Seattle history

  • It’s Queer To Be (Pioneer) Square!

    It’s Pride season, which is a time that I always take to reflect not just on where the LGBTQ+ community is heading, but where it’s been. Librarians in the Central Library History department have been working with HistoryLink and local storyteller Rosette Royale to create opportunities for our community to join us in those reflections.… Continue reading

  • Celebrate the 50th anniversary of El Centro de la Raza

    50 years ago today, on October 11, 1972, a group of activists slipped into the abandoned Beacon High School, and settled in to demonstrate the need for educational spaces, services, and opportunities for Seattle’s Latinx community. After three months of peaceful occupation, the City agreed, and El Centro de la Raza was born. The occupation… Continue reading

  • The Negro Motorist Green Book Exhibition: March 19 – June 12, 2022

    The Negro Motorist Green Book exhibition opens this Saturday, March 19, at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma. This immersive, multimedia exhibit was curated by Candacy Taylor, former Harvard fellow and celebrated Green Book scholar, for the Smithsonian Institution’s Traveling Exhibition Service. The Green Book was published between 1936 and 1966 and became the… Continue reading

  • Recent Books Celebrate Magnolia Branch Architect

    The life and work of architect Paul Hayden Kirk, designer of The Seattle Public Library’s Magnolia Branch, is commanding renewed interest due to the publication of two new books: Paul Hayden Kirk and the Rise of the Northwest Modern by Seattle author and filmmaker Dale Kutzera, and Paul Hayden Kirk and the Puget Sound School… Continue reading

  • A History of Seattle Police: Part 2, East Precinct – Controversy from the Start

    A History of Seattle Police: Part 2, East Precinct – Controversy from the Start

    Content Warning: This post links to an historical newspaper article that uses the term “homosexuals,” which is an outdated term used to characterize gay people as having a psychological disorder. In response to local interest on the history of policing in Seattle and community-driven police reform movements, Shelf Talk presents a three-part series that dives… Continue reading

  • A History of Seattle Police: Part 1, Accountability

    A History of Seattle Police: Part 1, Accountability

    Recent events have again highlighted long standing discussions on public safety, the appropriate use of force, the goals and mission of police forces, and accountability to the public, among related topics. In Seattle, how have these conversations changed over time, and what lessons might we find in the past to provide direction and shape public… Continue reading

  • Library Podcasts with a Seattle Focus

    Last week I highlighted some of the diverse podcasts the library has to offer on it’s website with no library card required. I wanted to discuss some of the other things offered on the Library Podcast page, specifically the variety of discussions on Seattle and Seattle history. In Fall of 2019, the Library hosted discussions… Continue reading

  • Donald Schmechel Oral History Collection

    October is American Archives Month and we are celebrating with the completion of a new digital collection: the Donald Schmechel Oral History Collection. Donald Schmechel was a Seattle Public Library board member who, in the 1980s, created a project to interview prominent figures in Pacific Northwest History. Schmechel raised funding for the project, volunteered his… Continue reading

  • New Digital Collection Highlights Lives of Seattle Pioneers

    This month we’ve launched a new digital collection which reveals a glimpse into the personal lives of some of Seattle’s early pioneers. The Lu Jacobson Collection of Latimer and Denny Family Material includes materials focusing on Alexander Latimer, his wife Sarah Chesney Latimer and their five daughters: Narcissa Latimer Denny, Eliza Alice Latimer Fowler, Harriet… Continue reading

  • New to our digital collections: Seattle’s Town Crier Newspaper

    We’ve just added over 1,200 issues from Seattle’s local arts periodical, The Town Crier, to our digital collections. The Town Crier was a weekly magazine focusing on Seattle’s news, arts and culture between 1910 and 1938. Over its lifetime, the paper included coverage of the work of individuals such as Frank Kunishige, Edward S. Curtis, Ella… Continue reading

  • Intiman’s Dragon Lady and Philippine Migration

    The migration of a family from the Philippines to America has been explored in colorful form by Sara Porkalob in Dragon Lady, a one woman show at the Intiman Theater, closing October 1st. She revisits the arc of Philippine culture and assimilation from her grandmother’s time to her own, as she portrays three generations of her family members.… Continue reading

  • New to our Digital Collections: Seattle Mail and Herald

    Want to explore Seattle headlines from over 100 years ago? Take a look at our new Seattle Mail and Herald digital collection. The Mail and Herald was a weekly paper discussing the city’s news, politics, society events, entertainment and more. The paper included articles on topics such as Seattle’s regrades, the Alaskan Gold Rush, the… Continue reading

  • 20 Essential Seattle Books, Part 3: Place

    Next in our ongoing series of 20 books that capture the essence of Seattle, we look at a variety of titles that capture a sense of our city and its environs. Whether you’re new in town, just passing through, or you’ve lived here all your life, these titles will enhance your awareness of and appreciation for the misty… Continue reading

  • 20 Essential Seattle Books, Part 2: Diversity

    Here at the library, we’re often asked by both locals and newcomers, “What books are must reads for Seattleites?” While we’re not much for ‘must’ or ‘should,’ we thought we’d list twenty titles that capture essential aspects of the history and culture of this place. Not a definitive list: a jumping off place. Our first post looked at Seattle’s history, and… Continue reading

  • A Little History of Seafair

    With Seafair just around the corner, ever wonder about the history? The Seafair Beginnings article on HistoryLink,org writes, “The first Seafair took place from August 11 to 20, 1950. Hundreds of thousands of people enjoyed more than 100 events throughout King County. The events ranged from a 25-mile bicycle race around Lake Sammamish to a decorated-boat… Continue reading

  • New Ways to Research Neighborhood History

    Curious to learn more about your neighborhood’s past? This month, we’ve added a great new resource to our Neighborhood History Project – The Northwest Subject Index Collection. This collection contains selected cards from the Seattle Room Northwest Subject Index and Post-Intelligencer Index. These cards contain citations which point to books, newspaper articles and archival collections… Continue reading

  • Wheedle’s Groove: Seattle’s Forgotten Soul of the 1960s and ’70s

    On June 2nd, as a part of the African American Film Series, we will be screening the documentary Wheedle’s Groove: Seattle’s Forgotten Soul of the 1960s and ’70s. This documentary, directed by Jennifer Maas, and distributed by local record label Light in the Attic Records, captures some of the heyday of Seattle’s soul, funk and R & B that… Continue reading

  • The Story Behind a Modern Marvel: The Seattle Space Needle

      Fifty-five years ago this month, construction began on one of Seattle’ s most prominent icons – the Space Needle.  Our newest digital collection, the George Gulacsik Photograph Collection, documents the construction of the Needle from its start on April 17, 1961 to its completion in 1962 with the opening of the World’s Fair. Continue reading