From the desk of Evan Robb

A new digital collection from Ocean Shores, Washington documents the area’s rapid transformation from a sleepy, rural seaside locale to a developed resort community during the 1960s and 1970s. The Ocean Shores Heritage Collection includes material from the local history archives of the Ocean Shores Public Library, digitized in 2013. Digitization was made possible with assistance from the Washington State Library’s Washington Rural Heritage Initiative.

Standout material from the new collection includes:

• Photographs from Ocean Shores’ local newspaper The Ocean Observer. These include some great images of coastal recreation, including a topic near and dear to many throughout the Pacific Northwest: razor clam digging.
• A series of 1960s photos depicting Ocean Shores landmarks and a community in the early phases of development. These include a few good shots of the S.S. Catala, a retired Canadian passenger steamship that was brought to Ocean Shores in 1962 to serve as a floating motel, but capsized and sank close to shore on New Year’s Day, 1965.
• Several items documenting Ocean Shores’ incorporation (Ocean Shores is a relatively young city in Washington State, having incorporated in 1970).

Ocean Shores Public Library joins more than 90 cultural heritage organizations contributing to Washington Rural Heritage, a statewide collaborative digitization initiative coordinated by the Washington State Library.  Public libraries, tribal libraries, and partnering heritage institutions are eligible to participate in the project, which provides grant funding, training, digitization support, and digital collections hosting to its participants.

To learn more about participation, as well as upcoming digitization grant opportunities, please contact Evan Robb at the Washington State Library, [email protected], 360 704-5228

Tags: Washington Rural Heritage

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