Peter Seitz: Finding Aids : MNHS.ORG


	Creator:	Seitz, Peter, 1931-, creator.
	Title:	Peter Seitz papers.
	Dates:	1922-2016 (bulk 1950-2016).
	Language:	Materials in English and German.
	Abstract:	Papers of graphic designer, author, teacher, and business owner Peter Seitz. Materials include work created while a student in Germany and at Yale; Seitz's work with the Walker Art Center and Guthrie Theater in the 1960s; records created while teaching at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design; his publications; and projects completed as an independent consultant, including projects with the Minnesota Zoo and Miracle Ear, among many others.
	Quantity:	6.5 cubic feet (7 boxes, 1 folder in 1 partial box, and 1 oversize folder, unboxed).
	Location:	See Detailed Description for shelf locations.

Peter Seitz was born in Schwabmünchen, Germany in 1931. He attended the Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm (Ulm University of Design, HfG), and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in visual communication in 1959. He later obtained a masters of fine arts in graphic design and photography from Yale University in 1961.

Seitz soon after joined the architectural firm I.M. Pei & Associates in New York City. In 1964, Martin Friedman, the director of the Walker Art Center, hired Seitz as design curator and editor for their publication of Design quarterly.

In 1968, Seitz founded his own graphic design firm Visual Communication, Inc., and helped found the Minnesota Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA).

Seitz later founded the interdisciplinary firm InterDesign with architects Dewey Thorbeck and Al French, landscape architect Roger Martin, and computer specialist Steve Kahn in 1970. His firm's first projects included designing signage for the Minneapolis Park Board, skyways in downtown St. Paul, the Minnesota State Capitol, and the Minnesota Zoo. In 1978, he started a new firm Seitz Graphic Direction, which was eventually renamed Seitz Yamamoto Moss, and focused heavily on Twin Cities based corporate clients.

Seitz was also hired to teach graphic design at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) in 1971. In the 1980s, he helped develop a computer graphics laboratory at MCAD. Seitz taught at MCAD until his retirement in 2002.

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These records are divided into the following three sections:


		Projects
		Teaching
		Biographical information, education, and publications

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Peter Seitz Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 17,742

Processing Information:

Processed by: Leif Kopietz, March 2020.

Catalog ID number: 9989774638704294

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Location

Box

153.I.20.10F

1

Maryland Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, 1963-1964.

Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1964-1967.

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1964-1968. 2 folders.

Walker Art Center, Design quarterly, 1964-1968.

Walker Art Center press, 1965-1969.

Walker Art Center print marketing, approximately 1964-1969.

Minneapolis Public Library, 1967.

The Cerny Associates, Inc., St. Paul, Minnesota, 1968.

Skyway system of the City of St. Paul, Minnesota, 1968-1969.

Renovation and development, New Ulm, Minnesota, 1969.

Midwest Ramp signage, 1969.

Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley, Minnesota, 1970-1975. 4 folders.

Exhibition design, University of Minnesota Bell Museum, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1972-1973.

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1972-1973.

Lutheran Brotherhood, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1973.

Minnesota State Capitol, 1973.

Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, 1974.

Hazelden Treatment Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1974.

Gelco: Grossman Equipment Leasing Company, 1975-1976.

Energy exhibition: Northern States Power, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1976.

A Minnesota mosaic: the bicentennial in photographs, edited and designed by Peter Seitz, 1977.

Control Data Corporation, Bloomington, Minnesota, 1978.

Children's Hospital Minnesota, 1978.

Interpretive Center, Minnesota River Valley Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bloomington, Minnesota, 1979-1980.

MeritCare Hospital and Clinic, Fargo, North Dakota, 1980.

Visitor Center, Upper Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Refuge, Winona, Minnesota, 1980.

Exhibition design, Railroad Museum, Duluth, Minnesota, approximately 1980-1981.

Downtown skyway, Des Moines, Iowa, 1980-1981.

Miracle Ear, Golden Valley, Minnesota, approximately 1981-1993. 2 folders.

Location

Box

153.I.20.11B

2

Miracle Ear, Golden Valley, Minnesota, approximately 1981-1993. 3 folders.

Centennial Lake, City of Edina, Minnesota, 1982.

Dicomed, Inc., Bloomington, Minnesota, 1982.

Minneapolis Convention Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1982-1983.

Minnesota Mutual, Saint Paul, Minnesota, 1983.

Siggraph Convention, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1984.

St. Mary's Hospital, Rochester, Minnesota, 1984, 1994.

Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport and Metropolitan Area displays, approximately 1984.

Metropolitan Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota and Health Resource Center, Maplewood, Minnesota, approximately 1986.

Saint Mary's University signage, Winona, Minnesota, 1986.

Profilor, Executive Development Program, Personnel Decisions, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1991-1992. 2 folders.

Central Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1995.

Consulting, Saint Cloud State University, 1995.

Lake Pepin Art and Design Center, Pepin, Wisconsin, 2002-2010.

Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 2008.

Forms Design, undated.

Integrity Mutual Insurance Company, undated.

Seimed, Minneapolis, Minnesota, undated.

Mount Olivet, Minneapolis, Minnesota, undated.

Integrity, undated.

World Fairs slides, 1964-1976.

Consulting business, approximately 1970s-1980s.

Consulting portfolio, approximately 1960s-1980s.

Exhibitions designed, approximately 2019.

Minnesota Graphic Designers Association, 1977-1981.

Source material, undated.

Freelance projects, approximately 1950s.

Calligraphy, approximately 2010-2015.

Watercolors, 1946-2007.

Identity programs, 1964-1996.

Report and pamphlet covers, approximately 1970s-1980s. 2 folders.

Location

Box

153.I.20.12F

3

Naming studies and projects, undated.

Various project slides, undated. 2 folders.

Unidentified projects, approximately 1970s-1980s.

Unidentified slides, undated.

Designers notebook and calender, 1985. 1 volume.

Location

Box

105.I.3.1

5

Miscellaneous work samples, 1961-2016.

Work portfolio, 2000s.

Location

Box

105.I.3.2

6

Miracle Ear, Golden Valley, Minnesota, 1992. 2 folders.

Siggraph brochures and posters, 1984.

Guthrie Theater posters and work samples, 1964-1969.

Includes examples of Seitz's work when he was the design curator and graphic designer at the Walker Art Center.

Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, brochures and working samples, 1962-1964.

Location

Box

105.I.3.3

7

Early years, work samples, 1950s-1960s, 2002.

Includes photography, drawings, posters, and graphic designs predominantly from Seitz's years as a student in Germany and at Yale.

Location

Folder

105.I.3.4

1

Dance in the Cities and InterDesign posters, undated.

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Location

Box

153.I.20.12F

3

Minneapolis College of Art and Design business card, undated.

Minneapolis College of Art and Design student work slides, 1974-1998. 3 folders.

Minneapolis College of Art and Design student work and graphic design slides, 1992-1998.

World Fairs and Exhibitions as Trends for the Future slides, undated.

Minneapolis College of Art and Design: Design Division, Design Lectures slides, 1976-2002.

Contemporary graphics selected by Minneapolis College of Art and Design faculty, 1993.

Minneapolis College of Art and Design: Design Department course work, 1986-1996.

Teacher career chronology, approximately 2019.

Minneapolis College of Art and Design, evaluation of marks and symbols, 2001.

Osaka University of Art, Computer Graphic Lectures and Design, 1978-1986.

Teaching, Minneapolis College of Art and Design slides, undated.

Location

Box

153.I.20.13B

4

Student work slides, undated. 2 folders.

Teaching, packaging slideshow, undated.

Siggraph computer graphics lecture slideshow, 1984.

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Location

Box

153.I.20.13B

4

Photographs, undated, 1989-1990.

Peter Seitz, designing a life, edited Andrew Blauvelt and Pam Arnold, 2007. 1 volume.

Source material, 1965-1996.

Germany, 1955-1960.

MFA program, Yale University, 1959-1961.

Peter Seitz work slideshow, undated.

Writings about Peter Seitz, approximately 1983-2001.

Writings by Peter Seitz, approximately 1969-1985.

Design and planning 2, edited by Martin Krampen and Peter Seitz, 1967. 1 volume.

Awards, approximately 1958-2001.

Printing types: their history, forms, and use: a study in survivals, by D.B. Updike, 1922. 1 volume.

Publication used by Seitz in his education and teaching.

Die anwendung operationsanalytischer methoden auf die visuelle gestaltung, dargestellt am beispiel der entwicklung eines systems von geschäftspapieren, approximately 1959.

Undergraduate thesis of Peter Seitz.

Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm lecture notes and assignments, 1955-1959. 3 folders.

Former MCAD student letter, and miscellaneous brochures, photographs, and slides, 1950s, 2004.

Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm publications, photographs, and miscellany, 1950s-1960s, 1990s. 2 folders.

Location

Box

142.G.6.6F-2

8

Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm publications, undated, 1958-1959, 1982.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:: Art -- Study and teaching.; Art teachers -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.; Graphic artists -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.; Commercial art -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.

Organizations:: Hochschule für Gestaltung (Ulm, Germany), author.; Peter Seitz and Associates, Inc. (Minneapolis, Minn.), author.; Guthrie Theater, author.; Minneapolis College of Art and Design, author.; Walker Art Center, author.; InterDesign, Inc. (Minneapolis, Minn.), author.; Visual Communication, Inc. (Minneapolis, Minn.), author.; Seitz Yamamoto Moss, Inc. (Minneapolis, Minn.), author.; American Institute of Graphic Arts. Minnesota Chapter, author.

Document Types:: Photographs.; Drawings.; Posters.; Graphic design.; Color slides.; Black-and-white slides.

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PETER SEITZ:

OVERVIEW

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

ARRANGEMENT

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

PROJECTS

TEACHING

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION, EDUCATION, AND PUBLICATIONS

CATALOG HEADINGS