Seattle Public Schools

ProfessionalEducation

Mar 16

Written By Arthur Ross

Building for Learning: Seattle Public School Histories, 1862-2022

Documenting Seattle’s schools for historical record.

Footage of the completed Seattle Public Schools archival photography book.

Back in 2021, Seattle Public Schools reached out to me directly. They had an archival book of school buildings dating back to 1862 but it stopped at 2000, and a lot had been built since. They needed someone they could trust to go out and capture those schools. They found me through the architecture firms I'd been working with, firms who had trusted me with some of the most significant educational projects in the city. That trust passed through, and Seattle Public Schools partnered with me.

Over the course of two years, we documented 15 to 20 schools across the city. It was a challenge unlike most I'd faced. No team around me. No architects coordinating access, opening windows, unlocking ideal angles. We worked through summer, the only window we had, which meant dusk was almost never an option. In Seattle in summer, the sun doesn't go down until nearly 10 PM. Good light was rare and conditional.

The principals had all left for the season. The people who let me in were the custodial staff, some of the kindest, most patient people I worked with on this project. Not all of them spoke English. I learned a lot about communication on this job. About patience. About finding another way.

I also had to work without one of my most recognized tools, people. Populated spaces, human presence, emotional scale. That's a signature of my work, and here I largely had to set it aside. The few times I did get someone in frame, it felt like a gift.

For the historic schools, I used the original archival book as a guide, studying the older images, understanding what these buildings had looked like before additions and tenant improvements changed them, and finding ways to connect the old photographs to the new ones. Some of these schools carry over a century of history in their facades.

This project meant something beyond the work itself. I've spent over twenty years building a career and a life in Seattle. Half my family are educators. To be chosen by the city, not just by a firm, but by the institution that shapes the next generation, to leave something permanent in the archive of this place I've called home, that was an honor I don't take lightly.

This book is part of Seattle now. And I'm proud to have been trusted to make it.