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.
Mark Tobey message 'Keep the Market'
Mark Tobey statement expressing support for protecting the market from urban renewal plans.
Identifier: spl_ps_032
View this itemPike Place Market architectural plans on paper with pencil and ink
Plans depict both the upper and lower levels of Pike Place Market and list business and vendor names. Some plans are done on plain paper while others are on tracing paper. Plans are drawn with a mix of pencil, pen and colored pencil. Plans are unsigned but may be by Victor Steinbrueck.
Identifier: spl_ps_046
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 itemThe Reflection
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_44
View this itemPike Place Market architectural plans showing areas effected by urban renewal
One plan delineates the differences between the Pike Plaza Historic District boundaries, the Friends of the Market Initiative Petition Historical District boundaries and the market area studied by the Pike Plaza Urban Renewal economist. Another plan shows these three areas and includes the names of vendors and businesses in the area. A third plan shows buildings that are rehabitable that would be demolished under the Pike Plaza Plan.
Identifier: spl_ps_047
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 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 item'Last Chance to Save the Pike Place Market' broadside
Broadside created by the Friends of the Market inciting citizens of Seattle and King County to attend the Seattle City Council Public Hearing or write to their council members to express their opposition to the urban renewal plans threatening the market.
Identifier: spl_ps_055
View this itemPike Place Market draft logos
Draft logos for Pike Place Market reading 'Let's Keep the Pike Place Farmers, Friends of the Market.' The first logo is drawn on lined paper with pencil and the second is done with pen on tracing paper.
Identifier: spl_ps_037
View this itemSGS Bulletin, v.5, no. 5, Jan. 1956
Identifier: spl_sgs_475325_005_005_Jan1956
Date: Jan. 1956
View this item