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Victor Steinbrueck drawings and photographs of Hooverville, 1933-1935
Overview of the Collection
- Photographer
- Steinbrueck, Victor
- Title
- Victor Steinbrueck drawings and photographs of Hooverville
- Dates
- 1933-1935 (inclusive)19331935
- Quantity
- 48 photographs on 13 strips, 16 negatives, 16 copy prints, 1 sketchbook (2 boxes)
- Collection Number
- PH1443
- Summary
- Photographs and sketches of the Seattle Hooverville area by Victor Steinbrueck, a Seattle architect and member of the University of Washington architecture faculty
- Repository
-
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu - Access Restrictions
-
Entire collection can be viewed on the Libraries Digital Collections website. Permission of Visual Materials Curator is required to view originals. Contact University of Washington Libraries Special Collections for more information.
The sketchbook is fragile, with pages becoming detached.
- Languages
- English
Biographical NoteReturn to Top
Victor Steinbrueck was born in 1911 in Mandan, North Dakota and moved with his family to Washington in 1914. Steinbrueck attended the University of Washington, earning a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1935. He joined the faculty at the University of Washington in 1946 and taught until his retirement in 1976. He was the author of Seattle Cityscape (1962), Seattle Cityscape II (1973) and a collections of his drawings, Market Sketchbook (1968).
Victor Steinbrueck was Seattle's best known advocate of historic preservation. He led the battle against the city's redevelopment plans for the Pike Place Market in the 1960s. In 1959, the City of Seattle, together with the Central Association of Seattle, formulated plans to obtain a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) urban renewal grant to tear down the Market and everything else between First and Western, from Union to Lenora, in order to build a high rise residential, commercial and hotel complex. In response to these plans a group of supporters of the market and members of Allied Arts of Seattle, led by Victor Steinbrueck, formed Friends of the Market in 1964. Their efforts culminated in 1971 with a successful ballot initiative, the "People's Initiative," which established a seven-acre historic district around the market and a historical commission to oversee it, and thus saved the Market from demolition. Steinbrueck also helped lead the campaign in the 1960s that culminated in City Council passage of an ordinance which established the Pioneer Square Historic Preservation District.
In 1972 Steinbrueck was appointed to the Citizens Action Force (Citizen's Stadium Task Force) which was concerned with the impact of the proposed King Street stadium on the surrounding area. He became disillusioned and resigned from the group on August 29, 1972. He joined the Citizens Coalition For the Domed Stadium in a petition drive to put a stadium initiative on the ballot.
For many years Steinbrueck fought the city over its Westlake Mall development plans. The project, initially conceived as a park in the area surrounding the Westlake Monorail terminal in Seattle's central business district, went through numerous plans incorporating, at various times, an office tower, luxury hotel, art museum and retail space. After Charles Royer took office as Mayor and proposed a new version of the Westlake project in 1978, Steinbrueck became the most vocal critic of the plan and a spokesman for Committee for Alternatives at Westlake. In the fall of 1984, City Attorney Doug Jewett achieved an agreement among Steinbrueck, other opponents of the project, and the developers, which incorporated Steinbrueck's ideas for more open public space in the development.
Steinbrueck was also spokesman for the Downtown Neighborhood Alliance, a group which opposed Cornerstone Development's Waterfront Project, proposed for First Avenue in 1980. He also was involved with numerous small projects and controversies regarding public spaces and historic sites.
Steinbrueck died in 1985. After his death, Pike Place Park was named Victor Steinbrueck Park in his memory.
Historical BackgroundReturn to Top
Hoovervilles were shack towns that sprang up around the United States during the Great Depression in response to the societal failure to alleviate growing homelessness. They were named after President Herbert Hoover's ineffective attempts to address the economic crisis. In Seattle, organized charity was of low quality, consisting of one meal a day of no nutritional value and a damp section of ground to sleep on. The construction of Hoovervilles showed a desire for self-sufficiency in the face of poor quality charity. Seattle had eight Hoovervilles, the largest of which was on a nine acre tract of vacant property on the Eliot Bay waterfront near Pioneer Square. Homelessness and shack towns near Pioneer Square - from the tide flats to the urban core near Yesler Way - had existed since the early 1900s, but the Hooverville shacks were first put up in 1931. Seattle initially resisted the construction of the shack town, burning it to the ground twice and attempting to evict the residents. After the second burning, the residents rebuilt again, this time putting tin and steel roofs on their shacks. The city relented and agreed the Hooverville could stay as long as the shack town adhered to safety and sanitation rules, including that no women or children could reside within. The Hooverville gained a sense of political legitimacy and had a board of commissioners and an unofficial mayor, Jesse Jackson. By 1935, the Seattle Hoovervilles had an address system, a rudimentary postal service, and basic self-policing. The city Health Department estimated in 1935 that 4,000 to 5,000 men were living in the various shack towns in the city. Despite having some influence in the city, the situation of the residents was still insecure, temporary, and men rarely found work. The waterfront Hooverville lasted until it was destroyed in 1941.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
Photographs and sketches of the Seattle Hooverville area.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Alternative Forms Available
View the digital version of the collection
Restrictions on Use
Creator's copyrights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
Hooverville Sketchbook, between1933 and 1935Return to Top
Container(s): Box 1
Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
---|---|---|---|
Box | item | ||
1 | 1-1 | 1933 | |
1 | 1-1a |
End sheet with handwritten notes by Victor Steinbrueck
including the words to a song and references to St. James and St. Joseph
Churches and a list of types of boats, bridges, building locations, land
specific buildings Song: "OH, MY BELLY IS JUST ACHIN'/ FOR A COUPLE STRIPS OF
BACON,/ A HUNK OF PORK, ALSO A LITTLE POT OF BREW,/ I'M TIRED OF THE SCENERY,/
JUST LEAD ME TO A BEANERY,/ WHERE THERE'S SOMETHING MORE THAN AIR TO CHEW."
CHURCHES: ST. JAMES, St. JOSEPH: ARCHES - ALTAR, - CROSS. BOATS (DRY DOCK -
FISHING - STEAMER - FISHERMAN -PROW & REFLECTION. BRIDGES; BUILDING - 1ST
AND CHERRY; LOAFERS - LIBRARY -COURTHOUSE; MILL".
|
1933 |
1 | 1-2 |
Notes by Victor Steinbrueck "Sketch Book - Victor Steinbrueck, 1933, University of
Wash.[ington], School of Architecture, Mainly "Hoovervilles", Hoovervilles were
the villages of homes of the 'homeless' men caused by the Great Depression.
There were several in Seattle.. - several Hoovervilles, that is,"
|
1933 |
1 | 1-3 |
Pencil drawing of exterior of shacks Written on drawing: Shanty Madonna - Summer 1933.
|
Summer, 1933 |
1 | 1-4 |
Pencil drawing of exterior of two shacks with a barrel
with a stove pipe vent in the foreground Written on drawing: Jungle Palace - Summer 1933.
|
Summer, 1933 |
1 | 1-5 |
Pencil drawing of exterior of two shacks and
wheelbarrow Written on drawing: Shantytown - 1933 - Summer.
|
Summer, 1933 |
1 | 1-6 |
Pencil sketch of exterior of three shacks with stones to
hold roof in place and wash tub and barrel to collect water Written on drawing: Metal house - Summer 1933.
|
Summer, 1933 |
1 | 1-7 |
Pencil sketch of exterior of two shacks with
construction lumber in the foreground Written on drawing: Summer - 1933.
|
Summer, 1933 |
1 | 1-8 |
Pencil sketch of exterior of shacks re-enforced with
wood planks, large wooden cart and sign "Soap" near wooden barrel Written on drawing: Hooverville - Summer 1933.
|
Summer, 1933 |
1 | 1-9 |
Pencil sketch of two shacks on wooden raft attached to
wooden dock with industrial area in background Written on drawing, Summer 1933.
|
Summer, 1933 |
1 | 1-10 |
Pencil sketch of shacks with laundry hanging nearby and
platform for cooking Written on drawing: Summer 1933.
|
Summer, 1933. |
1 | 1-11 |
Pencil sketch of three vine maple trees Identified and dated by artist.
|
1933 |
1 | 1-12 |
Pencil sketch of exterior of three shacks Written on sketch: Summer 1933. "Grahn" added to sketch.
|
Summer, 1933 |
1 | 1-13 | Summer, 1933 | |
1 | 1-14 |
Pencil sketch of four shacks and a man standing at a
barrel Written on sketch: Summer 1933.
|
Summer, 1933 |
1 | 1-15 |
Pencil sketch of Mt. Rainier with artist's notation of
the colors to use Written on sketch ; Above the Clouds". List of colors along left
hand side indicate where they should be used.
|
1933? |
1 | 1-16 |
Pencil sketch of two weeping willow trees Identified by artist.
|
1933? |
1 | 1-17 |
Pencil sketch of church altar, round window,
pews Identified by artist as St. Joseph's.
|
1933? |
1 | 1-18 |
Pencil sketch of St. Joseph's church interior showing
altar and statues of saints in niches Artist's notes indicate which colors to use.
|
1933? |
1 | 1-19 | 1933? | |
1 | 1-20 | 1933? | |
1 | 1-21, 1-22 | Blank pages |
1933? |
1 | 1-23 |
Unfinished pencil sketch of a head Artist's notation: Jim Fitzgerald.
|
1933? |
Hooverville photographs, between1933 and 1935Return to Top
Container(s): Box 2
Images are contact prints on strips with three or four to a strip.
Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
---|---|---|---|
Box | item | ||
2 | 2 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 3 | between 1933 and1935 | |
2 | 4 | between1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 5 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 6 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 7 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 8 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 9 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 10 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 11 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 12 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 13 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 14 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 15 | between 1933 and1935 | |
2 | 16 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 17 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 18 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 19-24 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 25-27, 29-30 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 28 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 31 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 32 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 33 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 34-37 | between 1933 and1935 | |
2 | 38 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 39 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 40 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 41 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 42 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 43 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 44 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 45 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 46-47 |
Shacks in Hooverville, Seattle and large
carts Written on verso: Main Street at about 9th, Yesler Terrace
A[illeg].
|
between 1933 and 1935 |
2 | 48 |
View of large house at the end of a row of similar
structures Written on verso: Main Street at about 9th, Yesler Terrace
A[illeg].
|
between 1933 and 1935 |
2 | 49 |
Row of large houses at the top of a grassy
hill Written on verso: Main Street at about 9th, Yesler Terrace
A[illeg].
|
between 1933 and 1935 |
2 | 50 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 51 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 52 | between 1933 and 1935 | |
2 | 53 | between 1933 and 1935 |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Squatter settlements--Washington (State)--Seattle--Photographs
- Squatter settlements--Washington (State) eattle--In art
- Visual Materials Collections (University of Washington)
Personal Names
- Steinbrueck, Victor--Archives
Geographical Names
- Seattle (Wash.)--In art
- Seattle (Wash.)--Photographs