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Seattle Art Museum records, 1908-2004

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Seattle Art Museum
Title
Seattle Art Museum records
Dates
1908-2004 (inclusive)
Quantity
422.55 cubic feet, (441 boxes, 5 sound discs, 3 vertical files, and 1 oversize folder)
Collection Number
2636
Summary
Administrative records, exhibition files, and other records of the largest art museum in the Pacific Northwest
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

Access partially restricted. For terms of access, contact Special Collections.

Some material stored offsite; advance notice required for use.

Request at UW

Languages
Collection materials are in English.
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Historical Note

The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) was established in 1933. It was preceded by the Seattle Fine Arts Society (1905-1929), the Washington Arts Association (organized 1906), and their resulting merge into the Art Institute of Seattle (1917-1933). The first building of the Museum opened on June 23, 1933 in Volunteer Park, where it remained until 1991. It was designed by Carl F. Gould and the funds donated by Art Institute president Dr. Richard E. Fuller and his mother Mrs. Margaret E. MacTavish Fuller, who also placed their own collection of Asian art on display in the Museum. A new building in downtown Seattle, designed by Robert Venturi, opened in 1991 with a collection in excess of 18,000 objects. Outside of the main entrance sits Jonathan Brorofsky's 48-foot-tall Hammering Man, commissioned by the City of Seattle and various arts organizations. The Volunteer Park building became the Seattle Asian Art Museum in 1994, also administered by the Seattle Art Museum. SAM also oversees the Olympic Sculpture Park on the Seattle Waterfront which opened in 2007.

Sources: Wilma, David "Seattle Art Museum opens in Volunteer Park on June 23, 1933." Historylink.org. Accessed May 13, 2026. https://www.historylink.org/File/2082.

"Seattle Art Museum Mission, History, and Leadership." Seattle Art Museum. Accessed May 13, 2026. https://www.seattleartmuseum.org/info/about-sam.

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Content Description

Correspondence, writings, minutes, reports, budget files, exhibition files, conferences and conventions, project and planning files, committee files, loan files, lists, indexes, personnel files, development files, grant files, policy manuals, newsletters, publications, publicity, clippings, scrapbooks, engagement books, catalogs, photographs, slides, ephemera, subject files.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Creator's literary rights not transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Organized into 25 accessions.

  1. Accession No. 2636-001, Seattle Art Museum records, 1910-1970
  2. Accession No. 2636-003, Seattle Art Museum records, 1974
  3. Accession No. 2636-004, Seattle Art Museum sound recordings, 1953-1956
  4. Accession No. 2636-005, Seattle Art Museum photocopies of clippings, 1908-1952
  5. Accession No. 2636-011, Seattle Art Museum records, 1975-1979
  6. Accession No. 2636-018, Seattle Art Museum records, 1968-1978
  7. Accession No. 2636-020, Seattle Art Museum records, 1959-1986
  8. Accession No. 2636-021, Seattle Art Museum records, 1953-1974
  9. Accession No. 2636-022, Seattle Art Museum records, 1913-1985
  10. Accession No. 2636-023, Seattle Art Museum photocopies of clippings, 1953-1968
  11. Accession No. 2636-024, Seattle Art Museum records, 1962-1983
  12. Accession No. 2636-025, Seattle Art Museum manuscript drafts, 1935-1936
  13. Accession No. 2636-026, Seattle Art Museum records, 1947-1986
  14. Accession No. 2636-027, Seattle Art Museum records, 1978-1987
  15. Accession No. 2636-028, Seattle Art Museum records, 1973-1985
  16. Accession No. 2636-029, Seattle Art Museum artists index, 1990
  17. Accession No. 2636-030, Seattle Art Museum records, 1960-1991
  18. Accession No. 2636-031, Seattle Art Museum records, 1923-1991
  19. Accession No. 2636-032, Seattle Art Museum photographs, 1953-1957
  20. Accession No. 2636-033, Seattle Art Museum photograph album, undated
  21. Accession No. 2636-034, Seattle Art Museum records, 1978-1997
  22. Accession No. 2636-035, Seattle Art Museum records, 1932-1993
  23. Accession No. 2636-036, Seattle Art Museum records, 1927-2002
  24. Accession No. 2636-037, Seattle Art Museum records, 1933-2004
  25. Accession No. 2636-038, Seattle Art Museum records, 1978

Acquisition Information

Received from the Seattle Art Museum between 1976 and 2005.

Related Materials

The Seattle Art Museum website has been regularly captured by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine since 2014. The snapshots can be viewed here: https://wayback.archive-it.org/4224/*/http://www.seattleartmuseum.org

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and Subjects

Subject Terms

  • Art museums--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington)

Personal Names

  • Fuller, Richard E. (Richard Eugene), 1897-1976
  • Jolles, Arnold H., 1940-
  • Woods, Willis F

Geographical Names

  • Seattle

Other Creators

  • Personal Names

    • Lee, Sherman E.--Archives
    • Maytham, Thomas N.--Archives

    Corporate Names

    • Art Institute of Seattle--Archives
    • Seattle Art Museum--Archives
    • Seattle Fine Arts Society--Archives
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