Archival collections normally must be used where they are held. While an increasing amount of material is available on line, many archival repositories do not have an extensive on-line presence. The Washington State Archives has made excellent progress toward digitizing records, but it is only a portion of the total holdings. Most academic archives have some on line presence, especially at the large research universities. The Northwest Digital Archives initiative has made a selection of finding aids from Orbis-Cascade alliance members available on line. This includes a small number of finding aids from the EWU Archives & Special Collections department. Community museums and other small archives may have even more limited on line presence. Be prepared to travel to use material, as it will not be loaned.
The Washington State Archives holds public records created by all sorts of public bodies, including municipal governments. Since opening the state's digital archives at the Eastern Regional Branch in Cheney, the Washington State Archives has been making significant headway on digitizing historic records created before the 21st century. Much remains available only in its original paper format.
Washington State Archives. (www.sos.wa.gov/archives)
Street address: 1129 Washington Street SE, P.O. Box 40238, Olympia, WA 98504-0238. (350) 586-1492
The digital archives portion of the Washington State Archives can be reached at: (www.digitalarchives.wa.gov)
The Archives & Special Collections department of the EWU Libraries is located in Room L-25 of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library. Normal hours are 12:00 - 5:00 PM, Monday - Friday. Contact by telephone or e-mail: Steven Bingo, Digital Projects Archivist. 509.359.2302. E-mail: sbingo@ewu.edu
There are limited numbers of on-line finding aids and collections, but images are regularly added to the digital collection image collections. Digitized image collections include lithographs from 19th century federal railroad surveys; historic photographs of Eastern Washington University; portions of the Hubert "Hu" Blonk papers (photographs of construction of Grand Coulee Dam); and the Otis W. Freeman papers (phoptographs of the channeled scablands). Document collections digitized are added to the university's digital commons. At this time, the archival materials in the digital commons are yearbooks and minutes of the Board of Trustees.
Main page for the digital materials in EWU Libraries: (https://dc.ewu.edu/archives/)
Main page for digitized archival photographs: (https://dc.ewu.edu/ewu_history/)
Main page for digitized archival documents / books: (https://dc.ewu.edu/)
Photographic reproduction services are provided, with normal turnaround time of five to ten working days, depending on what is requested. The Archives & Special Collections does not have a photographer on staff or a dark room on campus. Scanning of photographic materials is provided, with the same five to ten working day turn around.
The Spokane Valley Heritage Museum is located at 12114 East Sprague Avenue, Spokane Valley WA 99206. (509) 922-4570. This organization collects material relating to the history of settlement, development and life in the Spokane Valley.
On line at (http://www.spokanevalleymuseum.com/)
The archives is on line at: (http://www.spokanevalleymuseum.com/archives/)