University of Washington

Digital Collections in Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections at the Washington StateUniversity LibrariesAuthor(s): Trevor James BondSource: The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Vol. 93, No. 2 (Spring, 2002), pp. 106-107Published by: University of WashingtonStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40492812 .

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The Archivists' Page

Digital Collections in Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections at the Washington State

University Libraries

SUBMITTED BY TREVOR JAMES BOND, WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

last two years have brought greatly improved access to research

materials in Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (masc) at the Washington State University Libraries. The MASC Digital Collections Web site now lists 16 digital collections, com- prising more than 9,000 images of pho- tographs, maps, and texts. All of these collections employ the CONTENTdm multimedia software suite developed at the University of Washington, which al- lows users to search them individually or collectively. Each database has a cus- tom-designed front page with informa-

tion about the collection and tips for using it.

The maps database, Early Washington Maps: A Digital Collection, contains more than 450 early Northwest maps, among them unique manuscript maps such as Edmond Meany's "Historical Map of Washington" (1857) and Pierre Jean DeSmet's "Pays des Porteurs" (c. 1846). In addition to detailed catalog- ing, the database provides high-resolu- tion links to MrSID files. These MrSID files provide close-up views of every map and may be downloaded to a

researcher's computer. The collection includes a diverse group of cartographic materials including early surveys, soil and forest maps, railroad maps, town plats, bird's-eye views, power grids, and early road maps. A historical timeline, with links to selected maps, places the maps in their historical context. With funding from a second Library Service and Technology (lsta) grant from the Washington State Library, the collec- tion will eventually grow to include at least 600 maps.

Of the eight digital photograph collec- tions, six include images from Pull- man and the Lewiston area. The other two - the Frank D. Matsura and the Frank Fuller Avery collections - con- tain images from Okanogan County and the Colville reservation. Frank Matsura moved to Okanogan in 1907, where he established a photography stu- dio. The only photographer in the newly incorporated city, Matsura recorded the development of the city and the sur- rounding area, including the construc- tion of the Conconully Dam, which provided irrigation for thousands of acres of farmland. The database con- tains more than 1,600 images with thor- oughly researched descriptions and a complete digital scrapbook of Mat- sura's photographs. The Frank Fuller Avery database includes 841 images from on and around the Colville reser- vation. From 1898 to 1916, Avery worked at the Colville Indian Agency,

Map of southeastern Washington Territory, Eastwick, Morris, and Company, 1878.

1 06 Tacific Northwest Quarterly

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as superintendent of the Indian board- ing school at Fort Spokane until 1907, and then as inspector of Colville agency day schools. He photographed a wide range of subjects including student ac- tivities, agency buildings, and family scenes that reveal the living conditions of agency employees.

The WSU Buildings Collection draws from several campus visual collections to provide a record of notable campus architecture from the 1890s to the 1970s, including information on the various ways construction was fi- nanced. An important collection for the earliest days of Washington State University is the photographs of Will- iam Delbert Barkhuff, who enrolled at WSU (then the Washington Agricul- tural College and School of Science) on the opening day in 1892 and was the first editor of the college paper and an amateur photographer. The 281 images in the Barkhuff collection represent the most complete visual record of 19th- century campus life at WSU. A related, though much smaller collection is that of George Ritchey. Ritchey moved to Pullman around 1897 and worked at a local grain elevator. The 63 images in this database include early scenes of the Washington State University campus, Ritchey's own family, and Pullman. The 235 images in the City of Pullman Image Collection document the growth of a small Eastern Washington town from the 1880s into the 1970s.

The Pacific Northwest Newspaper Clip- pings Collection offers articles taken from newspapers published in the Pa- cific Northwest between 1900 and 1942. The 5,000 clippings (more are continually added) describe a period of rapid growth and development in the history of the Pacific Northwest, in- cluding the often violent struggles of the emerging labor unions, as well as land use, reclamation, irrigation, and the development of dams and canals. The clippings come from a collection of some 372,000 newspaper articles gathered during the Great Depression

Members of the Elgin Canyon road crew, 1911, Frank S. Matsura Image Collection.

by Works Progress Administration ( WPA) historians, most of whom held Ph.D.s.

The WSU staff members have also be- gun to digitize small, illustrated books from their Pacific Northwest history collection as well as printed materials relating to the development of the Washington State University campus. Coeur d'Alene: Townsy Mines, Mountains and Lakes by T. N. Barnard, one of the first examples of what will eventually be a series of digital books, features 12 pages of photographs printed on a sheet folded accordion-style. A booklet on manners, "compiled by the house council of 1929-30 because it felt a need on our campus for the knowledge therein contained," provides a won- derful view of WSU campus life with sections on chaperons, table manners, entertainment, dress, and campus courtesy.

Work has begun on a database of high- resolution scans of original pencil drawings by Nicholas Point. In 1841, Point headed to the Rocky Mountains with Pierre Jean DeSmet and five other Jesuit missionaries. As the group's offi- cial diarist, Point made numerous

sketches, later published in DeSmet's books. Another current project ad- dresses several hundred photographs, primarily of Native Americans, from the papers of Judge William Compton Brown (1830-1963). In addition to his duties as a judge in Okanogan County, Brown collected materials relating to Native Americans, some of which he used in his book The Indian Side of the Story (1961).

The goal of these and future digital projects is to provide awareness of and easy access to these precious primary and secondary sources, not only for the academic community but also for members of the general public. The new technology allows research at a dis- tance from Pullman.

For more information about these and other collections, contact Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA 99164-5610; (509) 335- 669 1 ; http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/hol- land/masc/masc.htm.

We encourage Northwest archivists to contribute collection descriptions for this occasional feature.

Spring 2002 107

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