Several of our office’s divisions (namely, the State Archives, State Library and Legacy Project) specialize in digging up nuggets from Washington’s state and territorial history and highlighting them for the public to learn and enjoy.

The latest example is a new feature called HistoryMakers. Our Legacy Project created it, and it’s found on our website.

HistoryMakers is a free online biographical database of Washington elected officials and activists from territorial times to the present. There are about 300 entries so far. Each individual’s entry includes a photograph, links, and basic biographical information (i.e. occupations, offices, affiliations, birth/death, marriage, etc.). HistoryMakers has covered these offices so far: Governors, Lieutenant Governors, Secretaries of States, Treasurers, U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives. Other statewide offices and legislators will be added in the future.

To visit HistoryMakers, go here or visit the Legacy Project’s webpage and click on “HistoryMakers.”

HistoryMakers is ideal for Washington history buffs, students, politicos and anyone else interested in the people that helped shape The Evergreen State before and since statehood. And it’s in a very user-friendly format.

This resource is made possible by dedicated, hard-working volunteers and will continue to be updated. We welcome more volunteers to help do research on officials and other public figures not featured so far on HistoryMakers. If you’re interested, please contact Lori Larson with the Legacy Project at [email protected] or (360) 704-7142.