If you were around for this opening, you have lived a very long time! On June 1, 1909, about 80,000 people attended the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition opening in Seattle where the University of Washington campus stands today.
Nowadays, when we look at a highway map of Washington, we see a complex web of gold, red and black lines crisscrossing the state. But it wasn’t always this way. In the early 1900s, highways were a rarity in the Evergreen State. Probably because cars and trucks were rarities as well, considering that the automobile had just been invented. This 1909 map displays Washington’s located and proposed highways, railroads (the dominant form of transportation then) and county seats.
Five Washington students recently showed they might have the stuff to be the next Ken Burns. The Washington State Historical Society coordinates Washington History Day, which features an annual contest for students in grades 6-12 throughout the state.
As the electronics records archivist for the Washington State Digital Archives, Debbie Bahn plays a key role at the first digital archives in the U.S. Bahn now can claim she also is part of a team of contributors that earned a national archives award. The Society of American Archivists recently announced that Philip C.
If you mention “May 18, 1980” to an older Washingtonian, you’ll likely get a knowing response: It’s the day Mount St. Helens erupted. It was on a sunny morning 37 years ago today that the eruption blew off the top 1,300 feet from its once cone-like summit, killing 57 people and thousands of animals, and destroying or flattening thousands of acres of timber.
We know we don’t have to tell Washington’s fishing community, but Saturday marks the opening weekend of trout fishing in many lowland lakes. To help celebrate the big opening, and to help get folks in the mood to grab their poles and tackle boxes, we’re sharing a few of the classic fishing photos found in the State Digital Archives website. The top photo shows a man in waders fishing in an unidentifi
As we shared in March, the Washington State Archives received a historical bonanza in the form of 40 scrapbooks covering the long career of iconic Washington statesman Dan Ev
Seeing trees and flowers in bloom is one of the highlights of spring. Nowhere is that more evident than Central Washington’s fruit orchards, where blossoming apple, cherry and pear trees add a dash of pretty color to the landscape this time of year.
