Washington Rural Heritage introduced Ellensburg Heritage last year with the stunning Rodeo Collection, documenting 40 years of one of the top 25 rodeos in the country. Their sophomore effort brings us three new collections (and a few more rodeo photographs, too!).

The Kittitas Valley Crossroads Collection contains nearly 200 historic images depicting Indian life in Ellensburg and the surrounding area. It features the work of local photographers as well as a sampling from Eli Emor James, Lee Moorhouse, Vibert Jeffers, and Frank Matsura. The images include portraits of Indians in both traditional and Western dress, photos of pictographs from Rock Island, and scenes of recreation and domestic life.

The Ida Nason Collection is the personal photograph collection of Ellensburg citizen Ida Joseph Nason Aronica. A great-granddaughter of Yakama Chief Owhi, she dedicated her life to the preservation of her native heritage and culture. See images of her weaving and beadwork, family photos – her daughters were Ellensburg Rodeo royalty in 1929, and beautiful portraits of Ida as a young girl and in her later years.

The Fred L. Breckon Historic Portraits Collection is the work of amateur photographer Fred Beckon, an Ellensburg native who captured his fellow citizens in candid shots around town. These portraits date from the early 1940s to 1966 and are accompanied by short biographical information jotted down at the time the photo was taken, giving a very personal glimpse into Ellensburg’s history. Learn more about everyone from a poet to the postmaster.

View Ellensburg Public Library’s entire collection at: http://www.washingtonruralheritage.org/ellensburg. To view their newest 2008 grant material, click here.

The Washington Rural Heritage team has been criss-crossing the state consulting with project participants, meeting with potential contributors and scanning, scanning, and scanning some more. In the last month, we’ve seen three out of four corners of this state — and a few spots in between — and though we’re a little road-weary, we can’t wait to feature these incredible historic finds on our site.

We started the month of July on Lummi Island, capturing some large reef-netting maps and historic fishing gear like cedar buoys and anchor stones once used by Lummi Indians.

The next week, we were off to the grassy plains of Garfield County, where we set up shop at the Eastern Washington Agricultural Museum to scan some incredibly-restored farming implements and equipment. We were psyched to have the opportunity to capture our largest item to date: a fully-restored, horse-drawn 36-foot Harris pull combine.

After that, we met with the Sedro-Woolley librarian and representatives from the Sedro-Woolley Museum to discuss a future project scanning some of their incredible holdings (including 97 glass lantern slides, ca. 1910, documenting a real shoot-em-up robbery!).

And finally, we drove almost eight hours to get up to Metaline Falls in Pend Oreille County, where we scanned almost 600 century-old photographs portraying life in this tiny community surrounded by the Colville National Forest. You’ll see scenes from a bear bbq, many shots of construction of the Box Canyon Bridge and Dam, and, of course, Black Beauty in all her glory (blogged about here).

Check back for more collections soon!

Every day, thousands of motorists make their way along Interstate-90 as it winds through Snoqualmie Pass before sloping gracefully to the Columbia Plateau. This often-traveled highway affords beautiful views of central Washington: from rugged, snow-capped mountain peaks to rolling, golden fields. Most cars fly past Roslyn, a tiny mountain town a few miles north of Cle Elum, without realizing that it is home to a fascinating, one-of-a-kind cemetery; the state’s oldest continually operated bar; and was the setting of a popular 1990s television show. Most notoriously, however, it boasts some of the state’s richest mining history.

Roslyn was settled in the late nineteenth century by miners and their families, recruited by the Northwest Improvement Company to tunnel underground and exhume the deposits of coal that would be tapped for more than half a century. These founding families hailed from dozens of countries, and together they forged a home and a community. Though mining activities have gradually halted, this rich blend of languages, cultures and traditions is still evident in today’s citizens.

Washington Rural Heritage worked with Erin Krake, Roslyn’s librarian, to digitize and preserve a fading set of Ektachrome slides showing many facets of early Roslyn life. She tapped several townspeople to lend vivid descriptions of these images, telling the story behind the story. Many of these volunteer catalogers, sons and daughters of miners, recall hearing firsthand accounts of the events in the photographs.

Our favorites include a chilling portrait of women widowed by the 1892 mine explosion; a snapshot of a young couple giving a backyard concert; and a 22-ton chunk of coal, destined for greatness at the Chicago World Fair in 1893.

We’ve also included a lecture series by local historian David H.A. Browitt, who gives explicitly detailed accounts of the role that mining played in the town’s development. You’ll hear, for example, about mining methodology; the corporate decisions that brought in African-American strikebreakers; and the events leading up to and surrounding the mine explosions that rocked this sleepy community.

View the collection online at: http://www.washingtonruralheritage.org/roslyn/

Washington Rural Heritage is pleased to announce our fourth San Juan Island collection: Orcas Island Heritage. The Orcas Island Historical Museum, in partnership with the Orcas Island Public Library, has digitized dozens of photographs, maps and books depicting the lives and livelihood of early settlers as they carved homes into this hilly and verdant island. Successful farming, fishing and logging led to the even more successful industry of tourism as Orcas became a premier summer destination for Washingtonians.

Various docking points around the island grew into villages and towns, complete with post offices, general stores and even schools. Each village has its own story to tell, and for the first time, we’ve enabled users to browse items by community.

Olga, perched on the southern tip of eastern Orcas, is one of these charming communities. One of its residents published a book of local family’s recipes and memories, including landing a 33 1/2 lb. blackmouth, dancing with the C.C.C. boys back in the ’30s, and bloomers hoisted to the top of a flagpole that were mistaken for a distress signal. When Lucille Willis wed in 1937, she lived in a beach-front cabin with few amenities.

She recalls that using an outhouse was the hardest adjustment for her. “One night when Culver had to be away, I went across the yard to the outhouse. I had no sooner got there than I heard the most alarming whooshing sounds. I hurried back to the house and waited for Culver to return home. When I told him my story, he laughed and told me not to worry; it was just a pod of whales making their way across the bay.”

We also invite you to explore items on our customized map. You can see just where that mysterious rock formation of an anchor is situated; envisage the first Ford that topped Mt. Constitution in Moran State Park; and see a steamer pulling into dock at Doe Bay – in 1910.

Last month, we polled the state’s public library directors on how the economic downturn has affected them. Almost all respondents claim that, though they are not in immediate peril of closing their doors, they are dealing with serious cutbacks in a time of even greater need. Several directors reported dramatic increases in circulation and patron visits while balancing much tighter budgets.

Pamela Nyberg Kiesner, director of Bellingham Public Library, will reduce her materials budget by 20%, among other savings measures, but reports a 15% circulation increase over last year. “We are enthusiastic about the (circulation) increases,” she said. “Yet we are struggling to keep up.”

Respondents also reveal myriad ways they’re handling cutbacks. Jennifer Ashby, director of Asotin County Library, said they have decreased travel, programming and materials orders, and have cut the heating and cooling to one or two degrees beyond comfortable.

See all responses here.

Ahh, it’s that time of year. Tulips are blooming, trees are beginning to bud and the occasional sunny day breaks through the Pacific Northwest’s endless, wintry rain. But most importantly, shelves are stocked with my all-time favorite treat: PEEPS! This sugary springtime staple makes my stomach queasy, my teeth ache and my head pound, but every year I go back for more. Though these marshmallow goodies hadn’t quite made it to Emerson’s in 1939, it seems that the citizens of Ritzville had plenty of sweet treats to satisfy.

Check out the larger version of Emersons Easter display from the town’s Washington Rural Heritage collection, and you’ll see a 10-cent PAAS egg-dying kit, a bounty of chocolate bunnies, quite an assortment of 8-for-a-penny monstrous jelly beans, and what I can only assume are the most giant Cadbury creme eggs I have ever seen (pardon the fuzziness of the zoomed image at left, I had to show you, or you wouldn’t believe me).

So hop to! Grab your annual ration of Peeps/creme eggs/giant chocolate bunnies before they’re gone. It’s a long year without ’em.

The following information is from an announcement in the GrantStation Insider, which highlights resources and events of interest to state agencies and the public:

“How to Increase Office Productivity Using Free Software is a seven-part series that covers everything nonprofits need to know about moving from costly desktop office software to free online office tools. This series offers tutorials for getting started with  spreadsheets and presentation functions – as well as a host of other free applications that increase productivity and are fun to learn. This series will show you how your organization can easily make use of free tools to achieve organizational objectives for both novice and experienced computer users.

Click here for more information.

UPDATE: The material in this blog has been updated on March 25. It originally said the event was provided in partnership with state agencies. State agencies have no role in the planning of this event, although the Washington State Legislature, Governor Gregoire, and the Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development (CTED) do have an ongoing partnership with GrantStation.

Washington Rural Heritage is rolling out new promotional bookmarks in time for WLA 2009 in Spokane.

Trouble is, there are so many great photos throughout our collections, that we can’t settle on just 5.  Will you help us?

We’ve selected 20 or so photos, cropped them to the bookmark shape of 2 in. x 8 in., and we want to know which ones you’d most likely tuck between your pages, tack to your cork board, or give out as Christmas gifts (hint: these make great Christmas gifts).

You can check them out on Library Development’s flickr page here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wsl-libdev/sets/72157614879774406/

Leave a blog comment letting us know your favorites. And if you think we’ve missed a really bookmark-worthy photo, let us know that too.

The Washington Rural Heritage team has been digging for historic treasure around the state, making stops all over in our efforts to scout out our next collections. From Cathlamet to Metaline Falls and eveywhere in between, we saw mounds of photos, fascinating documents and extraordinary objects that we’re really excited about adding to the collection.

Though we’re still in planning phases for our digitization work for the upcoming year, we wanted to share with you a few highlights of what’s being stored in the state’s rural libraries and museums.

The Wahkiakum County Historical Society, perched on the banks of the mighty Columbia in Cathlamet, has an extensive local photo collection, including beautiful aerial photographs of the town’s early development.

The grassy, rolling hills of Garfield County predictably harbored wonderful agricultural items. We saw lots of farming photos, beautifully restored machinery and vehicles outfitted for cold-weather travel (we loved seeing one of the area’s first postal carriages, complete with mini stove and mail organizer at the Eastern Washington Agricultural Museum) and even Pomeroy’s founding father’s scythe.

The Metaline Falls Library in Pend Oreille County was a veritable zoo of images. Their historic scrapbooks are filled with unbelievable photos, including close-up shots of cougar kittens, the celebration around the spoils of a bear hunt, and – our personal favorite – a few images of local celebrity Black Beauty, the bag-punching dog.

These findings were just the tip of the iceberg of the materials we saw during our travels. We’re always looking for unique collections to add to our project in our efforts to help small, rural libraries preserve and provide access to their priceless historic holdings. Our grant cycle will open in the next few months; please contact us for more information.

Evan and Kirsten are the featured speakers on the upcoming First Tuesdays presentation. This free, web-based program begins at 9 a.m. on Jan. 13. We’ll discuss our mission and goals for the Washington Rural Heritage project, give you a behind-the-scenes look at how we operate, and share some stories about how WRH has impacted the libraries we work with.

According to moderator Susan Barrett, “First Tuesdays began as a service to small and rural libraries, but those from any library are welcome to take part. Branch staff should first check with supervisors. If you have never participated in any Wimba session, you will need to go through a quick set-up wizard first.”

For more information, or to access archived presentations, click here.