The archives has a collection of 29 photos highlighting the activities of the Parks Department’s Sails and Trails Club in the early 1930s, and we could use your help identifying the people and places depicted!
The club was founded in 1929 by Parks employee Pearl Powell, who was hired during Bertha Knight Landes’s term as mayor. Powell took summer school classes at Cornish while in college and studied theater puppetry with Tony Sark, as well as dance, including classes in modern dance with Martha Graham. In 1927, while attending the University of Washington on a scholarship, she worked as a play leader for the Parks Department to earn money for her room and board. She continued working as a playground “instructress” at Collins Playfield until 1935.
Powell led crafts; taught softball, basketball and volleyball, and organized overnights to Camp Denny. In 1929, when 35 girls attended one of the overnights, they were inspired to form the Sails and Trails hiking program. Powell was the advisor to the club, which was open to women over 18 looking for low-cost recreational outings. By 1945 the group’s membership, focused on working women, had grown to 215 women. Their annual trips included a boat trip on Puget Sound, skiing, and hiking throughout the northwest.
The photographs in the archives were donated by a great-niece of club member Dorothy Brekke. The photos are wonderful, but would be even more valuable if we knew the names of the women in them!
The full set of photos is posted on our Flickr site. Please help us identify people, places and events by commenting there if you have a Flickr account, or emailing us at archives@seattle.gov with “Sails and Trails” in the subject line.
