In 1982, plans moved forward to install two 50-foot red cedar totem poles in Market Park (now Victor Steinbrueck Park), adjacent to Pike Place Market. SMA’s Market Park Totem Poles Photograph Collection (Record Series 5801-09) includes 125 photographs documenting the carving, finishing, painting, transport, and installation of the poles in… [ Keep reading ]
Sometimes we come across folder titles that cry out for further investigation. When we saw a 1971 file labeled “Haircut Incident” listed in Mayor Uhlman’s records, we couldn’t resist heading to the vault to check it out. The folder turned out to contain records documenting a dispute about whether firefighter… [ Keep reading ]
Happy National Poetry Month! Not so very long ago, poetry readings were a regular event at some City Council committee meetings. Soon after he took office in 1998, Councilmember Nick Licata began holding a series of poetry readings at his committee meetings related to the arts, establishing the nation’s only… [ Keep reading ]
We’re in peak cherry blossom season, with crowds flocking to the University of Washington quad and other spots in the city that are bursting with pink blooms. Our Seattle Center Promotion and Publicity Records (Record Series 7613-01) include a folder documenting early years of Seattle’s Cherry Blossom Festival. The 1979… [ Keep reading ]
Here at SMA we hold many different kinds of records: textual records, photographic materials, drawings, posters, maps, and audiovisual materials – that is, film, video, and audio recordings. These recordings exist in both analog and born-digital formats, each with their own needs and challenges for preservation and access. For example,… [ Keep reading ]
Drawn in 1926, the Porter Map of Seattle is a large wall map covering the entire city. It’s impressively detailed, with keys describing public buildings, road types and grades, street designations, and churches according to denomination. The author is shown as Mrs. Florence Porter. The name was unfamiliar to us,… [ Keep reading ]
In the late 1940s, the city of Seattle established daylight savings time. Citizen letters to the city council indicate this was not necessarily a popular move. For example: Mrs. C.E. Davis: “Why do you and all those who want DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME, go to the Artic [sic] Circle where they… [ Keep reading ]
An exchange of letters saved in the Fire Chief’s General Correspondence series highlights some early trash talk between the chiefs in Tacoma and Seattle. A letter dated July 28, 1933, from Tacoma’s Chief Whitaker to Seattle’s Chief Corning referenced an upcoming baseball game between department staff from the two cities,… [ Keep reading ]
Are you curious about the history of your Seattle neighborhood? Our series of online guides featuring resources in the archives by City Council district is a great place to start! Structured around the themes of Early Records, Parks and Recreation, Infrastructure and Public Works, Neighborhood Development and Community Services, and… [ Keep reading ]
Two Clerk Files from 1956 contain letters from teenagers (all girls) protesting the city’s refusal to allow Elvis Presley the use of the Civic Auditorium, apparently over concern about potential unruly behavior by youth attending the concert. (In a separate Clerk File, a parent applauded the decision, saying kids’ “craze… [ Keep reading ]
