ask us email | chat | phone

Pacific Northwest History

For other sites dealing more broadly with U.S. history see United States History to 1865 and United States History from 1865. For web sites detailing the history of states outside the Pacific Nortwest see State History.

• American Indians of the Pacific Northwest
  "This site provides an extensive digital collection of original photographs and documents about the Northwest Coast and Plateau Indian cultures, complemented by essays written by anthropologists, historians, and teachers about both particular tribes and cross-cultural topics." Part of American Memory.
• Center for Columbia River History
  Educational endeavor which includes collections of community histories, photographs, and oral histories spanning Idaho, Oregon and Washington State. Also see Columbia River History by the NW Power & Conservation Council.
• Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest
  This UW-based center provides curriculum materials for teachers, a website on the History & Literature of the Pacific Northwest and other materials.
• Columbia River Basin Ethnic History Archive
  Collaborative project that provides digital archives on ethnic groups living in the Columbia River Basin including Japanese Americans, Native Americans and Basque Americans.
• Digital Collections
  More than 25 digitized collections of images and text covering the history of the Pacific Northwest primarily Washington State but also Alaska and other areas from the holdings of Special Collections at the University of Washington.
• The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
  Electronic version of the standard University of Nebraska edition of the journals. Other Lewis and Clark sites: Discovering Lewis and Clark, Journals of Lewis and Clark, Lewis and Clark (1814 Biddle edition of the journals) Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery, To the Western Ocean: Planning the Lewis and Clark Expedition and Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of America.
• Meeting of Frontiers
  "Meeting of Frontiers is a bilingual, multimedia English-Russian digital library that tells the story of the American exploration and settlement of the West, the parallel exploration and settlement of Siberia and the Russian Far East, and the meeting of the Russian-American frontier in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest."
• Western Waters Digital Library
  "The Western Waters Digital Library (WWDL) contains government reports, classic water literature, legal transcripts, water project records, personal papers, photographic collections, and video materials about the Columbia, Colorado, Platte, and Rio Grande river basins."
• WPA Life Histories
  "These life histories were written by the staff of the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers' Project for the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA) from 1936-1940. The Library of Congress collection includes 2,900 documents representing the work of over 300 writers from 24 states." Oregon, Montana and Washington are represented.

Regional Sites

• Alaska's Digital Archive
  "Alaska's Digital Archives presents a wealth of historical photographs, albums, oral histories, moving images, maps, documents, physical objects, and other materials from libraries, museums and archives throughout our state."
• Harriman Alaska Expedition Photograph Album
  "253 photographs of Edward Harriman's scientific expedition to Alaska in 1899, including images of Alaskan Native Americans and their villages, scenic views of the coastline, glaciers and Alaskan towns." Part of the Louis Agassiz Fuertes and the Harriman Alaska Expedition.
• The Klondike Gold Rush
  A curriculum project developed by the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest at the University of Washington. Includes images, government reports and other documents. Also see the digital collection, The Klondike Gold Rush
• The Russian Church and Native Alaskan Cultures
  Exhibit at the Library of Congress with numerous photographs and manuscripts.
• Senator "Bob" Bartlett: Architect of Alaska Statehood
  Biography of Bartlett, part of the Capitol Project of the American Studies department at the University of Virginia.

British Columbia

• British Columbia Archives - Visual Records
  Approximately 100,000 images dealing with BC history provided by the Archives. The Archives also includes some digital maps and searchable birth, marriage and death registration indexes.
• Living Landscapes
  Collection of material dealing with Okanagan including indepth articles such as "Ethnic Agricultural Labour in the Okanagan Valley: 1880s to 1960s", "Response of the Okanagan Indians to European Settlement," and other articles. There is also a searchable database of historic photographs and a small collection of documents.
• Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Victoria
  A Schoolnet Web Site for k12 students includes selected documents, biographies and games.
• Northwest Heritage
  Collection of more than 3,000 photographs depicting the history of New Westminister.
• UBC Historical Photography Database
  Currently the searchable database contains more than 25,000 images from the University of British Columbia's collection.
• Who Killed William Robinson
  Account of the 1868 murder of William Robinson, a Black American, on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia. Includes government documents, newspaper accounts, manuscripts and images. Produced by the University of Victoria.

• Benedicte Wrensted: An Idaho Photographer in Focus
  An exhibit of the photographs of Native Americans taken by Benedicte Wrensted taken between 1895 and 1912. The exhibit was produced by Idaho Museum of Natural History.
• Kate and Sue McBeth: Missionary Teachers to the Nez Perce
  "This website examines the interaction between church (focusing on the McBeth sisters) and state (federal agents) and Nez Percé people during the late 19th century." Included are letters and government documents.

• Indian Peoples of the Northern Great Plains
  "The overall organization of the database is by tribe, including: Crow, Cheyenne, Blackfeet, Salish (Flathead), Kutenai, Chippewa-Cree, Gros Ventres (Atsina), and Assiniboine. The collection consists primarily of images, but includes some text to give context. Most of the images are photographs, but there are also stereographs, ledger drawings, and other sketches."
• Vigilantes of Montana
  Site with articles and books dealing with the Montana Vigilance Committee and their spree of lynchings in early 1864. Produced by the Committee for Justice for the Victims of the Montana Vigilantes.

• Bioregion Collection
  Federal and State government environmental publications that cover Curry, Josephine, Jackson and Klamath Counties.
• First Nations Collection
  Documents, books, and articles relating to the indigenous peoples of the Southern Oregon bioregion. Nations include the Coos, Klamath, Shasta and more.
• Oregon Historic Photo Collection
  Searchable database of more than 10,000 digitized photographs dating from the mid-1800s to the 1990s provided by the Salem Public Library.
• Oregon History Project
  This site includes a narrative history of Oregon, selected documents and photographs and teacher guides.
• Oregon State Archives
  The Archives hosts a number of interesting exhibits including 50th Anniversary exhibit and Tour of the Oregon Coast in 1940 plus a photographs database.
• The Oregon Trail
  Site accompanying the PBS documentary. Brief narrative and excerpts of primary sources. Also see the hypertext version of Francis Parkman's The Oregon Trail.

• 100 Years in the Pacific Northwest
  Collection of stories published in the Seattle Times marking the centenial of the newspaper.
• Camp Harmony Exhibit
  Exhibit detailing life in the Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington state. Includes text and photographs and drawings. Part of the Japanese American Exhibit and Access Project at the University of Washington Libraries.
• The Cold War and Red Scare in Washington State
  A curriculum project developed by the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest at the University of Washington. Includes an images, government reports and other documents. Also see Communism in Washington State.
• The Everett Massacre
  Photographs and documents depicting the 1916 bloodiest battle in Washington State labor history between the IWW and police forces in Everett. For other images from this event see the Everett Massacre Collection from the University of Washington.
• From Shingle Mills to Suburbia: Index to the East Side Journal, 1918-1975
  Searchable index to the East Side Journal. Also includes a short history of Kirkland. The newspaper is available at the UW Libraries in the Microforms Newspapers Collection, A3917.
• Hanford Site
  Collection of declassified Department of Energy documents dealing with plutonium and tritium production and other matters dating from the 1940s through the 1980s. Site also includes photographs.
• A History Bursting with Telling: Asian Americans in Washington State
  A curriculum project developed by the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest at the University of Washington. Includes an images, government reports and other documents.
• History of Washington State and the Pacific Northwest
  Indepth lecture notes from Professor Findlay's HSTAA 432 class at the University of Washington.
• HistoryLink
  "HistoryLink is a new historical data base and Website devoted to chronicling the development of Seattle and King County." This site will eventually include an index to local newspapers, feature stories and other resources pertaining to Seattle history.
• Interrupted Lives: Japanese American Students at the University of Washington, 1941–1942
  Extensive narrative with digitized documents and photographs detailing the experience of Nikkei students at the University of Washington in 1941-1942.
• King County Snapshots
  "King County Snapshots presents King County, Washington, through 12,000 historical images carefully chosen from twelve organizations' collections. These cataloged 19th and 20th century images portray people, places, and events in the county's urban, suburban, and rural communities."
• No Finer Site: The University of Washington's Early Years on Union Bay
  Exhibit of photographs with a brief narrative depicting the UW's move to Union Bay in 1895 from the collections of Special Collections at the UW.
• Museum of History and Industry
  The museum has a searchable database of thousands of photographs dealing with Washington and PNW history. Also see the photograph collection at Tacoma Public Library and the University of Washington's Digital Collections.
• Pacific Northwest Labor History Project
  This project directed by Professor James Gregory brings "together materials and research projects that will help students, scholars, and labor activists explore this rich and vital history. The site includes hundreds of photographs, documents, newspaper clippings, even video interviews." Topics include the Seattle General Strike, Labor Press Project and Communism in Washington State. Also see the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project.
• Pacific Northwest Olympic Peninsula Community Museum
  "A web-based museum showcasing aspects of the rich history and culture of Washington State's Olympic Peninsula communities" with more than 12,000 images and artifacts.
• Seattle Municipal Archives
  Finding aids to various collections in the city archives plus a searchable database of images accompanied by digital photos. Also includes an exhibit on the Pike Place Market.
• Tacoma Public Library - NW History Databases
  Tacoma Public Library provides many unique databases dealing with NW history including a searchable collection of more than 40,000 photographs, an obituary index and Unsettling Events, excerpts from the library's clippings file depicting local historical events. Also at the library is a collection of Murray Morgan's essays.
• Through Open Eyes: Roslyn Black History
  Collection of photographs presented by Ellensburg Public Library detailing the history of African Americans in the small Cascade mining town of Roslyn.
• Washington History
  Washington State Library's digital collection includes an early territorial newspaper, The Columbian, historical records, maps, photographs, and other primary source material for state history.
• Washington Women's History Consortium
  "The Consortium is "a Washington State Historical Society-led initiative, is dedicated to preserving and making available resources about Washington women’s history."
• WSU Digital Collections
  Collections of historic materials from Washington State University included are the Early Washington Maps, Black Oral History and Kimble Northwest History Database which includes newspaper clippings and government reports and laws dealing with the settlement and development of the northwest.
• Yakima Memory
  Collection of 9000 images from the Yakima Valley Regional Library and Yakima Valley Museum detailing the history of the region.

Aerial map of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Seattle, Washington, 1909. Courtesy of University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections.