Suzanne Hittman Collection of the Pike Place Market
Preview up to 100 items from this collection below. Explore the early history of the Pike Place Market through letters, receipts, plans, rental agreements and other documents related to the market’s business.
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Mark Tobey was born in Centerville, WI in 1890. Beginning his career as an illustrator, Mark Tobey was a deeply religious man, converting to the universalist Baha'i faith in 1918, which would in some way influence all of his works. After extensive traveling, including a period of time at a Zen monastery in Japan, Tobey taught art and philosophy at Dartington Hall in England until 1937. He then developed his "white writing" technique, painting white cursive writing on dark canvas, a technique which he (and many other Northwest artists) would use extensively until his death. He was one of the four painters LIFE magazine described as "Northwest Mystics". The others were Guy Anderson, Morris Graves and Kenneth Callahan. He died in 1976 in Basel, Switzerland.
Identifier: spl_art_T552Pr
Date: 1961
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Letter from Pacific Northwest Theatres, Inc. to Arthur Goodwin regarding the United Artists Theatre in Pike Place Market, February 26, 1927
Letter from Pacific Northwest Theatres, Inc. asking permission from Arthur Goodin to install a lighted sign for the United Artists Theatre (formerly known as the Liberty Theater) at Pike Place Market. The letter states that the sign will not only help the United Artists Theatre but other businesses as well because 'the sign will light up what is at the present time a rather desolate spot.'
Identifier: spl_sh_00115
Date: 1927-02-26
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The Lower University District, 1968
Map depicting University District Businesses and attractions.
Identifier: spl_maps_2392031
Date: 1968
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Letter from Clarence T. Arai and Gin Kunishige to Willard Young discussing donation, 1961
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_58
Date: 1961-08-28
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Letter from A.H. Albertson regarding funds donated to prevent African Americans from buying property, November 7, 1927
Letter regarding funds collected from property owners near 34th Avenue to prevent the property at 507 34th Avenue from being bought by African Americans. The recipient of the letter is unknown.
Identifier: spl_sh_00068
Date: 1927-11-07
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Market Agenda Steering Committee meeting minutes and documents, March 1983
Meeting minutes for the Market Agenda Steering Committee including discussion of a draft document on the ideal Pike Place Market of 1993. Also included in the notes are draft ordinances regarding establishing operational policies for the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority and governing the street jurisdictions within Pike Place Market.
Identifier: spl_ps_039
Date: 1983-03-31
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Clipping on construction of new Bon Marche building, 1927
Seattle Post Intelligencer clipping discussing the start of construction on the new Bon Marché building.
Identifier: spl_sh_00024
Date: 1927-08-07
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'High Noon for the Pike Place Market' article from The Seattle Sound News
Article outlining the reasons to support the preservation of Pike Place Market including a description of the various supporters and opponents of the Save the Market Initiative.
Identifier: spl_ps_014
Date: 1971-10
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Letter from Arthur Goodwin to J.M. Johnson asking him for support in a dispute regarding Pike Place Market, August 19, 1926
Letter from Arthur Goodin to J.M. Johnson, Manager of the Liberty Theater, asking him for his support in a dispute with George Vanderveer and other disgruntled farmers at Pike Place Market. According Goodwin, Vandermeer and his associates are trying to interfere with the agreement that Pike Place Market has with the city to operate a farmers stalls on the sidewalk.
Identifier: spl_sh_00100
Date: 1926-08-19
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John Steiner Interview, February 12, 1988
John Steiner (1917-2003) was vice president and corporate director of product development at Boeing. Steiner was born in Seattle. He earned his Aeronautical Engineering degree from the University of Washington in 1940 and his masters from MIT in 1941 and began working at Boeing shortly afterwards, Steiner married his wife, Dorothy, in 1942 and the couple had three children together. During his career at 43 year career at Boeing, he helped develop many airplanes including the 707, 727 and 737. After leaving Boeing, Steiner served on the White House Aeronautical Policy Review Committee.
Identifier: spl_ds_jsteiner_01
Date: 1988-02-12
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