ANNOTATED RESOURCES

African American History in the American West
African American history in the West extends over five centuries in a land mass that comprises approximately sixty percent of the United States. This site, created by Professor Quintard Taylor, is a gateway to the vast and growing array of information on the Web and in other sources on the lives and histories of the millions of African Americans who have and continue to make the West their home. http://faculty.washington.edu/qtaylor/aaw_history_public/aaw_index.htm

Alaska History and Cultural Studies
A resource for teachers, students, and others interested in Alaska's history. A time line charts Alaska history alongside world events. Each unit contains essays, maps, images, and bibliographies. http://www.akhistorycourse.org/

Asahel Curtis Photo Company Collection
This collection includes 1,704 photographs taken between 1850 and 1940 of industrial activity, scenic views, and daily life in Washington state, the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and the Klondike. Purchased from the Curtis Company by the University of Washington Libraries in 1940, the entire collection is available online as part of the UW Libraries Digital Libraries Initiatives. The image database can be easily searched by keywords, and records include full descriptive data and notes about the photographs. http://content.lib.washington.edu

BC Explorer: A Digital History of the Pacific Northwest
BC Explorer houses a small collection of digital photographs, newspapers, and other documents that focus on some of the Northwest's smaller, or forgotten, communities and industries. http://www.bcexplorer.org

British Columbia Archives
Located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, this is the central archives for the British Columbia government and provides research access to records for both the government and the general public. The archives' search form allows keyword searching of indexes, including textual records, WWW pages, visual images, and cartographic records. Over 30,000 online images can be searched by keyword then combined on "contact sheets" for easy viewing, and dozens of historical maps and charts have been digitized for viewing on the Web. Other features include numerous online exhibitions and searching catalogs of full-text documents online. http://www.bcarchives.bc.ca/bcarchives/default.aspx

The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
Located on the University of Washington-Seattle campus, this museum specializes in collections concerning the natural and cultural history of the Pacific Northwest. The Burke also houses collections in three scientific divisions: Anthropology includes ethnological and archaeological collections, Geology covers mineralogical and paleontological artifacts, and Zoology includes collections of birds, mammals and terrestrial invertebrates. The museum offers education programs including tours and study kits for multicultural studies, earth science, and life sciences. Be sure to check out the upcoming New Exhibits at the Burke. http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum

HistoryLink: The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State
HistoryLink.org provides a free, authoritative, and easily accessible history reference for the benefit of students, teachers, journalists, scholars, researchers, and the general public. With a few noted exceptions, all essays and features on this site are original works prepared exclusively for HistoryLink.org by staff, contract writers, volunteers, and consulting experts. The encyclopedia contains more than 4,000 essays as of 2006. It is constantly expanding, with new essays added every week. http://www.historylink.org/this_week/index.cfm

Idaho History
The state's site for the history of Idaho, information about the state capitol building, and links to museums and resources. http://idaho.gov/aboutidaho/history.html

Idaho State Historical Society
A gateway to the Idaho Historical Museum; the Idaho State Oral History Center; virtual, traveling, and other exhibits; public archives and research libraries; historic sites; educational resources and programs; family and public history events; and Idaho history timelines. http://www.idahohistory.net/

Idaho Yesterdays
The companion website to the new Idaho Yesterdays, the journal of Rocky Mountain history and culture. This site features expanded essays, educational links, editorial guidelines, and lesson plans for the teaching of fourth grade Idaho history. http://www.idahoyesterdays.com/

Japanese American Exhibit and Access Project
Designed to provide access to the University of Washington holdings on the World War II incarceration of Japanese-Americans, this site includes guides to many archival collections, an extensive bibliography of resources, and information about Japanese-Canadian internment. The Camp Harmony Exhibit explores the Seattle Japanese-American community's 1942 internment at the Puyallup Assembly Center (Camp Harmony) through text, letters, and images of historical documents, photographs, drawings, and diagrams of the camp itself. http://www.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/harmony/

Montana Historical Society
Montana's memory starts here! Established in 1865, the Montana Historical Society is the oldest of its kind west of the Mississippi River. Learn more about Montana's Museum, the Montana Historical Society Press, Montana The Magazine of Western History, the Montana State Historic Preservation Office, the MHS Research Center, and the countless programs we provide. http://www.his.state.mt.us/

The Mountaineers Collection
In 1906, Asahel Curtis--a renowned Northwest photographer--together with W. Montelius Price and Henry Landes decided to create a new Northwest outdoors club. The result was the Mountaineers, an organization dedicated to discovering, conserving, and documenting the "mountains, forests and watercourses of the Pacific Northwest." Over half of the 151 charter Mountaineers were women. Headquartered in Seattle, the club eventually created branches in five other Washington cities. An online digital collection at the University of Washington showcases albums that depict some of the first major expeditions of the Mountaineers, including the first major outing to Mt. Olympus in 1907. http://content.lib.washington.edu/mtnweb/index.html

Museum of History and Industry
Collections include artifacts involving life in the Puget Sound area since the 1780's, and the museum has one of the largest historical research libraries in the Pacific Northwest, including books, maps, manuscripts, and over 500,000 photographs from 1859 to the present. There is an events schedule listing current, ongoing and upcoming exhibits, as well as information on programs and special events for the whole family. http://www.seattlehistory.org

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
As the federal agency charged with preserving United States History through the management of all federal records, NARA's mission is "to ensure ready access to the essential evidence that documents the rights of American citizens, the actions of federal officials, and the national experience." Federal documents are available at the local and regional levels, including the Pacific Northwest Region and the Alaska Region, whose Web pages give details about collections, hours, services, and public programs. The NARA home page is a wealth of information including online exhibits, teacher resources from The Electronic Classroom, and details about the digitization of NARA holdings through the Electronic Access Project. http://www.archives.gov

No Finer Site: The University of Washington's Early Years on Union Bay
This exhibit commemorates the centennial of the 1895 move of the University of Washington from downtown Seattle to the present-day campus. This online exhibit is based on a physical exhibition shown in the University of Washington Libraries between October 1995 and January 1996, which was prepared by the Libraries' Special Collections and Preservation Division. The exhibit explores, through text, early photographs, and portraits, the evolution of the University from the old site to the new one, aspects of the first two decades of the new campus, and the early development of the University District.
http://www.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/site/default.htm

Northwest Digital Archives
NWDA provides enhanced access to archival and manuscript materials in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. NWDA was established in June 2002 through grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The database currently contains nearly 5,000 finding aids from twenty-nine separate archives. http://nwda.wsulibs.wsu.edu/

Northwest History Database
This website contains thousands of scanned newspaper clippings from Washington State University's extensive Pacific Northwest Newspaper Clippings Collection. Most clippings were collected in the 1930s as part of a Depression era work program and focus on the settlement and development of the Northwest. In addition, this searchable database contains an extensive collection of government reports and documents dealing with Indians, dams, and legislation. http://content.wsulibs.wsu.edu/pncc/NW_history/index.php

Northwest of the West: the Frontier Experience on the Northwest Coast
This exhibit explores the Euro-American settlement of the Pacific Northwest-- especially the Puget Sound region--and the unique attractions and resources that drew settlers to this corner of the American frontier. The exhibit was designed by the University of Washington Libraries as a companion piece to The Frontier in American Culture, a traveling exhibition for libraries organized by the American Library Association and Chicago's Newberry Library.
http://www.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/FRONTIER/Local/

The Oregon Historical Society
This site is a wealth of historical resources covering Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, including representations of Society collections such as artifacts, maps, and samples of manuscripts and photographs. There is also information about the Society's moving images archive, sound recording collections from the Oral History Program, and microfilm masters of Oregon newspapers and historical serials available for sale. The Education page describes artifact kits, slide shows, videos and traveling exhibits available for rental, as well as many curriculum guides and packets which can be purchased. http://www.ohs.org

The Oregon Trail
Created by Mike Trinklein and Steve Boettcher, makers of the award-winning documentary film The Oregon Trail, this site includes a thorough history of the Trail, descriptions and pictures of its historic sites, and obscure "Fantastic Facts" about events that happened along the way. There is also an online Study Guide can be printed and duplicated for classroom use. http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Oregontrail.html

The Pacific Northwest Historians Guild
Founded in 1980 to promote study, preservation, teaching, and presentation of Pacific Northwest historical materials covering Oregon, Washington and Idaho, membership includes professional & amateur historians, teachers, librarians, students, and archivists. Site includes information on joining the Guild, membership meetings, a member directory, plus "rambles" and history tours to historically significant sites in the Pacific Northwest. http://www.pnwhistorians.org/index.asp

Seattle Black Panther Party History and Memory Project
The Black Panther Party made a major impact on Seattle. With their trade mark black berets and leather jackets and their commitment to armed self defense, the Panthers became role models to some, scared others. Either way, the organization showed Seattle that struggles for racial justice had moved beyond persuasion and nonviolent protest. This site contains video interviews with Party veterans and hundreds of photographs, newspaper articles, documents.  http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/BPP.htm

Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project
This multi-media web site brings the vital history of Seattle's civil rights movements to life with dozens of video oral histories, hundreds of rare photographs, documents, movement histories, and personal biographies. Based at the University of Washington, the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project is a collaboration between community groups and UW faculty and students. http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/index.htm

Tacoma Public Library
Offers many resources exploring the history of Tacoma and the Pacific Northwest, including a ships and shipping database indexing more than 13,000 ships with a connection to the Pacific Northwest. Also check out Murray's People, a selected online library of articles by long-time historian and journalist Murray C. Morgan covering historical events impacting the Pacific Northwest region. The library's Northwest Room and Special Collections introduces the Genealogy Collection, Photography Collection, and allows access to the Washington Place Names database and other Northwest history databases. http://www.tpl.lib.wa.us

Washington History: Information Provided by the State Library and State Archives
A site provided by the Office of the Washington Secretary of State that contains historic records search, a territorial timeline, classics in Washington history, historical maps, the state constitution, a project remembering World War One soldiers, and other resources. https://www.secstate.wa.gov/history/

Washington State Historical Society
Check out the Society's many fascinating exhibits, including online exhibits and continuing exhibits at the Washington State History Museum and the State Capital Museum. The Museums & Resource Centers page gives hours and information about special collections and resources pertaining to study of Washington State history, and Information for Educators directs teachers on how to book field trips to the museums and obtain education materials. There is also a calendar of events and lists of publications available from the Historical Society. http://www.wshs.org/

Who Killed William Robinson?
Explores a series of three murders of settlers on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, between 1867 and 1868. These murders were committed against members of the island's black community, and an aboriginal man was convicted and hanged for one of them--yet historical evidence suggests he may have been framed. This site investigates the primary documents related to the mystery of Who Killed William Robinson? as well as exploring settler society, the justice system of that period, race relations, and issues surrounding colonial contact with aboriginal people. This incredibly rich site allows four approaches to researching this historical event, all of which are interconnected. Who Killed William Robinson? was developed by Ruth Sandwell of Simon Fraser University in B.C. and University of Victoria Assistant Professor of History John Lutz. http://web.uvic.ca/history-robinson