By Spencer Bowman, Northwest Room Librarian
Louis Law’s photography captured the people, events, buildings, and street scenes of our region, sometimes completely unintentionally! A graduate of Stadium High School and a U.S. Army reservist, Law went on to have a remarkable 42-year career with the Tacoma City Public Works Department. There, he worked in traffic signage and roadworks, documenting projects, signage issues, parking concerns, and code enforcement with his camera. While snapping his images, he inadvertently captured the day-to-day life of Tacoma and Washington State in the background.
Some of our favorite photographs from this collection include his 1962 shots on Puyallup Avenue. Another standout is this image of the Stadium District, taken in 1964, looking north on North 11th Street—an area that remains remarkably recognizable even today. The collection also features images of historic buildings, such as the old Firehouse #6 downtown, the Speery "beep-beep" tunnel in Ruston that ran beneath the ASARCO smelter, and a shot of Hilltop, looking west down South 11th Street. Additional highlights include photographs of Daffodil Marine parade boat floats and color aerial views of Tacoma in color."
Not all the photographs in his collection were work-related, however. Law also documented his personal life, his involvement with the Tacoma Photographic Society, travel, events, parades, etc. Unlike many collections in the Northwest Room, which often prioritize historical documentation, commercial imagery, or architectural studies, Law’s photographs stand out for their immediacy, capturing everyday moments of life—children playing, bustling events, park landscapes, etc.
His work — around 17,000 photographs! — is now preserved in the Tacoma Public Library's Northwest Room and accessible via the ORCA database, offers a vivid glimpse into the region’s life and culture during the 1950s through 1990s. For those eager to explore Louis Law’s photography, the Tacoma Public Library’s Northwest Room's ORCA database provides easy access to these images. A large selection of Law’s photographs has been scanned and digitized; however, if you encounter parts of the collection without a scanned image, you can request a scan of the originals.
Whether you're a photography enthusiast, a historian, or simply someone who appreciates vintage images of the area we call home, Louis Law’s photography collection is an absolute must-see.
Louis Law Photograph Collection, housed in the Tacoma Public Library’s Northwest Room. Explore his images on ORCA!
