An Afternoon at Mithras Bookstore and a Sierra Journey, a lecture by Richard Wagener.  This talk will trace his development as a wood engraver and his involvement in the world of fine press books.

Thursday April 11, 2013, 7-9pm (doors open at 6:45)
Maps/Special Collections Classroom
Suzzallo Library Basement Room B69

Richard Wagener grew up in southern California spending a lot of time with his grandfather in remote parts of the desert and up in the Sierra. Early art classes introduced him to Maynard Dixon and Edgar Payne. After school activities included selling the evening newspapers at the Disney studios where he met many of the illustrators and animators. Richard has an undergraduate degree from the University of San Diego and a graduate degree from Art Center College of Design. He has been engraving wood for over thirty years and his work has been in a number of fine press editions. He currently lives and works in northern California.

There are two related exhibitions that feature relief printing which are on display in Special Collections.  This will be an opportunity to view them.  Both Conor Casey, curator of Images of Labor and Social Justice: The Art of Richard V. Correll and Sandra Kroupa curator of Lasting Impressions: Relief Prints Over 500 Years, will speak briefly and will provide access to the exhibitions.

Aerial view of MOHAI, October 10, 2012

Just a very quick announcement before the holiday weekend descend to serve as a reminder that tomorrow is the official grand opening of the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) at its brand new location in South Lake Union. Housed in a former naval training station (often referred to as “the Armory”), this old/new facility offers increased exhibit space of over 50,000 square feet.

Look for “reviews” in the fullness of time. For now, heartiest congratulations!

For the sentimentalists among us, here are some eerie and wistful pictures of the “new” MOHAI under construction in 1937 (from the Seattle Municipal Archives):

Lake Union Naval Training Station under construction, 1937

and the Paul Thiry-designed original MOHAI building in the Montlake neighborhood still under construction in 1951;  this image is  from the Calvin F. Todd photograph collection (PH Coll 232) in Special Collections:

Exterior of MOHAI under construction, 1951

Glenda Pearson, Head of Microfilms and Newspapers, sent me a link to a remarkable blog post that came out this week from a Portland, Oregon blogger. The stunning images take us on a journey to the basement of Portland’s Pittock building where The Oregonian was once printed where we now see an unintended archive recording pieces of the past chosen by workers who printed the news in that very space. Decades ago, workers clipped and pasted pictures, maps, and other ephemera on the walls creating a striking scrapbook of events and images from their time. Even more powerful is what the space is used for now – a place to run conduit for major internet providers. The significance is how the story survives and continues as time moves on. While some hidden collections can, upon discovery, be moved to a more secure location to be preserved, this value and impact of this collection relies on it staying exactly where it is, on the walls where it was originally collected and enjoyed, and allowing current use of the space to reflect contemporary values and norms. Who knows what the future will introduce to this historical timeline.

The story of discovering the collection and researching the history of Portland buildings was featured here in Oregon Live yesterday.

Post by: Anne Jenner, Pacific Northwest Curator

Image courtesy of Seattle Theatre Group

Recently, on a cold and rainy Monday, a few of us from Special Collections took a trip downtown to the Paramount Theatre for a tour of the new Seattle Theatre Group (STG) Historic Theatres Library. The library, which opened in March, is devoted to collecting, cataloging, and preserving historical material from the Paramount, Moore, and Neptune Theatres.

On the 4th floor of the Paramount Theatre Office Tower, we met Marian and Lynn Thrasher, the driving force behind the installation of the library. Both longtime volunteers with STG, the Thrashers first dove into the history of the Paramount while developing a student-tour program for the theater. Inspired by its considerable history, Lynn decided to write a book on the Paramount and in the process, rediscovered a storage space overflowing with historical materials. While Lynn uncovered the material, it was Marian who woke up one morning and said, “We’re going to make a library out of this.” With the help of many volunteers, it took the Thrashers about 4,000 hours before the library was ready to open. The collection now includes binders containing a multitude of items from playbills to newspaper articles, all kinds of memorabilia on display, and even CD/DVDs of Paramount performances.

After exploring the library and perusing its contents, the Thrashers took us on an extensive tour of the Paramount. Beginning with the stage (empty after the recent departure of Wicked), we took a winding route along the back of the theater. As we were walking through hallways filled with decades of signed posters, dressing rooms (of both the stars and supporting cast), and the Ernestine Anderson Room – the Paramount’s “green room”, Marian and Lynn provided what seemed to be an inexhaustible supply of Paramount stories, information, and legends.

The Historic Theatres Library is open to the public, free of charge, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. For the whole Paramount experience, private group tours of the library and theatre can be arranged by contacting Marian Thrasher at library@stgpresents.org.

New Additions to the Collection of the Labor Archives of Washington State, UW Special Collections

December 6, 2012 – April 19, 2013
Special Collections Basement Lobby
Allen Library North First Floor Balcony

Richard V. (Dick) Correll (1904-1990), was “one of the leading masters of printmaking in the West.” Best known for his powerful black and white linoleum cuts, etchings and woodblock prints, for most of his life he earned a living as a commercial artist in the book publishing and advertising fields while producing a large body of fine art in his own time.
Correll’s themes ranged from landscapes, animals and agricultural scenes, harbors and ships, and music and dance to those which reflected his lifelong concern with political and social issues. This exhibit features selections from several core areas of Correll’s recently donated collection at the Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections: Images of labor, social justice, civil rights, anti-war themes, work for the Great Depression-era Federal Art Project of the Works Projects Administration, and his work for the progressive Depression-era newspaper the Voice of Action.

Combination Halloween and birthday party for sisters, Verla and Lorna Flowers, in 1923 (?).

Seattle dance enthusiasts have had much to get excited about this fall with two visits from local-boy-made-good, Mark Morris. First, in a brief engagement earlier this month by his own company at On the Boards; and this coming Friday will see the much-anticipated premiere of Kammermusik No. 3, his first work done on commission for Pacific Northwest Ballet.

In a recent interview, Morris claimed to be “not very nostalgic” about Seattle. While we do not take an official position on nostalgia, here at Special Collections we are very proud to be able to share at least a small fragment of an important part of Seattle’s dance legacy, and one that is intrinsically connected to Morris, the Verla Flowers scrapbook.

Verla Flowers (1913-2003), of course, was Morris’ first dance teacher. As Joan Acocella describes it in her biography, Mark Morris (1993), his mother chose Verla Flowers Dance Arts for her son from a newspaper advertisement after looking for a school that offered instruction in Spanish dance (p. 20). But enough about him for now. Verla Flowers clearly was an extraordinary woman in her own right.

The scrapbook that we are fortunate enough to have was begun originally by Verla Flowers’ mother, Augusta, who presented it to her daughter shortly before her graduation from Ballard High School, and was continued by Flowers for several more years. The volume documents Flowers’ childhood, her own early dance training and performances, her student years at Cornish, and her first forays into teaching. While it contains few photographs, it does include the above image of what appears to be a children’s Halloween party. This particular event may be the one described in a newspaper clipping (which, in the scrapbook, has had its date and source trimmed) titled, “Hallowe’en Party a Birthday Surprise for Flowers Sisters”:

Verla and Lorna are real Hallowe’en children, as both were born on October 31, though there is a four years’ difference in their ages. Their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Flowers, are active in the labor movement, Mr. Flowers being a member of Machinists’ Hope Lodge No. 79. The children’s birthdays are always celebrated with Hallowe’en gaiety. Verla is 10 and Lorna 6 this year.

Or maybe not. We certainly would welcome any additional information. While Mark Morris may be too busy to stop by right now, we hope that you will take the opportunity to come to Special Collections and investigate Seattle’s dance history more deeply.

Happy Halloween to all and happy birthday, Verla Flowers!

Picture postcard, dated October 16, 1924, sent by J. C. [?] Browne to a convalescing Captain Michael T. Powers in San Francisco.

“…Powers was a patrolman in the lower end of town when Seattle was hardly the sort of city described in the Rollo books…” Unidentified newspaper clipping, (1914?), Michael T. Powers scrapbooks, volume 6

I couldn’t let Archives Month slip away completely without a somewhat relevant post. In case you didn’t know it, the theme of this year’s celebration in Washington State is: “Law & Order in the Archives: Crooks, Cops and Courts.” In searching for an appropriate collection to highlight, the eight volumes of the Michael T. Powers scrapbooks, whose catalog record recently received an upgrade, rather handily fits the bill.

In documenting the career and interests of the long-serving Seattle police officer, these eight volumes of scrapbooks are a rich and fascinating compendium of mostly-forgotten criminals, political scandals, and a whole host of other unsavory incidents from the 1890s to the 1920s. Powers filled a number of roles in the Seattle Police Department, including time spent as the captain in charge of the Ballard station. He retired from the force in 1923 and was briefly on the payroll of the Seattle Times before temporarily leaving Seattle for his native San Francisco, apparently for health reasons. Special Collections also holds a small collection of his papers, which contains several letters sent to Powers in San Francisco from his nephew, Ralph M. English (also an SPD employee).

Also to be found is this unsigned card, which, given the frequency that sports in general, and baseball in particular, are mentioned in the letters, probably originated from English too:

Baseball-themed card, possibly sent to Powers by his nephew, Ralph M. English.

So, whether you are celebrating the Giants’ victory or lamenting the Mariners, why not consider spending part of the off-season in Special Collections, where you might just develop some new interests before spring training (or the next Archives Month) rolls around.

Image of the Space Needle at night taken during the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair by an unknown photographer

As the long weekend approaches and the end of the season draws ever closer, why not try to prolong that summertime feeling for at least a little while longer by planning a visit to The World of Tomorrow: Looking Back at the Seattle Worlds Fair next week? The exhibit, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Century 21 exposition, has been extended through September 14, 2012.

You will find the exhibit installed in cases on the Allen Library North balcony and the Special Collections lobby. Both areas are accessible to the public whenever the building is open. Please check the current hours of opening as the library is operating on an interim break schedule.

To kick off the citywide 1962 Seattle World’s Fair 50th anniversary celebrations, the Seattle Public Library will host an afternoon of events this Friday, November 19, 2011, at the Central Library in downtown Seattle. These include an author reading by Paula Becker and Alan Stein, as well as a chance to take a test drive of SPL’s new Century 21 Digital Collection.

Complete information about Friday’s programs is available here.

Screen shot of new Special Collections homepage

At last Wednesday’s Division meeting, the redesigned Special Collections Web site was unveiled to staff.  Feel free to send in your comments or other feedback during this testing period.  The new site is scheduled to go live on October 19, 2011.