From Our Corner

THE WASHINGTON STATE CONSTITUTION: A FAMILY’S LEGACY

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

DEER IN THE HEADLINES

A herd of reindeer in Seattle? It happened.

HARVEST SEASON: 50,000 ADDITIONAL RECORDS SHIPPED TO THE DPLA

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:

• More than 40,000 records from the… Read more

THE LOCAL RECORDS GRANT PROGRAM: NEARLY $700,000 IN GRANTS AWARDED TO 37 GOVERNMENT AGENCIES STATEWIDE

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

SIX WASHINGTON TRIBES RECEIVE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN GRANTS

Congratulations to six Washington tribes that received American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act grants through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)!

In October 2021, … Read more

THE WASHINGTON STATE HERITAGE CENTER TRUST IS NOW THE ALL FOUNDATION OF WASHINGTON

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

PICKETING SPUTNIK: ANIMAL RIGHTS AT THE DAWN OF THE SPACE AGE

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

IRWIN NASH PHOTOGRAPHS OF YAKIMA VALLEY MIGRANT LABOR COLLECTION: DOCUMENTING THE LIVES OF THE LATINX COMMUNITY IN YAKIMA VALLEY

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

NEW PARTNERSHIP GIVES PACIFIC NORTHWEST DIGITAL COLLECTIONS A WIDER AUDIENCE

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

Giving BIG to Washington Talking Book & Braille Library

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

Ask a Librarian: your friendly neighborhood state-government resource

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

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 26th AMENDMENT: “Right to Vote at Age 18" turns 50

“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

WASHINGTON REGIONAL BRAILLE CHALLENGE 2021: VIRTUALLY AMAZING!

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

HIDDEN COLLECTION GIVES INSIGHT INTO THE DEBATE BETWEEN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE UTILITIES

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

BREAKING NEWS! MORE HISTORIC WASHINGTON NEWSPAPERS ONLINE

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

WASHINGTON RURAL HERITAGE PRESENTS THE REVIEW CLUB OF ABERDEEN

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

Perched Between the Stumps and Tides: Early Newspapers in Washington Territories, Part 3

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

WASHINGTON'S DIGITAL HERITAGE: AN AUDIO & VISUAL HISTORY

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

WASHINGTON WOMEN PROJECT HIGHLIGHTED ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF NOTEWORTHY WASHINGTON WOMEN

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

WTBBL BOOK CLUB HOSTS INAUGURAL MEETING

The Washington Talking Book & Braille Library (WTBBL) hosted its first Book Club meeting Aug. 26. Due to COVID-19, we held the meeting virtually, and if the overwhelmingly positive response from participants is any indication, we will continue with this format.

The inaugural meeting included patrons from across the state and featured Trial by Fury by local author J.… Read more