Looking for historical photos? or original primary source documents?
This list of online tools contains links to searchable digital collections of local and regional historical photographs, ephemera, documents, audio, video, newspapers and an ever-growing list of types of historical materials. Most cover Puget Sound and Western Washington but some cover the whole state. It is worth exploring the many databases for information related to your place or research topic.
- Granite Falls Online Search for photographs (Past Perfect Online)
- Skykomish Historical Society Online Search (Past Perfect Online)
- Sno-Isle Genealogical Society
- Everett Public Library Digital Collections and the Places of the Past Collection of Historic Snohomish County buildings and landmarks.
- Tacoma Public Library Northwest Room and Special Collections includes Washington Place Names Database & Northwest Ships and Shipping Database
- University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Check for images of your own community in the Washington Localities Collection
- Washington History Online Digital Collections of the Washington State Historical Society
- Washington State Library List of Collections in the State including the new Washington State Library’s Rural Heritage Collections
- Washington State Digital Archives
- HistoryLink.org -Â Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History.
- WSU Digital Collections
- Museum of History and Industry [MOHAI, Seattle, Washington]
- King County Snapshots – Photographic Heritage of Seattle and Surrounding Communities. This can also be searched through the UW Digital Collections.
- Inland Northwest Memories Project
- Library of Congress American Memory Collection and LC Digital Collections
- Washington State newspapers online (pdf)