Welcome to the Art and Artifact Collection’s Online Database!

Explore Your Parks in a New Way

Parks Tacoma not only has many beautiful parks and natural features for the community to enjoy; hidden within these green spaces are monuments and artworks that speak to the heritage and culture of the city as well. This online, searchable catalog is designed to help answer common questions about these monuments and art pieces, as well as spur your interest in learning more about the history of Tacoma. We will continue to add to it over the following months, so check back soon for more updates!

About the Postcards

The Swanson Collection

Eric Swanson grew up hearing stories from his father of Tacoma's past, and always had a deep appreciation and keen curiosity of “what was.” He discovered his first postcard on eBay sometime in 1999, while a student at Curtis Junior High School, and was immediately hooked. Postcards allowed the stories Eric had heard to take on another dimension, answering questions as well as adding new mysteries until the next piece of the puzzle could be obtained. The images were a true, fixed, glimpse into the past.

Driven to complete the collection, Eric worked hard to find images not only online, but also through antique and ephemera shows, antique stores, malls, and occasionally trades with private collectors. In time, he felt a sense of mission bringing these pieces of history together and back to Tacoma from around the country (and sometimes world). He ultimately amassed over 1000 postcards depicting historic Tacoma scenes.

In October 2010, Eric arranged to sell his collection of 474 postcards of Tacoma’s historic parks to Parks Tacoma to be part of their permanent archival collection. Historians for Parks Tacoma had previously been granted permission to use images of some of the postcards, but the 2010 acquisition included rare images and postcards wholly new to the Parks Tacoma collection. In May 2023, Eric contributed another 187 pieces of archival material, including 170 unique postcards, to Parks Tacoma's archives.

Eric would like to recognize and thank some of the influences in his life who inspired him to begin collecting such a special selection of postcard images. He credits his parents, Wayne and Dianne Swanson, Tom Stenger, Roger and Caroline Erickson, Jack Curtright, Tony Berg, the Pacific Northwest Postcard Club, Tacoma Public Library Northwest Room staff, and the Parks Tacoma staff, respectively, for encouragement, knowledge, and contributions over the years that have made this collection possible.