Archives

Not Judge Judy’s court?

Washington State Archives Southwest Regional Archivist Tracy Rebstock proudly announces that the state’s top Junior Division 2018 History Day project comes from Pleasant Valley Middle School in Vancouver. Washington's History Day is an annual contest conducted by National History Day, a nonprofit organization that engages students and teachers from across the United States to do original research on a topic of their choice and present it as a project.

A century ago, more than 10,000 Spokane residents served in the military as soldiers, sailors, and marines in World War I. More than 180 of them didn't come back. Now, through the diligent work of State Archives graduate assistant Joshua Van Veldhuizen with the long-neglected public records in the Spokane War Committee cards, the experiences of Spokaneites before, during, and in the wake of the First World War have been chronicled at Spokane Goes To War.

In the quiet of the post-Legislative session interim period, the 90th anniversary of the Washington Capitol's opening to the public passed without a formal observance on March 28. Perhaps that was fitting. The Legislative Building went without a grand opening party back in 1928 because of a political dispute over the perceived largesse of building and furnishing a $7 million government building. The Legislative Building was constructed over much of the 1920s.

A few months ago, a Digital Archives user wrote in to the Washington State Archives to ask about the identity of the man in the photo on the right.

Washington State Archives’ records from the Department of Ecology make up a massive, sometimes intimidating collection documenting the agency’s efforts to protect and preserve Washington’s natural air, water and land resources. The collection contains nearly 8,000 cubic feet of records mostly dating from the 1970s to present. The subjects covered in the Ecology archives include toxic site cleanups, water quality and resources, shorelines management, air pollution, nuclear waste, and more. Over the past year, we have been working on a project to better organize these records.

The Washington State Archives comes across some strange findings, and we truly embrace the state’s oddities. You should see us around Halloween. Recently, one of our researchers came across a series of weird headstones in Washington. We suppose the families would be ok if you chuckle.

This week, Seattle took a giant step closer to procuring a National Hockey League franchise. On Tuesday, February 13, Oak View Group Seattle — an ownership group headed by Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who has given us such classics as Armageddon and Top Gun — formally submitted an application for expansion along with a $10 million application fee. The same group has also agreed to renovate Seattle’s Key Arena (sigh, come home, Sonics) at a $660 million expense.