey.

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1930-1940; Field hockey; Students--Tacoma--1930-1940;

A young man with a tennis racquet, tentatively identified as Weyerhaeuser acquaintance Bob Taylor, poses on a path at Annie Wright Seminary, near the area where 9 year old George Weyerhaeuser was kidnapped on May 24, 1935. The path was possibly used by the kidnappers. The Weyerhaeuser kidnapping was the second most famous in the nation and Tacoma's most sensational crime. It had everything to make newspaper headlines, a handsome grade school boy and a moneyed family desperate for his return. The retiring Weyerhaeusers however spoke only to the police and moved secretly so that publicity did not prevent George from being released. By June 1, 1935, George had been released. The first set of suspects was arrested within weeks, a former Puyallup couple named Harmon and Margaret Waley, and they identified the third suspect, William Dainard, who was arrested almost a year later. (T. Times 5/26/1935, pg. 1 plus succeeding months.)

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1930-1940; Kidnappings--Tacoma--1930-1940; Weyerhaeuser, George H.--Kidnappings;

Automobile parked outside entrance between hedges at Annie Wright Seminary, the area where George Hunt Weyerhaeuser was kidnapped on May 24, 1935. The heavy hedges undoubtedly provided cover to the people abducting the boy. George had left Lowell School just before noon to walk the five or so blocks to the Seminary where he would meet his sister and the young people would be driven home for lunch by the family chauffer. (T. Times 5/25/1935, pg. 1 plus succeeding months)

Kidnappings--Tacoma--1930-1940; Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1930-1940; Weyerhaeuser, George H.--Kidnappings;

Steps and hedge at Annie Wright Seminary, one of the possible locations for the abduction of George Weyerhaeuser on May 24, 1935. He was kidnapped from the grounds of seminary, near the tennis courts, as he walked at noontime from Lowell Elementary to meet his sister at the seminary and travel home for lunch. The boy was held for $200,000 in ransom. (T. Times 5/26/1935, pg. 1 plus succeeding months.)

Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1930-1940; Kidnappings--Tacoma--1930-1940; Weyerhaeuser, George H.--Kidnappings;

1936 Annie Wright Seminary Field Day. Girl performing somersault off diving board into indoor swimming pool. Other girls watch.

Private schools--Tacoma--1930-1940; Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1930-1940; Events--Tacoma; Swimming--Tacoma--1930-1940; Swimming pools--Tacoma--1930-1940; Diving--Tacoma--1930-1940; Students--Tacoma--1930-1940; Diving--Tacoma;

The Annie Wright Seminary Junior Prom, held Saturday April 17, 1937 in the Great Hall at the school. The dance had a Dutch theme and was scheduled to honor the senior class before their graduation in June. Three couples were photographed wearing formal attire and standing in front of a fireplace. The room was embellished with elaborate decorations. Pictured left to right are Robert Cowden, Barbara Bogan, Betty June Howe, Clinton Campbell, Elizabeth Post and Gordon Ketring. (T.Times 4/24/1937, pg. 9)

Private Schools--Tacoma; Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma)--1930-1940; Dance parties--Tacoma--1930-1940; Students--Tacoma--1930-1940;