View XML QR Code

Betty Bowen papers, 1920-1977

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Bowen, Betty, 1919-1977
Title
Betty Bowen papers
Dates
1920-1977 (inclusive)
1940-1977 (bulk)
Quantity
17.04 cubic ft. (41 boxes and 1 file)
Collection Number
2441
Summary
Papers of Betty Bowen, publicist and patron of the arts and historic preservation in Seattle, Washington
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

See the restriction notes for each accession below.

Request at UW

Additional Reference Guides

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was partially provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
Return to Top

Biographical Note

Betty Bowen was born Betty Cornelius in 1919 in Kent, Washington, and raised in Skagit County. After graduating from the University of Washington in 1940, she worked first as a reporter for the Seattle Times , then as women's editor at the Seattle Star . She subsequently did free-lance public relations work.

From the 1940s, Bowen was a prominent figure in the Seattle art world. In 1953, Dr. Richard Fuller hired Bowen to be public relations director for the Seattle Art Museum. He later appointed her assistant to the director. She served until Fuller's retirement in 1973. Bowen's colorful personality both contrasted with and complemented Fuller's more conservative temperament and energized the Seattle arts establishment. Bowen effectively used her considerable influence in the art world and with the media to promote her interest in local artists. She was an original member of the Municipal (later Seattle) Arts Commission and a founding member of the Pacific Northwest Arts and Crafts Center. Bowen was also active in Seattle's historic preservation movement. She was founder and chairperson of the Allied Arts Historic Conservation Committee of Seattle and served as a member of the Friends of the Market, which won designation of the Pike Place Market as a historic district.

Bowen's personal commitment to the well being of local artists was legendary, and she was known as "the den mother of the city's arts." She did not merely provide artists with valuable public exposure and introductions to wealthy art patrons. Her support often extended to feeding and clothing her artist friends during lean times. She befriended and nurtured painters Morris Graves (whom she first met as a teenager), Mark Tobey, Richard Gilkey and others of their generation, and later Charles Krafft and the writer Tom Robbins.

Betty Bowen was married to John Bowen, captain of a transoceanic cable-laying ship. She died in 1977. Since 1978, the Betty Bowen Memorial Award has been award by the Seattle Art Museum to emerging and established regional artists.

Return to Top

Content Description

Materials include subject files, correspondence, exhibition materials, art and exhibition posters, press releases, and newspaper clippings relating to Bowen's work in the Seattle arts community. Major correspondents include Mark Tobey, Pehr Hallsten, Suzanne Huston Ettelson, and Morris Graves. Also included are materials relating to Bowen's work with various arts organizations in Seattle such as Allied Arts of Seattle, the Seattle Arts Commission, and the Pacific Northwest Arts Center.

Return to Top

Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

See the restriction notes for each accession below.

Return to Top

Administrative Information

Arrangement

Materials are organized into five accessions:

  • Accession No. 2441-001, Betty Bowen papers, 1939-1977
  • Accession No. 2441-004, Betty Bowen papers, 1947-1977 (bulk 1977)
  • Accession No. 2441-005, Betty Bowen papers, 1920-1976
  • Accession No. 2441-006, Betty Bowen's hat, approximately 1950-1976
  • Accession No. 2441-007, Betty Bowen papers, 1950-1977

Acquisition Information

2441-001 and 2441-005 were donated by Betty and John Bowen between 1975 and 1978. 2441-004 was donated by John Bowen in 1983. 2441-006 was donated by John Bowen in 1988. 2441-007 was donated by Douglas Martin, 2018 January 26.

Processing Note

Accession 2441-1 is a merger of Accessions 2441-1, 2441-2, and 2441-3. It was merged and processed in 1979 and reprocessed in 2001.

Accession 2441-5, which contains previously restricted papers relating to Mark Tobey, was separated from Accession 2441-1 and processed after the papers were unsealed in 1987.

Photographs were relocated to the Betty Bowen Photograph Collections, PH Coll. 070 in 1979 and PH Coll. 421 in 2001. Additional photographic material from Accessions 2441-1 and 2441-5, including several reels of 16mm film, were relocated in 2004.

Separated Materials

Some of the sound recordings that were part of the Bowen papers were transferred to the UW Libraries' Music Listening Center in 1979.

Return to Top

Detailed Description of the Collection

 

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Art museums--Washington (State)
  • Art patrons--Washington (State)
  • Art, Modern--20th century
  • Artists
  • Arts--Washington (State)
  • Historic sites--Washington (State)
  • Hospitals--Washington (State)
  • Museums--Public relations
  • Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington)
  • Public relations consultants--Washington (State)
  • Theater--Washington (State)
  • Women art patrons--Washington (State)

Personal Names

  • Bowen, Betty, 1919-1977--Archives
  • Callahan, Kenneth, 1905-1986--Correspondence
  • Cumming, William--Correspondence
  • Gilkey, Richard C. (Richard Charles), 1925-1997--Correspondence
  • Graves, Morris, 1910-2001--Correspondence
  • Hauberg, Anne Gould--Correspondence
  • Kenney, Leo, 1925-2001--Correspondence
  • Randlett, Mary, 1924---Correspondence
  • Robbins, Tom--Correspondence
  • Roethke, Theodore, 1908-1963--Correspondence
  • Sund, Robert, 1929-2001--Correspondence
  • Tobey, Mark

Corporate Names

  • Allied Arts of Seattle, Inc
  • American Revolution Bicentennial Commission
  • Children's Orthopedic Hospital and Medical Center (Seattle, Wash.)
  • PONCHO (Organization : Seattle, Wash.)
  • PONCHO (Organization : Seattle, Wash.). Theatre
  • Pacific Northwest Arts Center (Seattle, Wash
  • Seattle Art Museum
  • Seattle Arts Commission (1971-2002)
  • Seattle Historic Landmark and Compensation Task Force (Seattle, Wash.)


2004 (Last modified: 1/31/2020)

CC0

About Creative Commons Licenses in Archives West

Loading...
Loading...