All branches of the Washington State Library are currently closed to the public. Questions received via email, chat, and phone will be answered between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Collection items are available through your local library using interlibrary loan. All collection materials currently checked out due July 15, and the blue book drop located near our back door is available for use. For more information, please visit our page regarding the closure.
Washington State Library COVID-19 Resources
Classics in Washington History
The State Library is delighted to present Classics in Washington History. This digital
collection of full-text books brings together rare, out of print titles for easy
access by students, teachers, genealogists and historians. Visit Washington's early
years through the lives of the men and women who lived and worked in Washington
Territory and State.
Choose a subject to view the publications.
Search all Classics
You may search all the Classics in Washington History publications using the form
below. Boolean searches are supported. Note that handwritten portions of publications are not included in the search results.
Search Help
Search Help
When searching Classics in Washington History you may:
- Use keywords
- Use "quotation marks" to search for exact phrases (ex. "Fort Vancouver")
- Use special characters and operators (below) to focus your query.
Operators
Boolean operators are used to broaden and narrow your search.
AND - Finds all the pages which have both words
Example: fort AND vancouver
AND NOT - Finds pages which have the first word, but not the second word.
Example: fort AND NOT vancouver
OR - Find any of the words.
Example: fort OR vancouver
Truncation
The symbol * is used as a right-handed truncation character only; it will find all forms of a word. For example, searching for industr* will find "industry", "industrial", and "industrialist".
Historical Note
The attitudes represented in some of these books do not necessarily reflect the
Office of the Secretary of State, but are part of the historical record of Washington's
past.