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. :-)

Flak over Esbjerg Denmark

Part two of "War is Scary". 

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

These photos, too were in Maren's photo albums.  They are scary yet eerily beautiful.  I can't imagine what it would be like to be close enough to photograph an event like this.  Last night I e-mailed The Archives of Danish Occupation History (thankfully they have information posted in English!) to find out if these photos could be dated and already heard back from Henrik Lundtofte Head of Archives.  He wrote that this was probably April 20, 1943.  I have a lot to learn about World War II and I especially don't know much about the war as it impacted Denmark except that Denmark was occupied by Germany.  I did find this information about Halifax II JB930 crash landed near Esbjerg 20/4-1943 which once I have time to read all the pages I will be very helpful to learn about the night.

After the war, the German mines were blown up and she also had a photo of that.

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

Maren and Hans Andersen had been in the United States since the first decade of the 1900's but they still had relatives in Denmark.  I can assume that it was a relative of Hans that sent these photos to America.  And again, I am so grateful to Maren for keeping them.

Ingemann J. H. Jorgensen

If you read my last post, I mentioned that I am trying to research a man named Ingeman with no last name.  Not easy.

This morning I went to a free workshop titled The Basics of Historical Resarch at Bellevue College Campus in the same building as The Puget Sound Branch of the Washington State Archives.

LOVED IT!!!

For whatever reason, I haven't used the Washington State Archives database much (maybe I tried it and it didn't have much of interest to me as the collection was starting to grow so I forgot about it).  I thought I'd poke around when I got home and even though I only have a first name, I decided to search it since it's not too common in the United States.

BINGO!

There's no doubt in my mind that this is the right Ingeman since he's from Mount Vernon and served at Camp Cody.  Quite a thrill to have another important piece of the puzzle.  I would still love to know if he's somehow related to Hans and Maren Andersen or was just a close friend. But I definitely feel like I'm making progress in Maren's albums and scrapbooks!

Ingeman at Camp Cody

War is scary.  So still with no vintage Halloween photos, I'm posting about Ingeman at Camp Cody.  A (gas)mask seems suitable for my Halloween week photos.

From Camp Cody - Ingeman

I don't know who Ingeman is but he sent photos and postcards to my Grandfather-in-law (the one married to Maren who kept up lots of photo albums and several scrapbook treasures).  I can't find any details about his last name.  He wrote both in Danish and in English.  One photo has Maren's handwriting and tells us he's at the Paulsens.  I don't know who the Paulsens are, either but I've seen other photos marked Paulsen and Polsen and if I recall correctly in one of the other thick albums I saw mention that they lived in Burlington, Skagit County, WA.  Maren and Hans moved around Skagit and lived in Sedro Woolley, Burlington and Mt. Vernon.

For the better part of this year, I had this photo as my blog banner at the top:

From Camp Cody - Ingeman

I couldn't identify it where it was but Maren had pasted it in an album that I've had for over a decade that ranges from about 1910-1927.  After looking through a couple of new-to-me-trunks late this summer, I found postcards from World War 1 time frame from someone named Ingeman and sent from Camp Cody.  Summer ended and I headed back-to-work and didn't have much time to spend looking in to Camp Cody since quick searches and me being easily sidetracked when I surf didn't turn up much for me.  Last weekend I remembered I still wanted to confirm this and I found http://campcodydeming.orbs.com/ - I wrote the webmaster, Michael Kromeke and he confirmed the photo location for me and sent me a plethora of interesting links.  So the mystery of the location of "Base Hosp" has been solved but I'd still like to know more about Ingeman - did he get sent overseas during The Great War and how he was important to Hans and Maren Andersen?

More Camp Cody and Ingeman photos here:

Dolls

STILL no vintage Halloween photos.  But dolls from this era (this photo is the mid-1920's) sometimes come across as creepy to me - and the crayon colorization . . .  My cheerfully cute mother-in-law is quite pleased with her dollies here, though!

From Maren Nielsen Andersen's album

Neely Mansion

Still no vintage Halloween finds of my own but I did remember a photo I took of the Neely Mansion in about 1978.

From Visiting Vintage

You could tell it had been a beautiful house back in the day but had fallen into disrepair. 

It has since been wonderfully restored - see their website.  It's listed on the National Register for Historic Places, the Washington State Register and is a designated King County landmark.

Paul Dorpat wrote about it - read here.

Back in 1978, it certainly looks perfect for a haunted house.

Northern State Hospital - Sedro Woolley

My husband's grandfather, Hans Andersen worked as a Poultry Man at Northern State Hospital.  My mother-in-law, Viola Andersen Robertson wrote about her father:  

In 1924, Dad was the head of the Poultry division at the hospital. I remember Smitty who was mentally deficient but so sweet. He was helper in the chicken house - he would do everything by routine. He grew sweet peas and always gave me bouquets.

According to a Skagit River Journal article about Northern State "The poultry farm was also sizable, supplying 36,798 pounds of dressed hens and fryers. Jones was determined that enough eggs be produced to allow at least one per patient per day. To that end, 139,207 eggs were laid that year."  It appears to me, the farms there not only supplied food for the patients but also served as occupational therapy.

I've requested the book "Under the Red Roof" from my library and I hope to learn more about the farming at the hospital.

Some photos kept by Hans' wife Maren Nielsen Andersen whom I have shared addition photos from.

From Skagit Co. photos

Maren is pictured on the right and Vi is in the middle - caption reads "from hospital Reservoir"

From Skagit Co. photos

From Skagit Co. photos

"The Geese Pond at State Hospital"

From Skagit Co. photos

This one isn't captioned but the roofline looks enough alike to me that I'm pretty sure it's the State Hospital. Hans Andersen on the left, Viola Andersen on the right.

From Skagit Co. photos

I can't quite read the caption but I think she is indicating these are boarder houses at the hospital.

From Skagit Co. photos

"Pheasants at State Hospital"