News

State Archives’ month of events shed light on personal histories

Home may not be the first thing you think of when you hear about the State Archives – but it should be. This month, through a series of free public workshops and seminars, the State Archives reveals how historic documents can shed on people’s home lives – from the actual structure they live in, to their family lineage, to the state they call home.

Historic corporations documents now available online

OLYMPIA - Building on its groundbreaking efforts in using technology to open up public records, the Washington Office of Secretary of State will be making hundreds of thousands of historic corporations documents available to the public online, free of charge.

Clark County Marriage Records

OLYMPIA…Secretary of State Sam Reed is pleased to announce the availability of Clark County marriage records dating back to 1889, the year Washington became a state. The marriage records are housed at the Southwest Regional Branch, operated by Washington State Archives, and are open for research. The collection contains marriage certificates from 1889 to 1977. As the imaging and indexing are completed, new records will be added to the collection, with completion estimated to be the fall of 2008.

A. M. Kendrick Collection

A treasure trove of newly acquired photographs from the A. M. Kendrick Collection will offer a unique and compelling view of daily life in vast stretches of Eastern Washington and Idaho over a span of nearly 50 years.

The images depict early agricultural techniques in the Big Bend region, interiors and exteriors of retail and commercial businesses, towns, street scenes and Kendrick's early photographs of the Northern Idaho wilderness and a look at general day to day life on the farm.

Kendrick was born in Northport, Washington on Aug. 23 1896, and moved to Ritzville in 1935. From 1935 until his death in 1976, Kendrick was the area’s main portrait and studio photographer. The majority of the collection consists of over 9000 4x5 and 5x7 negatives, and photo prints in various sizes. The images that pre-date 1930 are either copy negatives created by Kendrick after he arrived in Ritzville in 1935, or experimental photos taken by Kendrick in northern Idaho and northeast Washington as a teenager, 1912-1920.

The collection will be searchable on the Digital Archives in stages, beginning with the general historical part of the collection _ about 1,360 images _ that features farm scenes, towns, businesses, churches, and other material. The next phase will consist of Kendrick's portrait work, including families, weddings, school sports, class graduations, choirs, and more. Before coming to the Washington State Archives in Cheney, WA, the collection was at the Adams County Rural Library District No. 2 (formerly Ritzville Public Library) in the city of Ritzville.

Skamania and Whatcom County Marriage Records

The Office of the Secretary of State is pleased to announce the availability of Skamania and Whatcom County Marriage records at the Digital Archives. This collection contains marriage records from 1890 through 1995 (Whatcom County) and 1905 through 2007 (Skamania County). As the imaging and indexing is completed new records will be added to the collection, with completion estimated to be by the middle of April 2008. The images of the marriage certificates include the names of the bride and groom, date of marriage, county of marriage, witnesses and the officiate; while the marriage return lists the names of parents and county/state of birth, along with additional information. To find additional marriage records not included in this database, please contact the State Archives Northwest Regional Branch at state.archives@wwu.edu. for Whatcom County records or the State Archives Southwest Regional Branch at swresearch@secstate.wa.gov for Skamania County records. You can search Skamania and Whatcom County Marriage Records using the simple search or detailed search.

Snohomish County Marriage Records

The Office of the Secretary of State is pleased to announce the availability of Snohomish County Marriage records at the Digital Archives. This collection contains Snohomish County Auditor marriage records from 1878 through 1985 and is currently 75% completed. As the imaging and indexing is completed new records will be added to the collection, with completion estimated to be by the end of March 2008. The images of the marriage certificates include the names of the bride and groom, date of marriage, county of marriage, witnesses and the officiant. To find additional marriage records not included in this database, please contact the State Archives Northwest Regional Branch at state.archives@wwu.edu.

Spokane City Planning Department EXPO 74 New Photograph Collections

The Spokane City Planning Department Expo 74 New Photographic Collections include 80, 35mm color photographs (slides) documenting the preparation, construction and opening of EXPO74, the Worlds Fair held in Spokane Washington in 1974.  Most of the images in this collection feature rendered drawings of buildings and structures, construction, and includes never before seen concept drawings of buildings that were never constructed.

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