Online Research

Find below a variety of links to help you research events, people, topics, and places across Washington State. Please let us know if you have any go-to resoures that you think would be valuable to share with the Cultural Resource Management community.

Statewide       

Building Materials

• APT – Building Technology Heritage Library: https://archive.org/details/buildingtechnologyheritagelibrary

People

• FindAGrave: https://www.findagrave.com/
• USGenWeb Project: https://www.usgenweb.org/
• AIA Historical Directory: https://aiahistoricaldirectory.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/AHDAA/overview
• Society of American Registered Architects: https://www.sara-national.org/news
• Black Heritage Society - https://www.bhswa.org/wordpress/

Archaeology

• Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website: https://sha.org/bottle/
• Plateau People Web Portal: https://plateauportal.libraries.wsu.edu/digital-heritage

Military

• Naval History and Heritage Command: https://www.history.navy.mil/

Newspaper

• ProQuest Historical Newspapers: https://proquest.libguides.com/hnp
• Small Town Newspaper Archive: http://www.stparchive.com/landing.php
• Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/

Context

• HistoryLink: https://www.historylink.org/
• Hathi Trust Digital Library: https://www.hathitrust.org/
• HistoryHUB: https://historyhub.history.gov/welcome
• Seattle Public Library Special Collections: https://cdm16118.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/
• Told By the Pioneers Volumes:
  • Vol 1: https://www.sos.wa.gov/legacy/images/publications/sl_unitedpioneersv1/sl_unitedpioneersv1.pdf
  • Vol 2: https://www.sos.wa.gov/legacy/images/publications/sl_unitedpioneersv2/sl_unitedpioneersv2.pdf
  • Vol 3: https://www.sos.wa.gov/legacy/images/publications/sl_unitedpioneersv3/sl_unitedpioneersv3.pdf
• US Modernist Library: https://usmodernist.org/library.htm
• UW Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest: https://depts.washington.edu/cspn/
• Washington State Digital Archives: https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/
• WorldCat.org: The World's Largest Library Catalog: https://www.worldcat.org/
• Washington State History Museum Digital Collections: https://www.washingtonhistory.org/research/collections-search/

Historic Images

• Washington State University Digital Collection: https://content.libraries.wsu.edu/digital/
• Washington Rural Heritage: https://www.washingtonruralheritage.org/digital/
• Jones Historical Photo Collection: http://www.jonesphotocollection.com/

Maps

• USGS Earth Explorer: http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/
• USGS Topo Maps (Historic): https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/viewer/#4/39.98/-100.06
• Washington Coastal Atlas: https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/shorephotoviewer/
• Sanborn Maps: https://www.trl.org/node/14897?topics=67
• Historic Mapworks: http://www.historicmapworks.com/
• Historic Aerials: https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer
• Kroll Map Company: http://www.krollmapcompany.com/
• Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, Washington Historical Topographic Maps: http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/washington/
• Atlas of Historical County Boundaries: https://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/map/map.html#WA
• Washington Department of Ecology Shoreline Photo Viewer: https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/shorephotoviewer/Map/ShorelinePhotoViewer
• Bureau of Land Management Cadastral Maps and Survey Records: https://www.blm.gov/or/landrecords/survey/ySrvy1.php
• Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records: https://glorecords.blm.gov/
• Puget Sound T-Sheets: http://riverhistory.ess.washington.edu/tsheets/

Regional       

Inland Northwest

• City of Spokane, Pre 1993 permit archive: https://my.spokanecity.org/permits/archive/

Southwest Washington

• Clark County Historical Museum Photograph Collection: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/index.php/cdm/landingpage/collection/cchm_photo

Puget Sound Region

• Everett Public Library Digital Collections: https://www.epls.org/185/Digital-Collections
• Whidbey Island Historic Aerials: https://wacds.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=b938cbecb3d94a90b59f586c8eaeeec5
• Olympia Historical Society: https://olympiahistory.org/resources-for-researching-olympias-history/
• Shelton Mason County Journal archive: http://smc.stparchive.com/
• Tacoma Public Library Building Index: http://cdm17061.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p17061coll1
• Tacoma Public Library’s Northwest Room Collections: https://www.tacomalibrary.org/resources/local-history-genealogy/
• Tacoma Public Library Digital Collections: http://cdm17061.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/

Central Washington

• Granite Falls Historical Society: https://www.gfhistory.org/Maps.html
• Illustrated History of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan, and Chelan Counties: https://www.sos.wa.gov/legacy/publicationsviewer/?title=Illustrated%20history%20of%20Stevens%2C%20Ferry%2C%20Okanogan%20and%20Chelan&page=712&id=83
• Yakima Memory: https://archives.yvl.org/
• Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society: https://wags-web.ens-9.com/cemeteryRecords.php?cid=5

Southeastern Washington

• Historic Sketches of Walla Walla, Whitman, Columbia, and Garfield: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t6f204r6k&view=1up&seq=9
• Illustrated History of the Big Bend Country: https://www.sos.wa.gov/library/publications_detail.aspx?p=36
• Illustrated History of Southeastern WA: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t70v9nv0t&view=1up&seq=13
• Illustrated History of Walla Walla County: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t42r4608z&view=1up&seq=11
• Bygone Walla Walla: http://wallawalladrazanphotos.blogspot.com/

Northwest Washington

• Whatcom County Historic Aerials: https://wacds.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=071f9238f7ff42c8b70cb9e5ed08d0a5
• Snohomish County First 100 Years: https://loscho.maps.arcgis.com/apps/PublicInformation/index.html?appid=d88679dd9d04410f806546b0d7f776f2