WSL and the “Declaration of Learning”
The Library of Congress, along with 12 other governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations, including the American Library Association and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, have recently created the Declaration of Learning. This document “formally announces their partnership as members of the Inter-Agency Collaboration on Education”. Each organization involved pledges to utilize its historic artifacts and institutional expertise to create interactive digital media, apps, and websites.
In the spirit of this declaration, Washington State Library would like to highlight some of our digital services and activities that also share this pledge.
Washington Rural Heritage
Washington Rural Heritage is a collection of historic materials documenting the early culture, industry, and community life of Washington State. The collection is an ongoing project of small, rural libraries and partnering cultural institutions, guided by an initiative of the Washington State Library (WSL). The initiative provides the infrastructure and training to both digitize and serve unique collections to a widespread audience.
Classics in Washington History
The State Library is delighted to present Classics in Washington History. This digital collection of full-text books brings together rare, out of print titles for easy access by students, teachers, genealogists and historians. Visit Washington’s early years through the lives of the men and women who lived and worked in Washington Territory and State.
Special Collections of the Washington State Library
The Special Collections of the Washington State Library collect and preserve rare and archival materials that enrich research in the history and culture of the Pacific Northwest.
The geographical region comprises the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho in their entirety; the province of British Columbia; and western portions of the State of Montana. Alaska and Yukon Territory materials are also acquired selectively when they relate to the Pacific Northwest region.
These non-circulating collections are comprised of historic and unique books, pamphlets, maps and manuscripts that are made available for research in our reading room.
Historical Maps
The State Archives and the State Library hold extensive map collections dealing with the Washington State and the surrounding region. Maps for this digital collection will be drawn from state and territorial government records, historic books, federal documents and the Northwest collection.
Genealogy at the Washington State Library
Washington State Library has Wide array of genealogical resources both online and on site, including biographies, bibliographies, vital records, cemetery inscriptions, City and County histories, directories, Immigration records , military records and more.
Historic Newspapers in Washington
Washington State Library’s newspaper collection includes current issues on paper and historic newspapers on microfilm with some searchable online. We subscribe to about 125 daily and weekly newspapers throughout Washington, plus a few out-of-state papers. The microfilm collection consists of over 40,000 reels of newspapers dating from the 1850s to the present.
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