Washington Archives and Libraries

The archives, libraries, and societies listed below offer services or have major collections of genealogical and historical records relating to Washington.

Washington State Archives 1120 Washington Street S.E. Olympia, WA 98504-0238 Telephone: 360-586-1492 Fax: 360-664-8814 Internet: http://www.cwu.edu/~archives/

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 40238 Olympia, WA 98504-0238

Washington State Digital Archives

The nation's first archives dedicated to the preservation of electronic records from both State and Local agencies that have permanent historical value. The web site was designed to provide simple, straight forward access to researchers.

Internet: http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/default.aspx

National Archives—Pacific Alaska Region (Seattle) 6125 Sand Point Way, N.E. Seattle, WA 98115-7999 Telephone: 206-336-5115 Fax: 206-336-5112 Internet: http://www.archives.gov/pacific-alaska/seattle/

Washington State Genealogical Society P.O. Box 1422 Olympia, WA 98507-1422 Internet: http://www.rootsweb.com/~wasgs/

Washington State Historical Society Library Research Center 315 North Stadium Way Tacoma, WA 98402 Telephone: 253-798-5914 Fax: 253-597-4186 Internet: http://www.washingtonhistory.org/wshs/

Washington State Library P.O. Box 42460 Olympia, WA 98504-2460 Telephone: 360-753-5590 Fax: 360-586-7575 Internet: http://www.secstate.wa.gov/library/

Seattle Public Library 1000 Fourth Avenue Seattle, WA 98104 Telephone: 206-386-4629 Fax: 206-386-4632 Internet: http://www.spl.org/

Suzzallo-Allen Library University of Washington P.O. Box 352900 Seattle, WA 98195-2900 Telephone: 206-543-9158 Fax: 206-685-8049 Internet: http://www.lib.washington.edu/about/hours/suz.html

A helpful catalog for this library is:

University of Washington (Seattle) Library, The Dictionary Catalog of the Pacific Northwest Collection of the University of Washington (Seattle) Libraries. Six Volumes. Boston, Massachusetts: G.K. Hall and Co., 1972. (.)

Two important guides to Washington records are:


 * Genealogical Resources in Washington State: A Guide to Genealogical Records Held at Repositories, Government Agencies and Archives. Olympia, Washington: Secretary of State, Division of Archives and Records Management, 1983. (.)
 * Historical Records of Washington State: Records and Papers Held at Repositories. Olympia, Washington: Washington State Historical Records Advisory Board, 1981. (.)

To learn more about the history and record-keeping systems of Washington counties use the 15 inventories of the county archives produced by the Historical Records Survey around 1940. Copies of these inventories are at the Family History Library.