Donald Schmechel Oral History Collection
Watch oral histories with prominent figures in the Pacific Northwest including artists Jacob Lawrence and Kenneth Callahan; Governors Albert Rosellini and Dixy Lee Ray and Reverends David Colwell and Samuel McKinney.
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Unknown man in Hamburg, Illinois, ca. 1880
Photograph taken by Rifenburg & Co. studio in Hamburg, Iowa.
Identifier: spl_lj_021
Date: 1880?
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Virginia Price Patty Interview, August 17, 1987 and March 28, 1988
Virginia Price Patty (1898?-1998). Patty was born in Paris, Illinois ca. 1898. Her family moved to Seattle in 1905 and her father started work with his cousin, Charles Wiley. Wiley’s hydraulic construction company was responsible for regrading Beacon Hill, King St. and Dearborn. She attended Lowell Elementary and graduated from Broadway High School in 1916. She earned her degree from Smith College in 1920 where her interest was drama and theater. Afterwards she returned to Seattle and attended Cornish College and business school. She worked briefly at the Cornish Theater and in the principal’s office at Garfield High School. Patty married Andrew Price in 1922 and they had three children. Price was involved in investment banking with the National Bank of Commerce where he served in multiple roles including vice president, director and chairman. Patty served as the Girl Scout Commissioner of Seattle and King County for four years starting ca. 1942. In 1946, she was named to the Board of Directors of Western Region Girl Scouts. She was also involved with the Junior League. In 1955, her husband Andrew passed away. She married Ernest Patty in 1968. He served as president of the University of Alaska prior to their marriage and was involved in establishing the school's mining and engineering department. He died in 1976.
Identifier: spl_ds_vpatty_01
Date: 1987-08-17; 1988-03-28
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View of regrade north from Madison St. and 3rd Ave., ca. 1906
Piper and Taft Sporting Goods appears on the left. In the distances is wreckage of what may be the old Washington Hotel. Although the regrade started in 1903, James Moore, the owner of the Washington Hotel, refused to clear the property until 1906 when regrading of Second and Third Avenues were well underway.
Identifier: spl_dr_018
Date: 1906
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Emilie Schwabacher Interview, July 9, 1987
Emilie Bloch Schwabacher (1903-2000) was an active member of Seattle’s charitable community and a member of one of Seattle’s early families. She was born in San Francisco and attended Mills College, earning a master of arts degree in education. She married Morton Leo Schwabacher (1902-1977) in 1931 and the couple had one daughter together. Emilie was dedicated to many social causes including the Settlement House which helped struggling families in Central Seattle. In 1948, she joined the board of Children's Orthopedic Hospital, where she remained for 25 years. Her husband, Morton, was the president of Schwabacher Hardware Company, a company that his grandfather and his grandfather’s brothers first opened in Seattle in 1869.
Identifier: spl_ds_eschwabacker_01
Date: 1987-07-09
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Municipal Plans Commission of the City of Seattle map showing Lake Union Waterfront District, 1911
Map showing proposed city improvements under the Plan of Seattle, commonly known as the Bogue Plan. Designed by Virgil Bogue, Seattle's municipal plans director, the Bogue Plan proposed a series of improvements aimed at beautifying the city and making it making it more cohesive after years of rapid growth and industrialization. The plan worked in tandem with the Olmsted Brothers new system of parks, begun in 1903, and proposed new government buildings, an improved city center and an interurban road connecting the city together. The plan was rejected by voters in 1912.
Identifier: spl_maps_2465533_12
Date: 1911
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Thornton Creek Watershed, A Bicycle Tour, ca. 1983
Map showing bicycle route through the Thornton Creek Watershed along with information about environmental problems facing the area.
Identifier: spl_maps_2375421
Date: 1983?
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Mary Todd Interview, May 15, 1987
Mary Allen Todd was born in Rockingham, North Carolina in January 1940. She was a teacher known for her love of Shakespeare.
Identifier: spl_ds_mtodd_01
Date: 1987-05-15
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Ted Schuchat Interview, February 29, 1988
Theodore L. Schuchat (1923-2014) was a journalist and speechwriter who worked for the federal government for over 30 years. Schuchat was born in Warrenton, West Virginia and grew up in Baltimore. He attended West Virginia University where he was President of his class. Schuchat’s education was interrupted due to World War II when he joined the Army and served as a radarman. After the war he worked for an advertising agency in New York before resuming his college career at the New School. After graduating from college, he moved back to Washington D.C. and began working for the federal government in 1950. There he worked for the Interior Department and also wrote speeches for political figures. He also worked as a freelance writer with a focus on topics such as health, welfare and retirement. He was the author of syndicated column for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Outside of work, Ted served as the first president of Temple Micah in Washington, D.C. Schuchat moved to Seattle in 2005.
Identifier: spl_ds_tshchuchat_01
Date: 1988-02-29
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Milton Katims Interview, May 10, 1986
Milton Katims (1909-2006) was a skilled violist and conductor, leading the Seattle Symphony for over two decades. Katims was born in Brooklyn, New York and attended Columbia University. He taught viola classes at schools such as Julliard, Northwestern University, and the University of Washington. He married his wife, Virginia Peterson, in 1940. In 1943, Katims joined the NBC Symphony Orchestra, a radio orchestra that performed weekly broadcasts, and served as the assistant conductor. He also composed his own music and played with ensembles including the Budapest String Quartet and the New York Piano Quartet. Katims conducted symphonies internationally in locales such as Montreal, Boston, Philadelphia and London. He was the conductor of the Seattle Symphony from 1954 to 1976, helping the symphony to grow in prominence. He played a critical role in garnering support to convert the city’s Civic Auditorium to the Opera House, which was shared by the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet. Following his time in Seattle, Katims moved to Houston where he worked as the Artistic Director for the University of Houston School of Music for eight years. Following his retirement, he returned to Seattle.
Identifier: spl_ds_mkatims_01
Date: 1986-05-10
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Mammalia mirror
Helmi Juvonen was born in Butte, Montana on January 17, 1903. She worked in many media including printmaking, painting and paper-craft. She attended Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle where she met artist Mark Tobey with whom she was famously obsessed. Although she was diagnosed as a manic-depressive in 1930, she gained wide appreciation in the Northwest for her linocut prints depicting Northwest Indian people and tribal ceremonies. She worked with a number of artists on the Public Works of Art Project including Fay Chong and Morris Graves. Over the years, her mental health deteriorated and in 1960 she was declared a ward of the state and was committed to Oakhurst Convalescent Center. She was much beloved and had many friends and benefactors (including Wes Wehr) and was able to have exhibitions despite the confinement. She died in 1985.
Identifier: spl_art_J989Ma
Date: n.d.
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