The Odessa Public Library and the Odessa Historisches Museum have continued their partnership this year with a Washington Rural Heritage sub-grant to digitize a wealth of cultural heritage materials, including some cool multimedia. This slideshow interprets the story of the settling of the Odessa area by Germans from Russia, who came to eastern Washington starting in the late 19th century, as well as the difficult yet tenacious history of the Odessa Historical Society and Historisches Museum.

With an interest in photography, film and audio recording, the Historisches Museum’s founder, John E. Gahringer, MD, produced the slideshow in the 1980s from 272 images made on Kodachrome and Ektachrome 35mm slide film, and created an accompanying narrative on audio cassette with a synchronized cue track. The cue track allowed certain slide projectors, like the Telex Caramate 4000 shown in the short video below, to advance through slides automatically.

After a failed attempt to capture the essence of the (malfunctioning) Caramate projector for posterity, Washington State Library staff digitized the slideshow’s components and have reconstructed the presentation in video form. Watch the trailer above for a quick introduction, or see the full length presentation here.

We are very pleased to announce the Asotin County Library and the Asotin County Museum have become the latest contributing institutions to the Washington Rural Hertiage initiative!

C.M. Evans store on Main Street in Clarkston, Washington

With nearly 200 items to date, the Asotin County Heritage collection presents images, maps, records, and artifacts from Clarkston, Asotin, Anatone, Washington, and the surrounding area including Lewiston, Idaho. The collection was made possible by a Washington Rural Heritage grant from the Washington State Library, funded by the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) through the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

According to Jennifer Ashby, Director of the Asotin County Library, “The Rural Heritage project has enabled us to bring together items from private collections as well as the museum and library and to make them available to anyone, anywhere. In addition, it provides a way to preserve these materials for future generations. We will continue to add to the collection as materials become available to us.”

Some collection highlights include:

• Nez Perce tools and beadwork
• Agricultural implements and artifacts
• A collection of regional cattle brands
• Early buildings in Clarkston
• Aerial photographs of Clarkston, Asotin, and the Port of Wilma
• Several local histories on the area
• Historic postcards
• Items regarding the impact of the Lower Granite Dam

Beaver skin hat worn by Jackson Sundown, member of the Nez Perce & a world champion bronc rider, 1916 Pendleton (Oregon) Roundup.

Marjean Riggers, Allisha Parot, and Jennifer Ashby, all of Asotin County Library completed their initial digitization efforts with the assistance of a 2010 Washington Rural Heritage grant from the Washington State Library. Through an additional grant, they will begin digitizing another photograph collection this year loaned to the Library by a local resident which documents the history of the Silcott area and the Wilson Banner Ranch.

The Asotin County Library and the Asotin County Museum join more than 65 cultural institutions throughout the state that have digitized material with assistance from the Washington Rural Heritage initiative. These collections include historic photos, texts, objects & artifacts, and audiovisual materials that were, in some cases, previously inaccessible.  To date, Washington Rural Heritage has published 22 collections including more than 10,000 unique items which document local history from every corner of the state.

If you have comments or additional information about any of the items in the Asotin County Heritage Collection, or would like to contribute your own material for digitization, please contact the Asotin County Public Library or Asotin County Museum.

Glass lantern slide advertisement from Sedro-Woolley's Dream Theatre.

The Sedro-Woolley Public Library and Sedro-Woolley Museum recently completed work on a digital collection celebrating the history of Sedro-Woolley and neighboring communities of the Lower Skagit River Valley. Consisting of more than 300 digitized resources, the Sedro-Woolley Heritage Collection was funded by a Washington Rural Heritage grant from the Washington State Library.

According to Debra Peterson, Director of the Sedro-Woolley Public Library, “This has been such an exciting project.  Many of the photos in this collection have never been seen outside of the Sedro-Woolley Museum; it is such a great way to share these wonderful resources with our community.  Our students do extensive local history projects at several grade levels, and now they have instant access to historic documents that will assist them in their research.”

While most of the collection comes from the holdings of the Sedro-Woolley Museum, some of the material comes from the private collections of Sedro-Woolleyans themselves. For example, these fantastic photos from a community member, which depict the city’s businesses, buildings, community events, and local landmarks throughout the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. When the owner heard about the Library and Museum’s digitization project he enthusiastically offered up his collection for scanning.  “Most of these photos have not been seen by anyone (other than the donor) for years,” said Carolyn Freeman, Director of the Sedr0-Woolley Museum.

Additional collection highlights include:

• Photos depicting the grounds, building, and staff at Northern State Hospital.
• Early images of the downtown Sedro-Woolley business district.
• Logging and lumber industry photos.
• Materials documenting the 1914 robbery of Sedro-Woolley’s First National Bank.
• A collection of glass lantern slides from Sedro-Woolley’s Dream Theatre.
• Early Sedro-Woolley School System photos.

Sedro-Woolley's City Hall, 1937.

The Sedro-Woolley Public Library and Sedro-Woolley Museum join more than 65 cultural institutions throughout the state that have digitized material with assistance from the Washington Rural Heritage initiative. These collections include historic photos, texts, objects & artifacts, and audiovisual materials that were, in some cases, relatively inaccessible.  To date, Washington Rural Heritage has published 21 collections including more than 10,000 unique items which document local history from every corner of the state.

Staff at the Whitman County Library, a Washington Rural Heritage participant, have been hard at work this summer and fall adding almost 200 more items to the Whitman County Heritage digital collection.

Many images of natural disasters in the region — including the Palouse River Flood of 1910 and the aftermath of the 1980 Mount Saint Helens eruption —  are now accessible online, as well as early images from the very small communities of Ewan and Revere, Washington, west of St. John.

The  Athenaeum Club and the private collection of Bob Bowen have also become sources of historic images and material for Whitman County Heritage this year, contributing to an already wonderful and rich digital collection. We salute Patti Cammack and staff of Whitman County Library for their continued effort in providing access to these important resources through the Washington Rural Heritage project.

On the eve of the second World War in 1941, Ellensburg city engineer and amateur photographer Fred L. Breckon began a multi-year pursuit documenting men and women of his town through his camera’s lens. An astoundingly ambitious project, Breckon made many of these photographs during his lunch break on the sidewalks of downtown Ellensburg. These images, along with detailed biographical notes on his fellow townspeople, amount to a documentary series of almost 1300 photographs.

Ellensburg Public Library has also been hard at work through the support of a 2010 Washington Rural Heritage grant digitizing another historically rich collection of Buildings, Businesses, and Schools in Ellensburg and the Kittitas Valley. Images date between 1904 and 1969, many of which also made by Fred Breckon.

A hearty congratulations to Carol Rich,  Milton Wagy, and everyone at the Ellensburg Public Library for their sustained dedication and contributions to Washington Rural Heritage! Be watching for more wonderful photos and documents from Ellensburg in the coming months.

Nice job on the part of Beth Kauer from the Benton City Library promoting their new digital collection at the recent Washington Library Association Conference in Yakima, April 6-8, 2011. Beth designed and staffed a “Spotlight on Success!” table at the conference featuring images and information from the Kiona-Benton City Heritage Collection, a project of the State Library’s Washington Rural Heritage Initiative.

To learn more about how your rural public or tribal library can get involved with the digitization of the local history resources, contact Evan Robb, Project Manager, Washington Rural Heritage: evan.robb@sos.wa.gov, (360) 704-5228.

The (4/29/2011) deadline is fast-approaching for this year’s Washington Rural Heritage grant applications; more information on the grant cycle is available here.

Volume 5, # 2 -  November 2010

Historical Newspapers in Washington

The Puget Sound Argus of Port Townsend (1882-1883) has been added to Washington State Library’s Online Historic Newspapers, available at http://www.sos.wa.gov/history/newspapers_detail.aspx?t=44. The collection now includes approximately nine years of Port Townsend newspapers, ranging from 1875 to 1883. The collection also contains newspapers from ten other Washington cities.

Additional newspapers will be added as soon as indexing is completed. Our volunteer indexers are currently hard at work on the Walla Walla Statesman (1873-1884) and Seattle’s Puget Sound Dispatch (1871-1880). To see our entire Online Historic Newspaper collection, go to http://www.sos.wa.gov/history/newspapers.aspx.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Washington Rural Heritage initiative is pleased to announce its newest digital collection: Wahkiakum County Heritage. A project of the Cathlamet Blanche Bradley Public Library in partnership with the Wahkiakum County Historical Society & Museum, the collection consists of more than 300 items depicting river life, fishing, forestry, and early homesteading along this lower stretch of Washington’s Columbia River.

Three sub-collections make up Wahkiakum County Heritage. The Wahkiakum Community Collection, which is comprised of material from the private collections of local citizens. The Cathlamet Blanche Bradley Public Library Collection, from the Library’s holdings. And the Wahkiakum County Historical Society Collection, from the Museum’s holdings, which comprises roughly half of the material in the collection. Together, they do an excellent job of documenting the small communities and landmarks of Wahkiakum County, including: Cathlamet, Puget Island, Skamokawa, Grays River, Deep River, Altoona, Brookfield, and Rosburg.

A few of our random favorites include:

• The Smalley family, Rosburg Grange Hall, August 1936.
• Images of horse seining for salmon on the Columbia.
• Loggers at Leisure.
• Funeral boats from Puget Island to Westport and In Skamokawa after a dance – both illustrating how the Columbia and its tributaries were used before the penetration of paved roads.
• A collection of John Fletcher Ford logging photographs. (More of this wonderful photographer’s work can be seen in a Flickr Commons set from Oregon State University).

Congratulations and a big thank you to: the Cathlamet Public Library’s director for managing the project; the project’s digitization contractor from Lower Columbia Community College Library (for many hours of dedicated scanning and cataloging); and to the Wahkiakum County Historical Society’s curator, whose local history expertise is evident in these wonderfully detailed records!

The American Library Association recently named Washington Rural Heritage its Digital Library of the Week. Read what ALA had to say about the collection at their I Love Libraries advocacy site. Congratulations to the 60+ cultural institutions (including 21 small, public libraries throughout Washington) participating in the initiative to date.

Seven Washington libraries are currently hard at work on LSTA-funded digitization projects for 2010-2011, and many WRH participants continue to build their digital collections on a non-grant-funded basis. Keep an eye out for two new collections, comprising more than 1,200 individually cataloged items, which will be published in coming weeks!

You can skim through a sampling of this diverse collection below, or visit the site directly at: www.washingtonruralheritage.org.

As part of their 2009 Washington Rural Heritage grant work, funded by LSTA, four libraries have added brand new material to their previously published collections.

Whitman County Library widened their digitization efforts this year and offered scanning services to patrons of all libraries in their district. Whitman County Heritage now includes material from all around the county — users can browse items by community from their home page and are able to view rare images from small towns like Ewan, Sunset, Malden and many more. The collection also includes items from several local cultural institutions. Be sure to check out the Palouse Empire Fair Collection, taken from scrapbooks containing ephemera and photos ranging from fair royalty and 4-H sewing entries to livestock and prize-winning exhibits. Even catch a celebrity sighting — local sons John Crawford and Yakima Canutt, famed actors from the 1970s, visited the fair.

Ellensburg Heritage now includes the Historic Transportation Photograph Collection, showcasing the planes, trains, automobiles, carriages and ferries used by travelers in decades past. See snowplows tunneling through 30 feet of snow, panoramic shots of the Ellensburg Air Base (be sure to zoom in for awesome detail!), and even a gang of ‘motorcycle fiends‘ that cruised around Ellensburg in the 1910s, “finding enjoyment in riding their machines up the precipice at the east end of Fourth Street.” Ellensburg also added to the Fred L. Breckon Historic Portraits Collection. See the town’s baker, doctor, and mayor.

This grant cycle, Columbia County Rural Library District embarked on a new effort to digitize graves from area cemeteries. View individual headstones from Bundy Hollow Cemetery, Covello Cemetery, and Highland Cemetery. Headstones are organized by cemetery and listed alphabetically on the left. Click a name to view the deceased’s headstone.

Newcomer Denny Ashby Library added the Garfield County Schoolhouse Collection to Pomeroy Heritage, featuring now-and-then images of the county’s schoolhouses, class photos and scenes from student life, including a rural tennis match. The collection also now includes images and video footage of the tramways used by area farmers to transport grain in the high bluffs to boats located on the Snake River. This ingenious system enabled farmers to quickly move their harvest several miles and to a much lower elevation without the aid of horses.