HARVEST SEASON: 50,000 ADDITIONAL RECORDS SHIPPED TO THE DPLA

HARVEST SEASON: 50,000 ADDITIONAL RECORDS SHIPPED TO THE DPLA

It’s harvest season, and Northwest Digital Heritage recently reaped and baled 50,000 more records and shipped them to the Digital Public Library of America! This metadata harvest garnered: More than 40,000 records from the State Library of Oregon’s Government Publications Highlights include COVID-19 information in over 40 languages and an excellent video on hop production in Oregon. Baker County Library District’s Digital Archive Highlights include landscape and mining scenes from Oregon’s Elkhorn Mountains, and Baker City’s Main Street from the…

Read More Read More

Seattle Federal Records Center, c. 1970. State Library Photograph Collection, 1851-1990. Washington State Archives.
THE LOCAL RECORDS GRANT PROGRAM: NEARLY $700,000 IN GRANTS AWARDED TO 37 GOVERNMENT AGENCIES STATEWIDE

THE LOCAL RECORDS GRANT PROGRAM: NEARLY $700,000 IN GRANTS AWARDED TO 37 GOVERNMENT AGENCIES STATEWIDE

Washington State Archives, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State, is awarding $698,510 in grants to 37 government agencies statewide as part of the Local Records Grant Program for 2021-2022. The Local Records Grant Program helps local-government agencies and entities upgrade their technological resources to improve their records retention and management, and response processes for public records requests. Qualified agencies and entities applied online in June 2021. During the summer, an Archives Oversight Committee, composed of county…

Read More Read More

SIX WASHINGTON TRIBES RECEIVE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN GRANTS

SIX WASHINGTON TRIBES RECEIVE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN GRANTS

Congratulations to six Washington tribes that received American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act grants through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)! In October 2021, IMLS announced it has awarded over $15.2 million in ARP grants to institutions across the country to support native communities, museums, and libraries that are recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. The six Washington tribes include: Colville ($50,000) The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Nespelem is planning to provide trusted spaces and deliver programs…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

Left: Mary Ann Olander, 7 1/2, with her dog, Laddie, and cat, Queenie, picketing against the Sputnik 2 rocket. Right: Laika the dog.
PICKETING SPUTNIK: ANIMAL RIGHTS AT THE DAWN OF THE SPACE AGE

PICKETING SPUTNIK: ANIMAL RIGHTS AT THE DAWN OF THE SPACE AGE

Librarians at Washington State Library are often found serving their customers at one of several microfilm machines, carefully searching among hundreds of Washington newspapers past and present for that elusive article or photo. Sometimes a diligent search can reveal a serendipitous and very curious find, which can make a librarian’s entire day. For example, the front page of the Nov. 7, 1957, Bremerton Sun shows a young animal-rights activist named Mary Ann Olander (age 7 1/2) along with her dog,…

Read More Read More

Collage of images from Irwin Nash Migrant Labor Collection. Top row, left to right: Guadalupe Gamboa, left, and Michael Fox clasping hands in a victory pose. Their hands are above a No Trespassing sign on Rogers Walla Walla labor camp. Walla Walla, WA, 1971; Farm workers harvesting hops near Granger, WA in the summer of 1971; Cesar Chavez wearing a checkered shirt with a windbreaker over it and a microphone clipped to his shirt. He is sitting in a cushioned chair for an interview at a TV station. Bottom row, left to right: The exterior of a cafe called the "El Paso Cafe."; Martina Molina Gamboa standing on a porch. Sunnyside, WA, 1971; Someone marching on a sidewalk in front of businesses in Granger, WA. They are carrying a sign that reads "Zapata for mayor".
IRWIN NASH PHOTOGRAPHS OF YAKIMA VALLEY MIGRANT LABOR COLLECTION: DOCUMENTING THE LIVES OF THE LATINX COMMUNITY IN YAKIMA VALLEY

IRWIN NASH PHOTOGRAPHS OF YAKIMA VALLEY MIGRANT LABOR COLLECTION: DOCUMENTING THE LIVES OF THE LATINX COMMUNITY IN YAKIMA VALLEY

Since 2007, Washington State Library has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to numerous public, academic, tribal, and special libraries statewide. The grants enable these libraries — often in cooperation with local museums, historical societies, community organizations, and private individuals — to digitize historically significant photographs, documents, and artifacts in order to preserve them and make them accessible to people all over the world. In 2020, Washington State University’s (WSU) Holland/Terrell Libraries received a Washington Digital Heritage Grant…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

Giving BIG to Washington Talking Book & Braille Library

Giving BIG to Washington Talking Book & Braille Library

Washington Talking Book & Braille Library (WTBBL) is celebrating its 90th anniversary. All this year we are inviting everyone to help us celebrate, and ensure people who are blind or visually impaired have access to the books and other reading materials they love to read. On May 4-5, WTBBL participated in Washington Gives’ GiveBIG, a 48-hour online giving campaign that supports Washington state nonprofits. Thanks to the support and generosity of people all across our great state, WTBBL raised $10,000…

Read More Read More

Collage of library staff answering questions through the Ask a Librarian service along with the program logo.
Ask a Librarian: your friendly neighborhood state-government resource

Ask a Librarian: your friendly neighborhood state-government resource

How often have you heard someone tell you the information you are looking for is “on our website,” only to give up looking because you could not find it? More than likely quite often. Unfortunately, however, and despite the best of intentions, government agencies are not always immune to this issue. Over 190 agencies comprise Washington state government. Thousands of Washingtonians visit their websites every day, often for urgent reasons — whether to make an appointment, pay a fee, or…

Read More Read More

Collage of people holding signs to "Support your 18 yr. old vote" and campaign buttons.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY 26th AMENDMENT: “Right to Vote at Age 18″ turns 50

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 26th AMENDMENT: “Right to Vote at Age 18″ turns 50

“Old enough to fight, old enough to vote.” “You fight & die but can’t vote at 18.” These were just a couple of the slogans from the movement to lower the voting age from 21 to 18, which ultimately led to the 26th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states: The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by…

Read More Read More