Historical Research

Last Saturday I went to the 2011 Basics of Historical Research Workshop that I learned about through a post on Facebook.  They had me at "Historical Research Workshop" and then to learn it was very local to me and FREE, I could hardly wait!  There were genealogists, local history teachers and librarians all gathered in a lecture hall at Bellevue College for a little over three hours with three presentations about history research. 

And then we got to tour the Puget Sound Regional Archives Branch of the Washington State Archives. 

From Bellevue

Yep, I was giddy.  I interrupted  the tour to ask permission to photograph because I was so thrilled to be there.  Thankfully he even allowed flash photography. 

From Bellevue

Most people don't go back in to the climate controlled collections - you call/e-mail/fax/write and request materials that they will locate and let you view in their public area.

From Bellevue

Honestly, I didn't really know what to expect when I registered for the workshop but the event had my name written all over it.  I loved it.

As a supplement to the workshop we were e-mailed a very extensive list of research links

First Steps:


• Washington State Archives

• Washington State Library

• Office of the Secretary of State

• Washington History Day

• Washington History Day Topic Guide

• National History Day


Finding Primary Sources:

Government Archives:

• National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

• King County Archives

• Seattle Municipal Archives

• Seattle Public Schools Archives (link not working for me but found SPS Archives and Records Management)

Institutional Archives:

• University of Washington Archives

• Providence Archives, Seattle

Special Collections:

• Washington State Historical Society

• Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture

• UW Libraries: Special Collections

• WSU Libraries Manuscripts, Archives & Special Collections

• Center for Pacific Northwest Studies

• Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI)

• Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center

• Yakima Valley Museum

• Library of Congress

Corporate Archives:

• Society of American Archivists Directory of Corporate Archives in the U.S. and Canada


Newspapers:

• Washington State Library Newspaper Collection

• University of Washington Libraries Microform & Newspaper Collections

• Seattle Public Library

• Tacoma Public Library

• Washington State University Libraries Northwest History Database

Finding Secondary Sources:

Catalogs:

• Washington State Library

• Seattle Public Library

• University of Washington Libraries

• WorldCat

Additional Online Research Resources:

• Search engine:

Google

Yahoo!

Bing

• Web search engine (Google, Yahoo, Bing) maps, images, videos

• Google Scholar

• Wikipedia

• HistoryLink

Reading, Decoding, and Using Sources:

• Reading, Writing, and Researching for History

• University of Idaho Libraries: Repositories of Primary Sources: Online Guide to Archival Collections

• Northwest Digital Archives: Finding Aids

• Washington State Historical Records Survey: Online Guide to Archival Collections

• Active Reading Strategies, The McGraw Center at Princeton University

• Active Reading, Academic Skills Center at Dartmouth College

• Active Reading, iStudy for Success at Penn State University


Office of the Secretary of State Additional Resources:

• Washington State Constitution

• Washington Territorial Timeline

• History of Elections and Voting

• Legislative Oral Histories

• Historical Maps

• Cities, Counties and Corporations

• Legacy Project Oral and Written Histories


Michael S. Saunder
Washington State Archives
Western Regional Archivist
425-564-3950


Thank you to Michael S. Saunders for permission to post this list! Except that I'm a little bit mad at you because you are responsible for me getting distracted by all these resources and me being unable to manage my time and complete my "to do" list. :-)