Preview up to 100 items from this collection below. Seattle’s Pike Place Market became a historic district in 1971, the result of grassroots organizers led by Victor Steinbrueck. This collection features blueprints, posters, articles and papers related to the market.
Frank Cunningham Interview, September 15, 1986
Frank Cunningham (1922-2013) was a fixture in the Seattle rowing scene. Cunningham grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts and attended Harvard and was part of the varsity rowing team. He interrupted his college education to serve in the Marine Corps during World War II. Following the war he moved to Seattle where he began working at Boeing and met his wife, Jane. He earned his graduate degree in teaching from the University of Washington and began a career in education. He also coached the rowing team at Lakeside school where he was also a humanities teacher. Several of his students later became Olympian rowers. He received the medal of honor from the U.S. Rowing Association in 2010 and was included in their Hall of Fame. In 2012, he was honored by the Washington State Senate for his teaching and coaching career.
Identifier: spl_ds_fcunningham_01
Date: 1986-09-15
View this itemPike Plaza Urban Renewal flyer
Flyer describing the reasons to support the redevelopment of the Pike Place Market area and rebuild the Central Business District area.
Identifier: spl_ps_031
View this itemTracing paper layout for Friends of the Market letterhead
Draft of the Friends of the Market letterhead created by Victor Steinbrueck. Letterhead lists officers and board of trustees members.
Identifier: spl_ps_028
View this itemSemi nudes
Frank Asakichi Kunishige was born in Japan on June 5, 1878. He came to the United States via San Francisco in 1895. After graduating from the Illinois College of Photography, he opened a small photography studio in San Francisco. Kunishige moved to Seattle in 1917. In the same year, he married Gin Kunishige and began working in the studio of Edward S. Curtis where he became acquainted with Ella McBride who he worked for in later years. Kunishige was well known for his use of Pictorialism, a popular painterly style of photography. He developed his photographs on "textura tissue," a paper of his own creation, which allowed him to produce almost dreamlike prints. His work was featured nationally and internationally in exhibitions and publications such as Photo-Era and Seattle's Town Crier. In 1924, Kunishige became one of the founding members of the Seattle Camera Club, a group of local photographers including Kyo Koike, Yukio Morinaga, Iwao Matsushita and Fred Y. Ogasawara who gathered to share techniques and ideas, as well as their deep love of the medium. Although the group was initially solely Japanese, they soon welcomed more members including Ella McBride, their first female member. When World War II struck and the country's Japanese internment policy was put in place, Kunishige and his wife were forced to leave Seattle for Idaho where they were interned at the Minidoka camp. After their release, Kunishige spent two years working at a photography studio in Twin Falls, Idaho but eventually returned to Seattle due to his poor health. Frank Kunishige passed away on April 9, 1960.
Identifier: spl_art_367924_04
View this itemPamplet to vote no on the Market Initiative, 1971
Distributed by the Committee to Save the Market, the pamphlet describes the reasons that the market initiative should not be passed. They argue that Pike Place Market is already protected as a historic site and failure to redevelop Pike Place Market would jeopardize the federal funds allocated for urban renewal.
Identifier: spl_ps_017
Date: 1971
View this itemPike Place Market wrapping paper in yellow
Yellow Pike Place Market wrapping paper with illustrations in green.
Identifier: spl_ps_029
View this itemPike Place Market wrapping paper in gray
Gray Pike Place Market wrapping paper with illustrations in red.
Identifier: spl_ps_030
View this item'Lets Keep the Market that We Voted for in 1971' flyer, 1977
Illustrated flyer asking citizens to call for a public review of the urban renewals plans threatening the market. Illustration features a bird's eye view of the Pike Place Market Historic District and highlights buildings that are slated for demolition under the plans.
Identifier: spl_ps_021
Date: 1977
View this itemShopping bag with illustration of the National Bank of Commerce Pike Place branch
Illustrated, white paper shopping bag with illustrations by Victor Steinbrueck depicting the Pike Place Branch of the National Bank of Commerce.
Identifier: spl_ps_027
View this item'Save the Market' cloth flag
Red cloth flag with the words 'Save the Market' printed in yellow.
Identifier: spl_ps_034
View this item