Archives West Finding Aid

Scope and Content: Tape recorded interview, 1850-1950, conducted by Meta Kaplan on 25 July 1975; transcript.

There is significant sound distortion throughout side B of the sound cassette

Eckstein discusses her grandfather's (Abraham Schwabacher) immigration to San Francisco from Germany in the 1850s, his business with Bailey Gatzert in Walla Walla, Washington, and then the expansion of his grocery and hardware business to Seattle in 1868. She discusses Gatzert's political and social activities in Seattle (he served as mayor in 1875) and his wife Babette's founding of the Ladies' Relief Society, now known as the Seattle Children's home. She also recounts her father's (Nathan Eckstein) immigration from Reckendorf, Germany to work for Schwabacher and his religious and civic activities in Seattle.

She describes the Seattle Jewish community in the late nineteenth-century, the attempt to build a synagogue for a reform congregation, and the eventual construction of Temple de Hirsch. She recounts her early childhood growing up in the Seattle Jewish community, her founding of the sorority Sigma Theta Pi at University of Washington, and its selection process. She discusses at length the cultural norms of education for Jewish boys and girls and the differences between them. She also discusses anti-Semitism she encountered from various Seattle organizations as well as her work as a travel agent.

Scope and Content: Tape recorded interview conducted by Sue Ragen on November 19, 1977; transcript.

Eckstein discusses how her interest in art developed and Seattle's art climate in the 1930s and 1940s plus early collecting and her philosophy of collecting. She also discusses her relationships with such artists as Richard Fuller, Mark Tobey, Doris Chase, Kenneth Callahan, and Claire Falkenstein.

Scope and Content: Tape recorded interview conducted by Meta Buttnick in May 1981.

Eckstein discusses her parents, Nathan and Mina Eckstein, and the Schwabacher family. She speaks of prejudice and discrimination and of contention among various groups of Jews. She tells of her work in the Jewish community and in the community at large. She taught Sabbath School in the Settlement House.

Scope and Content: Correspondence, writings, photographs, ephemera, scrapbooks, memorabilia, interview tape and transcript, and clippings.

Scope and Content: Colored drawings on note cards from Helmi Juvonen. All but a few of the notes contain correspondence from Juvonen to Eckstein.

Scope and Content: The materials include Joanna Eckstein's correspondence and family records pertaining to geneaology of the Eckstein and Schwabacher families, and related families such as the Haas family.