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Category: Washington Rural Heritage

WASHINGTON STATE LIBRARY SPONSORS UW CAPSTONE STUDENTS

WASHINGTON STATE LIBRARY SPONSORS UW CAPSTONE STUDENTS

Every year, members of Washington State Library’s (WSL) Library Development team sponsor student projects that help support the work of the State Library. University of Washington (UW) iSchool Capstone projects are the culmination of the students’ learning experience at the iSchool. The students distill the knowledge and skills acquired in academic courses and apply them to real-world projects. For Shawn Schollmeyer, Washington Digital Newspapers Coordinator, iSchool Capstone students pitched their ideas for a Washington Digital Newspapers data visualization to prepare a final…

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FLICKER AND TAD: A MOTHER-DAUGHTER STORY FROM PARADISE COVE, VASHON ISLAND, WASHINGTON

FLICKER AND TAD: A MOTHER-DAUGHTER STORY FROM PARADISE COVE, VASHON ISLAND, WASHINGTON

In celebration of Mother’s Day, Washington Rural Heritage is looking back on a fascinating document from the Vashon Island Heritage Collection: a lovingly detailed scrapbook compiled by Florence “Flicker” Burd for her daughter Florence “Tad” Burd. Documenting their life from 1923 to 1927, the scrapbook documents the mother and daughter’s journey from Michigan to Seattle by rail when Tad was just four and Florence a recently separated single mother. Upon arriving in the Pacific Northwest, they spent several months at…

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WASHINGTON DIGITAL HERITAGE GRANT RECIPIENT PROJECTS HELP DOCUMENT AND SHARE WASHINGTON HISTORY

WASHINGTON DIGITAL HERITAGE GRANT RECIPIENT PROJECTS HELP DOCUMENT AND SHARE WASHINGTON HISTORY

Each year, Washington State Library awards grants to libraries across the state for digital projects that document and share Washington’s rich and unique history. The 2021-2022 Washington Digital Heritage Grant awardees recently wrapped up their projects. This year’s grants encompassed a wide range of topics and mediums, from Nez Perce stories and legends to the Grand Coulee Dam. Grant recipients scanned images, created thesauri, recorded interviews, and much more. Read on to learn more about the awardees’ recently completed projects….

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Washington Digital Newspapers Collection Exceeds Half a Million Pages!

Washington Digital Newspapers Collection Exceeds Half a Million Pages!

Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State, recently wrapped up several large digitization projects and achieved some significant milestones that expanded its Washington Digital Newspapers (WDN) online collection to over 500,000 newspaper pages. The WDN program selects historic newspapers, prepares them for online searching, and hosts them on the Library’s WDN website as a free public resource. Visitors to the website will find Washington newspapers from the state’s territorial days through the early 2000s,…

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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY — LANGLEY, WASHINGTON, 100 YEARS AGO: WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY — LANGLEY, WASHINGTON, 100 YEARS AGO: WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

From 1920 to 1922, an all-woman cohort of councilmembers and mayor governed the town of Langley on Whidbey Island, Washington. Langley has the distinction of being the second town in the United States to elect an all-woman administration. Helen Coe served as mayor during this period. In July 1921, she purchased and deeded land to the Ladies’ Civic Improvement Club to erect a community building, which would include a public library, auditorium, and reading rooms. The 100-year-old library, now part…

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DEER IN THE HEADLINES

DEER IN THE HEADLINES

A herd of reindeer in Seattle? It happened. These reindeer, photographed in Seattle, may have been part of a government relief effort in the winter of 1897-1898. The expedition was launched when news reached the public that numerous miners, lured to Alaska in the hopes of striking it rich during the Klondike Gold Rush, were stranded in Dawson City, Canada, with supply lines cut off for the winter. If these reindeer were part of that expedition, they and their herders…

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THE WASHINGTON STATE HERITAGE CENTER TRUST IS NOW THE ALL FOUNDATION OF WASHINGTON

THE WASHINGTON STATE HERITAGE CENTER TRUST IS NOW THE ALL FOUNDATION OF WASHINGTON

In fall 2021 the Washington State Heritage Center Trust became the ALL Foundation of Washington (ALL Foundation). The Washington State Heritage Center Trust was established in 2008 as a 501(c)(3) to fund and support Washington State Library, Washington Talking Book & Braille Library (WTBBL), Legacy Washington, and Washington State Archives programs and collections. The ALL Foundation builds on the work of the trust to promote history, community, and preservation statewide, and serve as the fiduciary of funds raised specifically to…

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Collage of collection holdings from some participating organizations of Northwest Digital Heritage.
NEW PARTNERSHIP GIVES PACIFIC NORTHWEST DIGITAL COLLECTIONS A WIDER AUDIENCE

NEW PARTNERSHIP GIVES PACIFIC NORTHWEST DIGITAL COLLECTIONS A WIDER AUDIENCE

A new Washington-Oregon partnership is helping cultural institutions across the Pacific Northwest make their digital archives more visible and accessible nationwide. Northwest Digital Heritage (NWDH), a Washington State Library, State Library of Oregon, and Oregon Heritage Commission collaboration, is leveraging the infrastructure and best practices of the Washington Rural Heritage project to expand public access and visibility to cultural heritage organizations in the Pacific Northwest. NWDH operates as a service hub of the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), which…

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WASHINGTON RURAL HERITAGE PRESENTS THE REVIEW CLUB OF ABERDEEN

WASHINGTON RURAL HERITAGE PRESENTS THE REVIEW CLUB OF ABERDEEN

The Review Club of Aberdeen is the oldest women’s cultural group still in existence in Washington. Founded on March 3, 1891, the Review Club meets twice a month to share and discuss “good books.” Topics have included everything from fiction to politics to spiritualism. The group’s longevity speaks to the ongoing desire for intellectual opportunities for women. This Washington Rural Heritage collection includes meeting minutes, beginning with the group’s charter meeting in 1891; annual programs from the 1920s to the…

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Washington Rural Heritage Grants help rural communities

Washington Rural Heritage Grants help rural communities

Across Washington state, public libraries have led the way in preserving unique local history collections with help from the Washington State Library’s Washington Rural Heritage program. Currently in its 12th year, this program provides small cultural heritage institutions with grants, training, and a digital platform to bring largely hidden community collections online and make them accessible to all. To date, more than 150 institutions — primarily libraries and museums — have contributed to the collection. According to Evan Robb, Digital…

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