Washington Archives and Libraries

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Washington

Archives and Libraries

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

National Archives at Seattle · FamilySearch Library

Archives

• 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

• 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); FS Catalog 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

*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

Washington Online Records

Washington Online Genealogy Records

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

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); FS Catalog 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); (FS Catalog book 979.7 A3hi; fiche 6051177