Seattle

Libraries and Museums

Founded in 1891, the Seattle Public Library operates a central library downtown and 23 neighborhood branches. With a total of 865,732 book titles and 1,776,672 volumes, the library serves a population of more than half a million and employs a staff of 421. Its special collections cover subject areas including aviation history, genealogy, and Seattle history. Annual circulation totals nearly five million items.

Located in the center of downtown, the Seattle Art Museum is housed in a striking building designed by architect Robert Venturi (b. 1925) and completed in 1991. The museum is known especially for its Asian, African, and modern art collections. The facility includes a large gallery for locally mounted special exhibitions and traveling exhibits, a 300-seat auditorium, and a Japanese gallery with an authentic teahouse. (Currently, the museum's outstanding Asian collection is actually housed in its original building, which has been renamed the Seattle Asian Art Museum.)

The Charles and Emma Frye Art Museum, remodeled and expanded in 1997, houses the nineteenth-century painting collection of its founders, as well as a variety of other nineteenth- and twentieth-century paintings and presents an eclectic schedule of musical performances, poetry readings, and other activities, as well as temporary exhibits. The Bellevue Art Museum specializes in works by regional artists, and the newly expanded Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington features an excellent permanent photography collection, as well as exhibits highlighting a variety of new media, including video.

The Museum of Flight (often referred to as the Boeing Museum of Flight) honors Seattle's history as a capital of aviation. The museum's exhibits retell the history of flight and include replicas of the early glider flown by the Wright brothers, the Apollo and Mercury space capsules, and Air Force One. The Seattle Center is home to the Pacific Science Center and the Children's Museum, both of which feature hands-on exhibits for children and adults.