Wrap Up of the North West Archivists Virtual Conference
Last week, NWA hosted some great resources for family history research.
Virtual Repository Tours were very instructive and those living in the Northwest will be interested in the following:
- Tacoma Historical Society (https://www.tacomahistory.org/) has newspapers, framed artworks, postcards and even fun items (ski poles and spittoons!).
- Tacoma Public Library - Digital collections are at (https://cdm17061.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p17061coll21) . Of interest will be the Oral History Project, Local History and Biography Index, and the Tacoma-Pierce County Obituary Index. The Northwest Room (https://www.tacomalibrary.org/northwest-room/) contains maps, architectural drawings, manuscripts, journals, and photos. Anna Trammell, Historian, states that they are working with communities to fill in gaps in their collections and to build partnerships. They are also working to build a strong digital presence of born-digital materials.
- Evergreen State College Archives (https://www.evergreen.edu/archives) have holdings of over two thousand audio cassettes.
- Washington State Archives (https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/). The Digital Archives contains millions of records: Birth, Marriage, Death; Criminal; and photos.
In addition to the tours, I attended these helpful sessions: "A New and Improved Oregon Digital (https://www.oregondigital.org/catalog?) and "Case Studies: Amplifying Hidden Voices: Reflecting on the Impact of EDI Centered Access Activities" - for those of you with ancestors who worked on farms, the Labor Archives (http://digital-collections.library.sfsu.edu/digital/collection/p16737coll1) might be of interest to you. And if they belonged to a union, the University of Washington Special Collections (https://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/ can be helpful. Their Digital Archives Guides (http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/search/results.aspx?t=i&q=wauar&p=0) can be a good starting point. They also partner on Oral History projects.