Humans have been wandering around Washington for thousands of years, and over the millennia, some of these people created maps based on their journeys. This excellent digital collection from the Washington State University (WSU) Libraries brings together almost 1,000 maps that document the area's history. As the introduction to the collection notes "By studying these past maps we find - hidden...

The Scout Report first featured HistoryLink in 2002, when this "first and largest encyclopedia of community history created expressly for the Internet" was five years old and focused specifically on the history of King County, Washington. Today, HistoryLink has broadened its scope to include the history of all of Washington state and has added a number of educational resources while continuing to...

First published in the Scout Report on 06-07-2013, we feel this resource still provides an interesting glimpse into the past of the Emerald City. If you enjoy the Pacific Northwest, you have probably encountered many tales of Seattle's storied past. It is, after all, known in some parts as the "Emerald City," and is full of tales of its rough-and-tumble Skid Row, pioneer settlers from...

Working with financial support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the University of Washington and a host of local institutions in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula created this web-based museum. Designed to include primary documents and other visual materials from the area’s rich cultural traditions, the site contains a number of online exhibits and educational resources. Through...

The recent past can often be overlooked by digital archive projects. Fortunately, that is not the case at the University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections group. Recently, they digitized four student newspapers, including the Independent, the Ledger, the Daily, and the Commons. The papers come from the main campus in Seattle, and the other branches in Tacoma and Bothell. Visitors can...

It would seem that every state has a special site dedicated to exploring local and regional history, and Washington is no exception. Working with materials provided by the state library and the state archives, the Secretary of State's office has created these thematic collections of documents, photographs, and archival records for the curious public and researchers. The collections include a...

This fun collection brings together items from three collections in the Washington State University (WSU) Vancouver Library Archive, including items from the WSU 20th Anniversary Oral History Project, campus environmental impact statements, and campus master plans. In a very real sense, it's a potpourri of materials that will interest folks who care about the built environment, sustainability, and...