Edward B. Thomas (1920-1984) was a curator, arts educator, and administrator at the Seattle Art Museum (1951-1967). He was born in Cosmopolis, Washington, in 1920 and earned a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Washington. He joined the staff of the Seattle Art Museum in 1951 as Curator of Education and subsequently served as Education Director (1954-1961), Assistant Director (1961-1963), and Associate Director (1963-1967). He resigned in 1967 but continued to be involved with the museum as a Trustee (1970-82) and as a member of several museum committees until his death in 1984. He was related, by marriage, to museum director Richard Fuller (their wives were sisters). A 1967 article in Seattle Magazine suggested that Thomas was expected to succeed Fuller as director but resigned in 1967 due to tensions with him.
After leaving the staff of the Seattle Art Museum, Thomas joined the faculty of Western Washington College in Bellingham (now Western Washington University) as an arts lecturer. He was later appointed associate professor of art history at Western. He also taught for many years at Cornish School (now Cornish College of the Arts) in Seattle. Between 1955 and 1965, Thomas hosted a weekly television show, “Community Workshop,” on KING-TV, in which he interviewed art personalities and lectured on art.
Thomas was curator of a major retrospective exhibit of the painter Mark Tobey in 1959, which concentrated on Tobey in relation to the Northwest. He was also curator of a 1963 exhibition, “Tobey and the Seattle Public Market,” which was mounted at the Seattle Art Museum but later circulated to the Museum of Modern Art.
During World War II, Thomas served in General Patton’s Third Army and participated in five campaigns, including the Normandy invasion. He was awarded two bronze stars.
Organized into 5 accessions.
Tape recorded interview, correspondence, notes, writings, diaries, covers, exhibition catalog, lecture notes, exhibition files, photographs, clippings and other related materials.
Open to all users.
Some material stored offsite; advance notice required for use.
Creator's literary rights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.
Organization of this accession generally follows Thomas’ career at the Seattle Art Museum, with groupings for his tenure as Education Director, Assistant Director, Associate Director, and Trustee (1970-82). Additional groupsings document Thomas’ work on various museum committees and with other regional and national arts organizations, mostly in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Museum of Modern Art’s National Committee on Art Education (1964-65). Personal papers (1923-1984, bulk 1933-54) contains correspondence, writings, class notes, sketches and cartoons, photographs, clippings, and ephemera. This material is similar in subject to personal papers in accession 2868-3.
Material regarding major exhibitions that took place during Thomas’ tenure at the Seattle Art Museum has been placed in the grouping of the directorship he held at the time of each exhibition. Some records in the Education Director grouping, however, contain material dated later than 1961. Two subject series for Mark Tobey were placed within the grouping Seattle Art Museum, Education in order to keep the bulk of the Tobey material together and in the same grouping as the major Tobey retrospective of 1959. Similarly, the record series Subject Series/Background Material/Project and Planning Files has been placed in the Education Director grouping, although some items have dates much later than 1961. This sprawling series contains mostly undated material. It is possible that some of the folders are lecture notes intended for use at Western Washington University or for the television program at KING, but without dates or clearer labeling this is purely conjecture. It is also possible that some notes have been placed in the WWU and KING-TV groupings in error. Users should keep in mind that the telegraphic style of the notes made them very difficult to identify; all possibilities should be examined.
Records stored offsite; advance notice required for use.
Material in the grouping of Seattle Art Museum (approximately .42 cubic feet) has not been organized at the series level, but includes museum and personal correspondence, articles Thomas wrote, a Gemberling exhibit file from 1962, and miscellaneous notes. Papers in Western Washington University grouping include correspondence regarding Thomas’ employment there, lecture notes, several files marked sabbatical, personal correspondence, and teaching evaluations. Papers in the American Association of Museums grouping document Thomas’ aborted 1967 campaign for Director of the American Association of Museums. The Vigilance Committee grouping consists of a folder of correspondence from 1975-84 pertaining to efforts to improve security in Thomas’ neighborhood.
Records stored offsite; advance notice required for use.
Copies of several letters of Mark Tobey are also in this accession.
Letters are from Mark Tobey to Edward Thomas, Richard Fuller, and Joanna Eckstein; from Fuller to Thomas to Toby; and the exhibition catalog has a short message written on it by Tobey.