(Photo courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives)

When you think of audio from the spring of 1977, Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles and (ahem) disco come to mind.

If you’re a Seattle political junkie and want to take a trip back in time to ’77, our Digital Archives has just the thing searchable: audio recordings of the Seattle City Council. The recordings include full council and committee meetings from March 23 to May 26 that year.  More golden oldies will be coming soon.

Go here to search for these audio recordings. The City Council members at that time were Sam Smith (president), Paul Kraabel, Randy Revelle, George Benson, John R. Miller, Jeanette Williams, Wayne D. Larkin, Phyllis Lamphere and Tim Hill.

Topics include transportation planning, use of deadly force by the Seattle Police Department, energy conservation, Westlake Mall, utility wire undergrounding, utility rates, bicycles, floating homes, and women in the Seattle Fire Department.

State Archivist Jerry Handfield praised the initiative of the Seattle Municipal Archives and congratulated Seattle for being the first city to transfer audio files to the State Archives for preservation and public access on the state’s Digital Archives.

“It is especially noteworthy that this historic transfer took place in Archives Month,” Handfield said. “Our Digital Archives team remains dedicated to preserving electronic records to improve access for the citizens of Washington.”

A single-search tool enables a user to word-search and retrieve audio files in seconds—and then listen to the recording, even if you are searching 40,000 hours of recordings.

And the ’77 recordings are just the start. Audio recordings will continue to be added to the collection as resources become available to transfer the analog recordings to digital format for access on the web. The full set of audio files, held by the Seattle Municipal Archives, includes full City Council meetings, Council committee meetings, and public hearings. The recordings date from the 1950s, with the bulk from the 1970s to the present.

The recordings were created by the Office of the City Clerk and Seattle City Council, both of which are part of the Legislative Department in the City of Seattle. The City Clerk maintains the city’s legislative records, official filings, and the Seattle Municipal Archives; keeps the minutes of City Council meetings; and provides information services to city agencies and the public.

For more information or to learn about related records, contact the Seattle Municipal Archives at archives @seattle.gov or (206) 233-7807 or the Washington State Archives’ Puget Sound Region Branch at (425) 564-3940 or e-mail [email protected].