The Washington Rural Heritage team has been digging for historic treasure around the state, making stops all over in our efforts to scout out our next collections. From Cathlamet to Metaline Falls and eveywhere in between, we saw mounds of photos, fascinating documents and extraordinary objects that we’re really excited about adding to the collection.

Though we’re still in planning phases for our digitization work for the upcoming year, we wanted to share with you a few highlights of what’s being stored in the state’s rural libraries and museums.

The Wahkiakum County Historical Society, perched on the banks of the mighty Columbia in Cathlamet, has an extensive local photo collection, including beautiful aerial photographs of the town’s early development.

The grassy, rolling hills of Garfield County predictably harbored wonderful agricultural items. We saw lots of farming photos, beautifully restored machinery and vehicles outfitted for cold-weather travel (we loved seeing one of the area’s first postal carriages, complete with mini stove and mail organizer at the Eastern Washington Agricultural Museum) and even Pomeroy’s founding father’s scythe.

The Metaline Falls Library in Pend Oreille County was a veritable zoo of images. Their historic scrapbooks are filled with unbelievable photos, including close-up shots of cougar kittens, the celebration around the spoils of a bear hunt, and – our personal favorite – a few images of local celebrity Black Beauty, the bag-punching dog.

These findings were just the tip of the iceberg of the materials we saw during our travels. We’re always looking for unique collections to add to our project in our efforts to help small, rural libraries preserve and provide access to their priceless historic holdings. Our grant cycle will open in the next few months; please contact us for more information.