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| Title | Helene Madison, Seattle, 1930 |
| Photographer | Staff Photographer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
| Date | 1930 |
| Caption | Helene Madison started swimming at Green Lake when she was 12 years old. At 19, she swept the women's freestyle swimming events in the 1932 Olympics. That year, she held all 16 women's world freestyle records and 56 American awards. When she returned to Seattle, the city presented her with a car, a Navy and Police escort and Seattle's largest ticker tape parade. Madison was unable to compete further in Olympic events due to some brief and unsuccessful professional endeavors. The challenges of two failed marriages, debt, diabetes and cancer filled Madison's later years in life.
In this 1930 photo, Madison is posing in her swimsuit by a body of water, likely Green Lake, during the years prior to her successful Olympic endeavors but during her days of successful international and national competition. |
| Notes | Handwritten on image: Helene Madison.
Caption information sources: MOHAI exhibit labels; HistoryLink.org.
Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a month or more): May 18, 1930. |
| Subjects | Swimmers--Washington (State)--Seattle; Lakes & ponds--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Personal Names | Madison, Helene |
| Places | United States--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Digital Collection | Museum of History & Industry Photograph Collection |
| Image Number | 1986.5G.1764 |
| Ordering Information | To order a reproduction or to inquire about permissions contact photos@mohai.org or phone us at 206-324-1126. Please refer to the Image Number and provide a brief description of the photograph. |
| Credit Line | Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle; All Rights Reserved |
| Repository | Museum of History & Industry, Seattle (MOHAI) |
| Repository Collection | Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection |
| Type | Image |
| Physical Description | 1 glass negative: b&w; 4 x 5 in. |
| Digital Reproduction Information | Scanned from original negative as a 3000 pixel TIFF image in 8-bit grayscale, resized to 640 pixels in the longest dimension and compressed into JPEG format using Photoshop 6.0 and its JPEG quality measurement 3. |
