Digital Collections and Resources
The Washington State Library offers several digital collections from its many historical resources. All of these collections will continue to grow as more books, maps, newspapers and manuscripts are scanned.
The Classics include full-text, online books about Washington history and culture.
The State Library offers a variety of newspapers online from Washington’s territorial period (1853-1889) with a searchable index.
More historical Washington Newspapers are available through the Chronicling America site at the Library of Congress. This project is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This collection includes maps from both the Library and the State Archives and covers the history of Washington from early exploration (1794) to modern times.
The State Library's collection of photos, spanning 1851-1990, is now available through Digital Archives. This collection consists of photographs of various subjects related to Washington's history, people, geography, and economic development. The collection is searchable by keyword (person, place, or thing), people, photographer, and/or date.
The State Library’s Emma Smith DeVoe Collection may be viewed on the Washington Women's History Consortium's web page.
This searchable database of digital images contains biographical information about 210 people who immigrated to or were living in Thurston County, Washington Territory before 1870.
This is a searchable database of digital images and biographical information about past governors of the State of Washington.
This collection contains several discrete sections: a collection of forms and photos from the Spokane Public Library about young soldiers from that area, art from artists embedded in the regiments, World War I enlistment cards from the State Archives, photos, documents, and other resources.
Washington Rural Heritage (WRH) is an online aggregation of special collections from small and rural communities throughout the state of Washington. It features items important to Washington's history, culture, places, and people.
For more digital resources on Washington History, go to the Washington History page.
Looking for digital collections in other Washington libraries? Visit http://wa.webjunction.org/749
