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 ]
Founded in 1970, Seattle’s Black Academy of Music (BAM) provided music instruction, visiting artist events, performances, and festivals that emphasized the importance of Black music, history, and culture. Led by local jazz icon Joe Brazil, BAM was a groundbreaking community arts organization that influenced and supported countless local (and beyond)… [ Keep reading ]
The Fremont Arts Council applied for a Neighborhood Matching Fund grant in 1989 for a project they called “Hall of Giants” to create a sculptural environment in the view corridor underneath the north end of the Aurora Bridge, an area full of garbage and old mattresses. Their goal was to… [ Keep reading ]
See update below! Sometimes photographs come to us with no or limited description, leading to a need for some detective work to discover where and when it might have been taken. One example is this recently scanned slide from the Historic Building Survey Photograph Collection (Record Series 1629-01). To view… [ Keep reading ]
