Joanna Eckstein (1903-1983) was born and grew up in the First Hill neighborhood of Seattle. Prominent patron of the arts, Eckstein was the daughter of Seattle civic leader and longtime school board member Nathan Eckstein, for whom Eckstein Middle School is named, and Mina Schwabacher Eckstein, whose family owned the Schwabacher Brothers & Company wholesale grocery store. Joanna Eckstein attended Seattle public schools T.T. Minor Elementary and Broadway High, and then studied at Goucher College. Eckstein worked briefly as a social worker for the Social Welfare League after graduating college, but the job "didn't last very long because I really wasn't interested in social work." Like her parents, Joanna was always active in civic organizations, serving as President of the Seattle Children's Home and the Seattle King County Visiting Nurse Association, and working with organizations such as United Good Neighbors, the World Affairs Council, and the Seattle Foundation.
Eckstein was best known, however, for her longtime involvement with the Seattle arts community. Eckstein succeeded her father, after his death in 1945, to serve as a board member of the Seattle Art Museum until her death in 1983; she was also on the board for Allied Arts and the Seattle Opera Association. She supported local artists and had close personal relationships with many, such as painters Mark Tobey, Kenneth Callahan and Helmi Juvonen.
Eckstein also traveled extensively, purportedly visiting all the continents, and taking a trip around the world in 1956. She often led art-related tours for Seattle Art Museum members, traveling to Europe, Asia, South America, the Caribbean and Mexico. During the 1950s and 1960s, Eckstein also wrote travel articles for the Seattle Times, reporting not only on art but on places and people, and such issues as the progress of post-war recovery in Europe, and German resentment over the territorial division of their country.
Joanna Eckstein died in Seattle in 1983.
From the guide to the Joanna Eckstein Photograph Collection, circa 1870-1952, (Museum of History & Industry Sophie Frye Bass Library)
