From the desk of Evan Robb

Congratulations to the latest group of public libraries and heritage organizations recently awarded digitization grant through the Washington Rural Heritage program!

Over the next year Washington State Library staff will be working with these organizations to digitize unique, historically significant materials held in their collections. Awardees will be trained in all aspects of digitization, and their collections will be publicly hosted and digitally preserved through the Washington Rural Heritage website and digital repository.

The statewide digital collection currently provides access to photographs, documents, audio and video recordings, and digitized cultural objects from more than 100 Washington institutions. In addition, the project includes more than 300 family photo collections, making these previously inaccessible materials available freely to the public.

Below are this year’s grant recipients. To read about the details of each project, go to: http://www.sos.wa.gov/q/2015WRHAwards.

• $5,000 – Asotin County Library in partnership with the Asotin County Museum.
• $2,141 – Ellensburg Public Library.
• $4,259 – Kettle Falls Public Library, Libraries of Stevens County.
• $5,000 – La Conner Regional Library District, in partnership with the Museum of Northwest Art (MoNA) and Western Washington University Libraries, Special Collections.
• $5,000 – Port Angeles Public Library, North Olympic Library System, in partnership with the Clallam County Genealogical Society.
• $3,600 – Whitman County Library, in partnership with the Colfax Fire Department, Town of Farmington, and Washington State University Manuscripts, Archives & Special Collections.

To learn more about participating in Washington Rural Heritage, contact Evan Robb, Digital Repository Librarian at [email protected].

Washington Rural Heritage is supported with Library Services and Technology Act funding provided by the federal Institute for Museum and Library Services.

A June 18, 2015 article in the Cheney Free Press highlights the exciting new digitization project from the Medical Lake Library, Spokane County Library District. View the article here.

From the desk of Evan Robb

The Washington Rural Heritage project recently went live with a new digital collection from the northeast corner of our state. The Colville National Forest Collection provides access to a sampling of the archival photos, maps, and documents held by the Heritage Department at Colville National Forest Headquarters in Stevens County.

Of particular note are the photos of fire lookouts that once dotted the mountaintops of the Kettle River and Selkirk Mountain Ranges. These photos have been geo-referenced and placed on a “Story Map” so that users can fly from peak to peak, getting a glimpse of the varied lookout tower styles  as well as truly stunning panoramic photographs taken from the lookouts themselves—once important tools to the fire spotters that occupied the lookouts. Because most of these photos were produced by the U.S. Federal Government, they are in the public domain.

The collection represents a collaborative digitization project undertaken in 2014-2015 by the Colville National Forest and Libraries of Stevens County. According to Colville National Forest spokesman, Franklin Pemberton, “We love the idea of people having access to [the documents] – for research or for student projects. They capture the heritage of Northeast Washington before photos were widely available to average citizens.”

The Washington Rural Heritage project serves public and tribal libraries throughout Washington, as well as partnering organizations such as museums, local government, and schools. Headquartered at the Washington State Library (Office of the Secretary of State), the project is supported with Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funding provided by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services. The project’s 2015-2016 digitization grant cycle is currently accepting applications from eligible insitutions. To find out how your organization can participate in this statewide digitization initiative, please contact Digital Repository Librarian Evan Robb at [email protected].

Harry Sutherland, pole vaulting at Eastsound, WA, May, 1915. From the Orcas Island Historical Museum, James T. Geoghegan Collection.

From the desk of Evan Robb

Congratulations to the latest group of Washington libraries and museum receiving 2014-2015 LSTA grant awards through the Washington Rural Heritage initiative!

A total of 16 Washington institutions (including eight public libraries administering the sub-grants) will collaborate to digitize historically significant primary sources over the next year. Those institutions are:

• Columbia County Rural Library District, in partnership with the Blue Mountain Heritage Society and the Dayton Historic Depot.
• Deming Library (Whatcom County Library System), in partnership with the Nesset Family Trust.
• Kettle Falls Public Library (Libraries of Stevens County), in partnership with Colville National Forest.
• Medical Lake Library (Spokane County Library District), in partnership with the Medical Lake Historical Society.
• Orcas Island Public Library, in partnership with the Orcas Island Historical Museum.
• Puyallup Public Library.
• Roslyn Public Library, in partnership with the Roslyn Museum.
• Whitman County Library, in partnership with the Staley Museum.

Click here to learn more about each specific grant award and digitization project.

Libraries currently participating in grant-funded digitization projects this year (FY 2013) are busy wrapping up their new collections as of this writing. Look for announcements here as new projects come online.

Funds for Washington Rural Heritage are made available by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. For more information, contact Evan Robb, Project Manager, (360) 704-5228.

From the desk of Evan Robb

Since 1969, residents of the Central Washington towns of Roslyn and Cle Elum have named an annual Pioneer Queen–a woman whose life and contributions to the community embody the history of Upper Kittitas County.

Erin Krake, librarian at the Roslyn Public Library, wanted to shine a light of the story of these women, “who built [our] town from the grown up, just as their men did so from the coal mines beneath it.” Beginning in 2012, Krake, and a team of local volunteers began digitizing the documentary evidence of these lives, by directly interviewing surviving Pioneer Queens and scanning their family photograph collections.

The Pioneer Queens of Upper Kittitas County Collection is the result of that effort, which the Roslyn Public Library envisions as an ongoing, multi-year project to tell the story of the settling of Roslyn and the surrounding area from the women’s point of view. According to Krake: “In each case, the stories are vibrant and unique, containing the common themes of family, food, work and play, good times and hard ones.”

Tom Whited sings “The Strawberry Roan” to guests at his dude ranch in Kittitas County. Roslyn Heritage Collection.

From the desk of Evan Robb

Would your library like to digitize its historical materials and special collections? Create an online community archive of unique materials from patrons’ family collections? Partner with local historical societies and other organizations to collaboratively digitize local history resources?

Washington Rural Heritage, the Washington State Library’s statewide digitization initiative for public and tribal libraries is currently accepting grant applications for 2014-2015. A total of $50,000 in LSTA funds is available to award five (5) or more grants up to $10,000 each.  To date, more than 90 cultural institutions (including 33 libraries) throughout Washington have contributed to this growing collection of digitized primary sources.

Learn more about the project and see a full list of contributors by visiting: www.washingtonruralheritage.org/cdm/aboutwrh

The application deadline for this grant cycle is Friday, May 9, 2014. To review eligibility requirements, grant guidelines, and to download grant applications, go to: www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/grants. For questions and to discuss potential projects, applicants are encouraged to contact Evan Robb, Washington Rural Heritage Project Manager, at (360) 704-5228 or [email protected].

Larry Tommer with Japanese glass float found near Ocean Shores, Washington, 1966.

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).

Didi Anstett, 1968’s Miss USA, posing with the Ocean Shores Clam Prix oversized razor clam shovel.

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

Display of canned salmon at first Clallam County Fair, 1895. North Olympic Heritage Collection.

From the desk of Evan Robb

Congratulations to the latest group of Washington libraries and museums receiving 2013-2014 LSTA grant awards through the Washington Rural Heritage initiative!

• Ellensburg Public Library.
• Orcas Island Public Library, in partnership with the Orcas Island Historical Museum.
• Port Angeles Public Library (North Olympic Library System).
• Sedro-Woolley Public Library, in partnership with the Clear Lake Community Historical Association.
• Sunnyside Library (Yakima Valley Libraries), in partnership with the Sunnyside Historical Society.
• Walla Walla County Rural Library District.
• Whitman County Library, in partnership with the Pine City Historical Society.

These organizations will spend the next year digitizing historically significant materials from their own holdings, the holdings of partnering heritage organizations, and in some cases, privately held collections. Read more about each specific grant project here.

Libraries currently participating in grant-funded digitization projects this year (FY 2012) are busy wrapping up their new collections as of this writing. Look for announcements here as new projects come online.

Funds for Washington Rural Heritage are made available by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. For more information, contact Evan Robb, Project Manager, (360) 704-5228.

Local author Kevin O’Brien spoke at the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library for Library Snapshot Day.

On Thursday, April 18, 2013 the Washington State Library participated in Washington Library Snapshot Day–a statewide effort to promote the important work libraries do every day. We collected usage statistics, customer comments, and photographs depicting everyday activities at the Washington State Library, its 17 branches, and the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library.

On Library Snapshot Day, the Washington State Library, including its branches throughout the state:

• Was open for business for a total of 77.5 hours.
• Answered 509 reference questions.
• Was visited by 841 patrons (in-person).
• Received 1,151 unique visitors to its website.
• Circulated 3,453 items.
• Provided 72 individual sessions to persons needing to use computers or access the Internet.
• Mailed out 77 items for interlibrary loan.

WSL Special Collections Librarian Sean Lanksbury shows a new collection of Washington fruit box labels to Assistant Secretary of State, Ken Raske.

A few more numbers:

• Washington library patrons asked 121 questions using the Ask-WA virtual reference service; libraries across the state answered 115 questions from around the world.
• Our Digital Collections and Resources received 2,744 visits.
• WSL and WTBBL each hosted local author programs, seeing a total of 70 attendees.
• The Washington Talking Book and Braille Library saw 99.75 volunteer hours for the day.

All in a day’s work!

For more great snapshots of life at the Washington State Library, click here.

From the Desk of Evan Robb

Throughout 2012 we learned a great deal about how the unique resources in our Washington Rural Heritage collections are impacting end users–and we’re learning directly from the users themselves.  Since enabling the public commenting feature on our digital library software in January, 2012 we’ve received over 100 comments on items in more than 25 digital collections from throughout the state.  Here are a few standouts:

A user named “JRW” commented on this photo depicting logging on Alfred Gardene’s homestead in Everson, Washington:

 “So grateful to have found these photos! We now live on this very property and are in the midst of returning the homestead to historic glory.”

The Everson McBeath Community Library (Whatcom County Library System) has done a particularly good job at mobilizing community members to identify, date, and otherwise enrich records in its Nooksack Valley Heritage collection, which was recently published in late 2012.

A user named Melinda attached this nice note to a record describing the life of Ellensburg’s Thomas S. Kirk:

“We always called him Uncle Tom, he was married to my Grandmother Ida Suver Kirk. He was always so kind to me and created such nice memories as a child for me.”

This photo is one of roughly 1,300 portraits taken by amateur photographer Fred. L. Breckon, former Ellensburg City Engineer. Accompanied by detailed biographical information, this sub-collection is a valuable genealogical resource for Washington’s Kittitas Valley. The entire Fred L. Breckon portrait collection has been digitized by the Ellensburg Public Library and is available through its Ellensburg Heritage Collection.

Another user named Byron recently added biographical information to an image of his uncle, shown here while attending Vashon College:

“Nice photo of my uncle, Chauncey Jones [left]. He went on to study medicine at the University of Chicago, studied humanities at UC Berkeley and practiced medicine and surgery in Everett, WA until his untimely death in 1944 at the age of 64 years. He was the son of A.C. and Mrs A.C. (Alonzo C. and Nettie Bentley) pictured in the photo taken in 1892 of the Vashon College faculty.”

Additional materials documenting Vashon College from 1890 to 1912 (when the original college closed), were digitized in 2008 by staff at the Vashon Library, King County Library System. They can be viewed as part of the larger Vashon Island Heritage Collection.

Finally, we’ve received more than a few corrections and identifications over the last year, including this correction to a striking group portrait photograph from Pullman, WA (two of the individuals had previously been misidentified):

“This photo is actually Clara Hull Newton (back left) and Nick (Earl H.) Newton (front left). They are my Great Grandparents. The Crawfords are identified correctly. –Marti Lothspeich Fulfs”

This photo is one of more than 2,000 documents from over 100 individual families (and counting) digitized by Whitman County Library as part of its Whitman County Heritage Collection.  Whitman County Library’s multi-year, community-based digitization efforts have brought participatory history to every town in the county, and continue to unearth hidden treasures in family collections throughout the greater Palouse region.

Prior to the integration of a public commenting feature in our digital collections, members of the public were forced to contact us by email if they had questions or corrections.  Needless to say, the amount and frequency of such feedback was much lower than it has been since implementing public commenting.  We look forward to more comments in 2013.  More identifications, dates, and stories. Without your participation, we’re simply history!