Washington Archives and Libraries
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The archives and libraries listed below offer services or have major collections of genealogical and historical records relating to Washington.
Wiki Articles on Major Repositories in Washington[edit | edit source]
National Archives at Seattle · Family History Library
Archives[edit | edit source]
- Washington State Archives
1129 Washington Street S.E.
Olympia, WA 98504
Telephone: 360-586-1492
Fax: 360-664-8814
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 40238
Olympia, WA 98504-40238
Covers state governmental records.
- Washington State Archives - Digital Archives, this site has more than 60 million searchable records online (7 million more than last year), including birth, marriage, death, census, cemetery and naturalization records.
- Archives online collections
- Archives Southwest Regional Branch
1129 Washington Street S.E.
Olympia, WA 98504-0238
Telephone: 360-753-1684
Fax: 360-664-8814
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 40238
Olympia, WA 98504-0238
Covers Clark, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, Skamania, Thurston, and Wahkiakum Counties.
- Archives Central Regional Branch
Bledsoe & Washington Archives Building
400 E. University Way
Mail Stop 7547
Ellensburg, Washington 98926-7547
Telephone: 509-963-2136
Fax: 509-963-1753
Mailing Address:
400 E. University Way Mail Stop 7547
Ellensburg, Washington 98926-7547
Covers Benton, Chelan, Douglas, Franklin, Grant, Kittitas, Klickitat, Okanogan, and Yakima counties.
- Archives Eastern Regional Branch
Eastern Washington Regional Archives
960 Washington Street
Cheney, Washington 99004
Telephone: 509-235-7508
Fax: 509-235-7505
Covers Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Ferry, Garfield, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens, Walla Walla, and Whitman counties.
- Archives Northwest Regional Branch
Northwest Regional Branch Archives
Western Washington University, MS-9123
3000 Landerholm Circle SE, MS-N100
Bellevue, WA 98007-6484
Telephone: 360-650-3125
Fax: 360-650-3323
Covers Clallam, Island, Jefferson, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom counties.
- Archives Puget Sound Regional Branch
Puget Sound Washington Regional Archives
Pritchard-Fleming Building
3000 Landerholm Circle SE, MS-N100
Bellingham, WA 98225-9123
Telephone: 425-564-3940
Fax: 425-564-3945
Covers King, Pierce, and Kitsap counties.
- National Archives at Seattle
6125 Sand Point Way, N.E.
Seattle, WA 98115-7999
Telephone: 206-336-5115
Fax: 206-336-5112 - Archives West
Formerly Northwest Digital Archives. Contains listings of archives in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, and Utah.
Libraries[edit | edit source]
- Washington State Historical Society Library
Research Center
315 North Stadium Way
Tacoma, WA 98402
Telephone: 253-798-5914
Fax: 253-597-4186
- Washington State Library
P.O. Box 42460
Olympia, WA 98504-2460
Telephone: 360-753-5590
Fax: 360-586-7575
- List of genealogical collections
- Genealogy Research Links
- Catalog - Choose Genealogy Collection under Additional Options; choose Keywords in the search by box; Enter the search words in the box, such as, Lewis County.
- Washington Digitized Newspapers; other newspapers are on microfilm
- Washington Rural Heritage: Rural Heritage is a program funded by the State Library that helps other local organizations (libraries, historical societies, museums, etc) digitize their local history collections and makes those collections available online in one place. The photos on the site belong to the organizations that submitted them.
- Seattle Public Library
1000 Fourth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104
Telephone: 206-386-4629
Fax: 206-386-4632
- Suzzallo-Allen Library
University of Washington
P.O. Box 352900
Seattle, WA 98195-2900
Telephone: 206-543-9158
Fax: 206-685-8049
- A helpful catalog for this library is:
- University of Washington (Seattle) Library
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA 98195-2900
206-543-0242
- Digital Collections
- Pacific Northwest Regional Index: a. This is an offline card index (person, place, and subject) maintained for over 90 years of citations to newspapers, county histories, WPA projects and other regional histories. Some of the collection has been digitized
- The Dictionary Catalog of the Pacific Northwest Collection of the University of Washington (Seattle)
Libraries.
Six Volumes. (Boston, Massachusetts: G.K. Hall and Co., 1972.)
At various libraries (WorldCat); Family History Library book Q 979.7 A3w
- Washington State University Library
Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections
Washington State University Libraries
PO Box 645610
Pullman WA 99164-5610
Telephone: 509-335-6691 - They have a large variety of material such as:
- Family records
- Photographs
- Correspondence
- Rare books
- Historical maps
- Ephemera such as pamphlets, fruit-box labels, etc.
- Washington Dairy Women scrapbooks for Lewis County.
- Washington State University student and alum related material such as yearbook photos
- A large selection of digitized newspapers
- Reference materials cannot be taken out of the library. To access the reference materials:
- Use “Search It” at WSU Libraries | Washington State University.
- Email the “Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections” at mascref@wsu.edu to let them know what you want to research and when you plan to be on campus.
- They will locate the items and have them ready for you to photograph at Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC) – Terrell Ground Floor.
- Centralia College Library
Kirk Library Home
600 Centralia College Blvd
Centralia College, WA 98531
360-736-9391
- The Kirk Library has a digitalized archive collection. It is only related to Centralia College. It includes Yearbooks, Newspaper clippings from The Chronicle, Photographs, Documents, etc. You can access them through library's homepage.
- Pacific Lutheran University Library
Robert A.L. Mordvedt Library
12180 Park Avenue S.
Tacoma, WA 98447
(253) 535-7500
library@plu.edu
- Welcome to the Pacific Lutheran University Archives & Special Collections Discovery Database. This database includes descriptions of the Archives & Special Collections' holdings and provides access to digitized and born digital content. These holdings are divided into four main collection areas:
- PLU University Archives - Records relating to the activities and operations of Pacific Lutheran University.
- ELCA Region I Archives - Records of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Region I, which includes Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.
- Scandinavian Immigrant Experience Collection - Records relating to the experience of Scandinavian immigrants in the Pacific Northwest, including the New Land, New Lives Oral History Collection.
- Special Collections - Unique materials collected by or donated to the department of Archives & Special Collections.
- EWU Libraries - Cheney Campus
816 F Street 100 Lib
Cheney, WA 99004
Telephone: 509-335-9671
Fax: 509-359-6456
- Spokane Public Library Downtown Branch, Ned M. Barnes Northwest Room
906 West Main Avenue
Spokane, WA 99201
Telephone: 509-444-5338
mascref@wsu.edu
- Northwest Museum of Art and Culture
2316 West First Avenue
Spokane, WA 99201
Telephone: 509-456-3931
- Heritage Quest Research Library
1007 Main St.
Sumner, WA 98390
Telephone: 253-863-1806
Museum[edit | edit source]
Washington Online Records[edit | edit source]
Links to online databases and indexes that may include vital records, biographies, cemeteries, censuses, histories, immigration records, land records, maps, military records, naturalizations, newspapers, obituaries, or probate records.
Guides[edit | edit source]
Two important guides to Washington records are:
- Genealogical Resources in Washington State: A Guide to Genealogical Records Held at Repositories, Government Agencies and Archives. Olympia, (Washington: Secretary of State, Division of Archives and Records Management, 1983.) at various libraries (WorldCat); Family History Library book 979.7 A3g
- Historical Records of Washington State: Records and Papers Held at Repositories. Olympia, Washington: Washington State Historical Records Advisory Board, 1981. At various libraries (WorldCat); (Family History Library book 979.7 A3hi; fiche 6051177
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