From the desk of Evan Robb

Gordon and June Thompson in goat-drawn carriage, Everson, Washington, 1928.

A new digital collection from the Whatcom County Library System is providing access to historical materials first gathered more than a decade ago.  From 1995 to 1999, a collaborative, citizen-led effort in Whatcom County sought to document the unique primary sources found in family collections throughout the Nooksack River Valley.  Known as the Whatcom Memories Photograph and Interview Project, and co-sponsored by the Lynden Pioneer Museum and the Whatcom Museum of History and Art, the project solicited materials from private collections, photographed and described them, and returned them to their owners.  Since that time, the materials have only been available to researchers visiting these institutions in person.

For its 2011-2012 Washington Rural Heritage grant project, the Everson McBeath Community Library (a branch of the Whatcom County Library System) digitized more than 500 items from this project.  Focusing on the communities of Everson, Nooksack, Clearbrook, Glen Echo, and Hopewell, the collection includes material from more than 40 Whatcom County families, many of whom were original pioneers and homesteaders in the area.

Collection highlights include:

• Nooksack River flood photos spanning several decades.
• Early homesteads and pioneer family portraits.
• Downtown business districts of Everson and Nooksack, including cannery and dairy industry photos.
• Lumber industry and loggers of the Nooksack Valley.
• A Y.M.C.A. ascent of Mount Baker.

Congratulations to the staff and volunteers at the Everson McBeath Community Library for making this grant project a resounding success.  According to local project manager, Susan Johns: “With the digitization of this collection and online access through the Washington State Library, it is now available to anyone, anywhere. This will be an incredible resource for all present and future generations.”

Y.M.C.A. ascent of Mount Baker, Deming Glacier in background.

The Everson McBeath Community Library joins more than 80 cultural institutions in 30 communities throughout the state that have digitized material with assistance from the Washington Rural Heritage initiative. Washington Rural Heritage sub-grants are made possible with Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funding provided by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.

For more information about Washington Rural Heritage, contact Evan Robb, Project Manager: (360)704-5228, [email protected].

Billie Legg picking apples in Manson, Washington, 1924 – click image to see larger version

From the desk of Evan Robb

Just as this year’s Washington apple crop is shaping up to be the second most productive season on record, a new Washington Rural Heritage collection documents our state’s long history of agricultural abundance in the heart of apple-growing country. The Foodways & Byways of North Central Washington Collection illustrates how the production, acquisition, and distribution of local food has played a central role in the history and development of North Central Washington.

For its 2011-2012 LSTA grant project, the North Central Regional Library (with a service area comprising one quarter of Washington State’s geography) partnered with the Wenatchee-based Initiative for Rural Innovation and Stewardship (IRIS). The partnership hosted five community-based digitization events at NCRL branches in early 2012, where more than 100 historic photographs from private collections and local historical societies were digitized for the collection.  Bringing together a wealth of unique material from Chelan, Douglas, Ferry, Grant, and Okanogan counties, the collection topics range from hunting & fishing, to the fruit and grain industries, to herding and range management.

Highlights include:

• Apple orchard and packing shed  photos from Manson, Washington, including the undeniably iconic photo shown above as well as another great image of the same apple picker taken that year.
• 1940s and 1950s-era photos of camping and fishing Lake Curlew in Ferry County. The trout fishing looks to have been excellent, not to mention the porcupine hunting (note: pan to the bottom of this image to see ‘Madilane and her porcupine, 1958’).
• Wheat planting and harvesting photos from Grant County, including this happy harvest photo and a 1908 family harvest photo from the Low Gap area.
• Hunting images from throughout the region. We especially like this one from Republic, Washington.
• Group portaits by Frank Matsura, still held in a private collection by a family member with deep roots in Okanogan County. This photo features Matsura himself, joining in on an Omak-area watermelon feast.

Baseball and sheep, Grant County, Washington – click image to see larger version

Congratulations to the North Central Washington Heritage partners–they join more than 80 cultural institutions in 30 communities throughout the state that have digitized material with assistance from the Washington Rural Heritage initiative. Washington Rural Heritage sub-grants are made possible with Library Services and Technology Act funding provided by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.

For more information about Washington Rural Heritage, contact Evan Robb, Project Manager: (360)704-5228, [email protected].

Map of the Columbia Basin Irrigation System

From the desk of Evan Robb

Washington Rural Heritage is pleased to announce one of several new digital collections being published this month.  From southeast Washington’s Franklin County, the Connell Heritage Collection marks the completion of a year-long grant funded project led by the Connell Branch of Mid-Columbia Libraries. In partnership with the Connell Heritage Museum and the Franklin County Graphic, this collaborative effort resulted in the digitization of more than 200 unique resources documenting a century of the town’s history.

Among the materials that are now digitized and full-text-searchable for the first time is The Beginnings of Connell.  This local history document that the story of Palouse Junction, a remote point along the Northern Pacific Railroad line in the 1880s which would later be renamed as Connell.  Most of Connell’s growth came after 1900, as more settlers began to move into the area.  Otto Olds’ reminiscences, Memories of a Pioneer, describe a challenging existence for early homesteaders:

 “I don’t remember much that happened that first year, only that we got a house and barn built out of 1 by 12’s standing on end. Dad managed to plow about 15 acres with a walking plow or ‘foot burner’ as they are called, and planted it to oats in the fall. We had to sell one of the cows as it took most of the daylight to haul water and cut sagebrush to clear the land. Dad and Uncle Ed got a harvest job by driving to Lind, thirty miles away. Dad got $3.50 a day, himself and four mules, so was able to buy our winter groceries.  Dad had arrived in Washington with $1,400. With this he had been able to pay the filing fee on 160 acres—which was about the same as the government betting it was impossible to live on the homestead five years without starving to death. If you survived, the 160 acres were yours.”

Presbyterian Church in Connell, ca. 1917 – present day home of Connell Heritage Museum

Additional highlights from the Connell Heritage collection include:

• Photos of an August, 1907 cloudburst which sent a flash flood through town.
• Photos of February, 1956 flood, demonstrating the effect of a “pineapple express” event in this Eastern Washington community.
• Digitized negatives from the collection of the Franklin County Graphic, documenting community life in Connell across the decades.  Paisley shirts, black-rimmed glasses, and an “I Hate Girls” button all make an appearance on this photo of boys participating in a 1966 pie-eating contest.
• Photos from the Connell Heritage Museum, depicting the aftermath of destructive 1905 and 1909 fires in Connell.
• An early promotional map depicting areas to be irrigated as a result of the Columbia River Basin Project. This map includes canals serving Connell, Mesa, and areas east; these were never constructed.
• A series of street murals from present-day Connell.  These have been geo-referenced along with other materials in the collection, and can be explored on an interactive map.

Congratulations to the Connell Heritage partners—they join more than 80 cultural institutions in 30 communities throughout the state that have digitized material with assistance from the Washington Rural Heritage initiative. Washington Rural Heritage sub-grants are made possible with Library Services and Technology Act funding provided by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.

WTBBL book recording supervisor Theresa shares a laugh with volunteer narrator Rick.

On Monday, April 9, 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 16 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 96.83 hours.
• Answered 524 reference questions.
• Was visited by 1,108 patrons (in-person).
• Received 927 unique visitors to its website.
• Circulated 4,493 items.
• Provided 307 individual sessions to persons needing to use computers or access the Internet.
• Provided one-on-one help with computers/technology 86 times.
• Borrowed 66 items by interlibrary loan and lent out 17.

Jeannie Remillard and her crew at the Stafford Creek Correction Center Library in Aberdeen, WA.

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 1,102 visits.
• The WSL-coordinated Washington Anytime Library saw 575 new checkouts/downloads made by 421 unique patrons.  Of these, 389 transactions were eBooks, and 186 were audiobooks.
• The Washington Talking Book and Braille Library saw 54 volunteer hours for the day.

All in a day’s work!

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

Glass lantern slide advertisement from Sedro-Woolley’s Dream Theatre.

From the desk of Evan Robb

The Sedro-Woolley Public Library and Sedro-Woolley Museum recently completed work on a digital collection celebrating the history of Sedro-Woolley and neighboring communities of the Lower Skagit River Valley. Consisting of more than 300 digitized resources, the Sedro-Woolley Heritage Collection was funded by a Washington Rural Heritage grant from the Washington State Library.

According to Debra Peterson, Director of the Sedro-Woolley Public Library, “This has been such an exciting project.  Many of the photos in this collection have never been seen outside of the Sedro-Woolley Museum; it is such a great way to share these wonderful resources with our community.  Our students do extensive local history projects at several grade levels, and now they have instant access to historic documents that will assist them in their research.”

While most of the collection comes from the holdings of the Sedro-Woolley Museum, some of the material comes from the private collections of Sedro-Woolleyans themselves. For example, these fantastic photos from a community member, which depict the city’s businesses, buildings, community events, and local landmarks throughout the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. When the owner heard about the Library and Museum’s digitization project he enthusiastically offered up his collection for scanning.  “Most of these photos have not been seen by anyone (other than the donor) for years,” said Carolyn Freeman, Director of the Sedr0-Woolley Museum.

Additional collection highlights include:

• Photos depicting the grounds, building, and staff at Northern State Hospital.
• Early images of the downtown Sedro-Woolley business district.
• Logging and lumber industry photos.
• Materials documenting the 1914 robbery of Sedro-Woolley’s First National Bank.
• A collection of glass lantern slides from Sedro-Woolley’s Dream Theatre.
• Early Sedro-Woolley School System photos.

Sedro-Woolley’s City Hall, 1937.

The Sedro-Woolley Public Library and Sedro-Woolley Museum join more than 65 cultural institutions throughout the state that have digitized material with assistance from the Washington Rural Heritage initiative. These collections include historic photos, texts, objects & artifacts, and audiovisual materials that were, in some cases, relatively inaccessible.  To date, Washington Rural Heritage has published 21 collections including more than 10,000 unique items which document local history from every corner of the state.

From the desk of Evan Robb

A collection of historical photographs documenting the community of Prosser, Washington is now available online thanks to a partnership between the Prosser Branch of Mid-Columbia Libraries and the Benton County Museum & Historical Society. Funded by a 2010-2011 Washington Rural Heritage grant from the Washington State Library, the Prosser Heritage Collection documents the early days of this important agricultural center on the Yakima River.

Project partners chose to focus on several thematic sub-collections for this round of digitization: Women in the Valley, Downtown Prosser, Rural Schools, and Dry Land Farming & Homesteading.  Some highlights from the collection include:

• Sheep on summer pasture in the mountains.
• Hans Smith combining on Horse Heaven in 1907.
• Prosser High School boys basketball team.
• Hauling water from the county well, Horse Heaven, 1900.
• Wheat harvest at Anderson Ranch on the Rattlesnake Hills.
• 1902 Prosser High School production of “The Merchant of Venice”.

Prosser Heritage marks the 20th digital collection published by Washington Rural Heritage, an initiative of the Washington State Library providing small and rural libraries with the technical infrastructure to both digitize and serve unique historical collections to a widespread audience. More than 60 cultural institutions throughout the state (including 25 public libraries) have contributed material to the project, which currently includes over 10,000 individually digitized and cataloged resources. These include historic photos, texts, objects & artifacts, and audiovisual materials that were formerly hidden or relatively unknown. A number of participating libraries have also facilitated the digitization of unique materials residing in the private collections of community members–important documents which may have otherwise been lost to time, or remained virtually inaccessible.

Additional collections are slated for publication this fall, and seven libraries are currently working on grant funded digitization projects through summer 2012.  To find out more about participation in Washington Rural Heritage, contact Evan Robb, Project Manager at [email protected], (360) 704-5228 or Ross Fuqua, Digital Projects Librarian at [email protected], (360) 570-5587.

     Joshua Elmer and son, circa 1903

From the desk of Evan Robb

The Washington Rural Heritage initiative is pleased to announce a new digital collection: Odessa Heritage. A project of the Odessa Public Library in partnership with the Odessa Historisches Museum, the collection tells the story of the pioneering families in southwest Lincoln County whose efforts transformed a rugged  section of Washington into the second most productive wheat-growing county in the U.S.

The project began earlier this year when State Library staff performed on-location digitization of items at the Odessa Historisches Museum. Highlights from the digital collection include:

• A stunning collection of century-old photographs by Joshua Elmer, a local professional photographer who documented many of Southwest Lincoln County’s working farms and farmers. The collection includes Elmer’s linen-mounted panoramic photos and also depicts aspects of his family and home life (Elmer’s entire family was involved with the photography business).
• Historisches Museum barn collection: Photos of one-of-a-kind vehicles, agricultural implements, objects, and artifacts unique to the Odessa area.
• Material cataloged by Odessa High School students. An exciting aspect of this project has been involvement from local students who visited the Odessa Historisches Museum, researched specific materials, interacted with Museum staff and local researchers, and drafted item descriptions for the digital collection. See their “bylines” in the Notes field of these records.

Shepherd’s lunch box

Following this initial project, the Odessa Public Library landed a grant from the Washington State Library to continue building the Odessa Heritage Collection. Throughout 2011-2012, the Library will be digitizing additional material in collaboration with the Odessa Historisches Museum; Odessa High School; local independent researchers; and members of the Big Bend chapter of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR).

Congratulations and a big thank you to: Julie Jantz of the Odessa Public Library, for managing the project; Dr. and Mrs. John Gahringer of the Odessa Historisches Museum, for their fantastic interpretation of Museum materials during our visit; Museum board member Paul Scheller for his photography assistance; and local historian Marge Womach for her many hours of research consultation.

Finally, if this online collection has whet your appetite for local history, go learn more in person.  Odessa’s well known (and 41st annual) Deutschesfest is right around the corner!

From the desk of Evan Robb

Congratulations to the latest group of Washington libraries who will be awarded LSTA grants through the Washington Rural Heritage initiative:

• Asotin County Library.
• Connell Branch, Mid-Columbia Libraries.
• Ellensburg Public Library.
• Everson Public Library, Whatcom County Library System.
• Odessa Public Library.
• Omak Library, North Central Regional Library.
• Roslyn Public Library.

These organizations will be spending the next year digitizing historically significant materials from their own holdings, the holdings of partnering heritage institutions, and in some cases, privately held collections. For more details on each project, click here.

As of this writing, our 2010 group of WRH awardees are putting the finishing touches on their grant projects. Newly digitized items are steadily being added to the Washington Rural Heritage digital repository; more information will be available as these new collections go live.

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

On April 12, 2011 the Washington State Library participated in Washington Library Snapshot Day. Hundreds of libraries statewide gathered photos, stories, and usage statistics, providing a glimpse at the important services they provide every day.

This set of images offers a look at a single day in the life of the Washington State Library. Enjoy!

Nice job on the part of Beth Kauer from the Benton City Library promoting their new digital collection at the recent Washington Library Association Conference in Yakima, April 6-8, 2011. Beth designed and staffed a “Spotlight on Success!” table at the conference featuring images and information from the Kiona-Benton City Heritage Collection, a project of the State Library’s Washington Rural Heritage Initiative.

To learn more about how your rural public or tribal library can get involved with the digitization of the local history resources, contact Evan Robb, Project Manager, Washington Rural Heritage: [email protected], (360) 704-5228.

The (4/29/2011) deadline is fast-approaching for this year’s Washington Rural Heritage grant applications; more information on the grant cycle is available here.