Guide to the Betty Bowen Papers
1920-1977

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.

Scope and Content

The collection contains 4 accessions: 2441-1, 2441-4, 2441-6, and 2441-5.

Accession 2441-1 contains the bulk of the Betty Bowen Papers. The accession spans the years 1939-1976 and documents Bowen's deep connection to the Northwest arts community. Bowen's personal papers contain extensive subject files related to her interests and varied projects. These subject files include correspondence, exhibition notices, clippings, posters, and other related material. Major correspondents include Guy Anderson, Fred Bassetti, Gordon Brown, Kenneth Callahan, Ward Corley, William Cumming, Richard Gilkey, Carl Gohs, Morris Graves, Anne Gould Hauberg, Charles Krafft, Mary Randlett, Tom Robbins, Beatrice Roethke, Nancy Ross, William B. Staadecker, Robert Sund, and Clifford Wright.

Materials associated with Bowen's various organizational activities are organized into subgroups in Accession 2441-1. They include Allied Arts of Seattle, Seattle/King County American Revolutionary Bicentennial Commission, Anna McMillan Guild of Children's Orthopedic Hospital, Pacific Northwest Arts Center (later known as Pacific Northwest Arts Council), Seattle Arts Commission, Seattle Historical Landmarks Compensation Task Force, and Seattle Art Museum. Additional material relating to some subgroups may also be found in the Subject Series in this accession. Included as well are materials relating to Seattle's PONCHO Theatre, an activity of PONCHO (Patrons of Northwest Civic, Cultural, and Charitable Organizations).

Accession 2441-4 contains a gallery notice, a news release, and clippings. They date from 1947 to 1977 and are largely obituaries and tributes following Bowen's death in 1977.

Accession 2441-5 is comprised of previously restricted materials relating to painter Mark Tobey that were orginally part of Accession 2441-1. It includes correspondence, writings by Bowen and others, Bowen's notes regarding Tobey, and a music manuscript by Tobey. Major correspondents include Mark Tobey and Pehr Hallsten.

Accession 2411-6 is comprised of a hat worn by Bowen in a portrait painted by Mark Tobey.

Restrictions on Use

The creator's literary rights for all materials except those in Accession 2441-4 were transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

Restrictions on Access

Access to Accessions 2441-1 and 2441-5 of the Betty Bowen Papers is restricted; contact the repository for details. Accessions 2441-4 and 2441-6 are open to all users.

Separated Material

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

Acquisition Info

The materials in Accession 2441-1 and 2441-5 were donated to the UW Libaries between 1975 and 1978 by Betty Bowen and her husband, John Bowen. The materials in Accessions 2441-4 and 2441-6 were donated by John Bowen in 1983 and 1988 respectively.

Processing Info

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.

Photograph removed 3/10/06. Grandson reported that photograph was of Ann Hauberg, not Bowen.

Other Finding Aids

Information about the photographs and films that form part of this collection is available in the repository.

Inventory