From 1920 to 1922, an all-woman cohort of councilmembers and mayor governed the town of Langley on Whidbey Island, Washington. Langley has the distinction of being the second town in the United States to elect an all-woman administration.
Helen Coe served as mayor during this period. In July 1921,… Read more
On March 2, 2022, Frank Porter Hungate, the 103-year-old grandson of 1889 Constitutional Convention delegate James Allen Hungate, visited Washington State Archives’ headquarters in Olympia to view the original 1889 Washington State Constitution.
The original State Constitution is kept in a secure vault and — save for exclusive viewings and ceremonies (such as an anniversary of statehood or Constitution Days) — is not available for public viewing. Yet the opportunity for Frank to… Read more
A herd of reindeer in Seattle? It happened.
Image Above image: Laplanders and reindeer on their way to Alaska, circa 1897 (Photo: Port Angeles Public Library… Read more
It’s harvest season, and Northwest Digital Heritage recently reaped and baled 50,000 more records and shipped them to the Digital Public Library of America!
This metadata harvest garnered:
Washington State Archives, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State, is awarding $698,510 in grants to 37 government agencies statewide as part of the… Read more
Congratulations to six Washington tribes that received American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act grants through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)!
In fall 2021 the Washington State Heritage Center Trust became the ALL Foundation of Washington (ALL Foundation). The Washington State Heritage Center Trust was established in 2008 as a 501(c)(3) to fund and support Washington State Library… Read more
Librarians at Washington State Library are often found serving their customers at one of several microfilm machines, carefully searching among hundreds of Washington newspapers past and present for that elusive article or photo.
Sometimes a diligent search can reveal a serendipitous and very curious find, which can make a librarian’s entire day. For example, the front page of the Nov. 7, 1957, Bremerton Sun shows a young animal-rights activist named Mary Ann Olander (age 7 1/2)… Read more
Since 2007, Washington State Library has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to numerous public, academic, tribal, and special libraries statewide. The grants enable these libraries — often in cooperation with local museums, historical societies, community organizations, and private individuals — to digitize historically significant photographs, documents… Read more
A new Washington-Oregon partnership is helping cultural institutions across the Pacific Northwest make their digital archives more visible and accessible nationwide.
Northwest Digital Heritage (NWDH), a Washington State Library,… Read more
Washington Talking Book & Braille Library (WTBBL) is celebrating its 90th anniversary. All this year we are inviting everyone to help us celebrate, and ensure people who are blind or visually impaired have access to the books and other reading materials they love to read.
On May 4-5,… Read more
How often have you heard someone tell you the information you are looking for is “on our website,” only to give up looking because you could not find it?
More than likely quite often. Unfortunately, however, and despite the best of intentions, government agencies are not always immune to this issue.
Over 190 agencies comprise Washington state government. Thousands of Washingtonians visit their websites every day, often for urgent reasons — whether to make an appointment… Read more
“Old enough to fight, old enough to vote.” “You fight & die but can’t vote at 18.”
These were just a couple of the slogans from the movement to lower the voting age from 21 to 18, which ultimately led to the 26th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states:
The right of citizens of the United… Read more
On Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26-27, Washington Talking Book & Braille Library (WTBBL) hosted the annual Washington Regional Braille Challenge.
The Braille Challenge, developed by the… Read more
From the 1930s through at least the 1950s, there was tension between “public power” advocates and supporters of privately owned power utilities. The tension is reflected in the fact that many counties and municipalities own and operate their own public utilities, while Spokane’s electrical power comes from a publicly traded corporation called Avista (formerly Washington Water Power [WWP]).
In 2021 Eastern Regional Branch Archivist Lee Pierce uncovered a nearly forgotten collection… Read more
2020 was an extraordinary year for many reasons, all of which have been immortalized in catchy headlines and sensational news stories.
Future generations will marvel at these stories and wonder how we coped during these extraordinary times. Much like how we look back on years past and wonder about the issues and challenges our recent ancestors endured.
Yet thanks to the Washington State Library’s… Read more
The Review Club of Aberdeen is the oldest women's cultural group still in existence in Washington. Founded on March 3, 1891, the Review Club meets twice a month to share and discuss "good books." Topics have… Read more
Thanks to past and ongoing digitization efforts at the Washington State Library, Washington Digital Newspapers hosts digital copies of some of the earliest newspapers published in Washington. Through their columns, early territorial editors provided a glimpse of some of the hardships faced by settlers in general, and by publishers in particular in the 1850s. This blog, one of a three part series, covers mail services in Washington… Read more
The Washington State Library’s annual Washington Digital Heritage grant cycle has helped preserve a wealth of historical documents from organizations and private collections statewide.
These grants support libraries and partner organizations in digitizing historically significant primary sources, special collections, and archives. In addition, the… Read more
Picture it: the year is 1985. A group of children excitedly swap trading cards in a Washington state schoolyard. “I have an extra Dunbar!” “I need a Russ!” Baseball cards? No, they’re Washington Women trading cards!
In 1980, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction began work on the Washington Women project to highlight the accomplishments… Read more
