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Author: Secretary of State's Office

Art Fletcher and President George H.W. Bush
Civil-rights leaders Nat and Thelma Jackson and Arthur Fletcher featured in new exhibit

Civil-rights leaders Nat and Thelma Jackson and Arthur Fletcher featured in new exhibit

Profiles of Arthur Fletcher and Nat and Thelma Jackson, three remarkable civil-rights leaders, are the latest chapters in Legacy Washington’s overview of 1968 “The year that Rocked Washington,” an exhibit that will open Sept. 13 at the State Capitol. Change was in the air. Everywhere. It was the year when Vietnam, civil rights, women’s liberation, and conservation coalesced — and a year when tragedy led the 6 o’clock news with numbing regularity.  When Arthur Fletcher announced his candidacy for Washington lieutenant…

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Washington Supreme Court 1962
Exploring court records in the Washington State Archives

Exploring court records in the Washington State Archives

Not Judge Judy’s court? Then which court is it? Since there are many uses for court records, a large number of Archives users come in to access them for genealogical study, book research, school lesson planning, legal exploration, and still more purposes. Finding court records can be a daunting task. Knowing the jurisdiction in which a case was heard is the most important information. The next information a person needs is the cause, case, or file number in hand. Cases…

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online voter registring
Online voter registration reaches new heights

Online voter registration reaches new heights

A decade after Washington became the second state in the country to take voter registration online, 35 states and the District of Columbia (that other Washington, as some know it) have followed suit. Under current law, the deadline for online voter registration is 30 days before Election Day, so the deadline for registering to vote in the August Primary Election passed this week, on July 9th. Thanks to the excellent work by our Elections Division, thousands of Washingtonians registered to vote…

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Summer reading participant
Summer reading kickoff party at the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library

Summer reading kickoff party at the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library

On Saturday, June 30, Youth Librarian Erin Groth hosted this year’s summer reading kickoff party at the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library. It was a rockin’ afternoon as staff, volunteers, and WTBBL patrons celebrated this year’s theme of LIBRARIES ROCK! with music, games, prizes, and fun. More than 40 WTBBL patrons are participating in this year’s summer reading program, and their ages range from infants to 18 years old. Summer reading is a by-mail program for WTBBL, with special in-person events…

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YES program participants
Youth Employment Solutions and WTBBL: Partners for more than 20 years

Youth Employment Solutions and WTBBL: Partners for more than 20 years

The Washington Talking Book & Braille Library (WTBBL) looks forward to hosting summer workers from the Youth Employment Solutions program once again in 2018. Administered through Washington State’s Department of Services for the Blind, Youth Employment Solutions (YES) is a six-week residential employment experience program for visually impaired and blind workers ages 16-20. At WTBBL, participants work up to 24 hours a week while they partake in team-building activities as well as honing independent life skills outside of work. This…

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New exhibit features Pat O’Day, legendary Seattle DJ and concert promoter

New exhibit features Pat O’Day, legendary Seattle DJ and concert promoter

A profile of Pat O’Day, the legendary Seattle disc jockey and concert promoter, is the latest chapter in Legacy Washington’s overview of 1968 “The Year that Rocked Washington.” Change was in the air. Everywhere. It was the year when Vietnam, civil rights, women’s liberation, and conservation coalesced — and a year when tragedy led the 6 o’clock news with numbing regularity. The Pat O’Day story opens on February 13, 1968, the day Jimi Hendrix returned to Garfield High School, his…

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stem education chalkboard
Washington State Library launching grant-funded STEM program

Washington State Library launching grant-funded STEM program

In fall 2017, the Washington State Library teamed up with the Imagine Children’s Museum of Everett, School’s Out Washington and the Spokane County Library District for a grant application to fund a program to promote literacy-based STEM activities for children ages 3 to 10 and their families. The application was successful. This STEM program stood out from many others because the program begins the exploration of scientific concepts through sharing a children’s book. Few other STEM programs, if any, are literacy-based….

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History Day winners
History Day: Vancouver students win state, compete in nationals

History Day: Vancouver students win state, compete in nationals

Washington State Archives Southwest Regional Archivist Tracy Rebstock proudly announces that the state’s top Junior Division 2018 History Day project comes from Pleasant Valley Middle School in Vancouver. Washington’s History Day is an annual contest conducted by National History Day, a nonprofit organization that engages students and teachers from across the United States to do original research on a topic of their choice and present it as a project. Original research on historical topics is right up the State Archives’…

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Polly Dyer
Remembering Polly Dyer: New exhibit profiles a Cascades champion

Remembering Polly Dyer: New exhibit profiles a Cascades champion

The ‘American Alps’ were in peril. One of the world’s largest mining companies had designs on excavating within the jagged wilderness known as the North Cascades. A band of conservationists, including the cheerfully tenacious Polly Dyer, had other ideas. Dyer’s living room became a sort of academy for envelope-stuffing, stamp-licking activists who advanced a budding movement of middle-class professionals with the leisure time to defend the natural world. With crucial help from U.S. Senator Henry M. Jackson, they won protection…

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Be aware of potentially fraudulent solicitors

Be aware of potentially fraudulent solicitors

Each year, the Washington State Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division (AGO) and the Office of Secretary of State’s Charities Program (OSOS) reach out to grocery store managers across the state to provide important information about charitable solicitors. Increasingly, solicitors are asking for donations outside of retail establishments and will often set up a table at an entrance or exit of a store. They ask patrons for small cash, check, debit, or credit card donations, purportedly for various causes, such as…

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