Tacoma Community College Library: Washington State History: Libraries & Historical Societies

Local Libraries and Archives

Tacoma Public Library's Northwest Room

The Tacoma Public Library has an excellent collection of print and digitized content located in the Northwest Room. The collection includes photography archives, obituary and historical building indexes, a northwest people database and more.

Tacoma Public Library: Northwest Room
Collection includes photographs, obituary information, historical building indexes, and northwest people databases.

The Washington State Library

The Washington State Library "collects, preserves, and makse accessible to Washingtonians materials on the government, history, culture, and natural resources of the state."

Among its other duties, the State Library manages a Washington State history collection located on the Secretary of State's website.

Legacy Washington
Washington history section of the Washington State Library site. Includes historical stories, photos, maps, and classic books from Washington state history.

The Tacoma Community College Archive

The Tacoma Community College Archive is located in Building 7.

In addition to historical documents and artifacts, oral history projects have already captured many distinctive voices from the College's history and from its present. TCC staff and students have interviewed retired and current faculty, staff and students. The recordings of these interviews are in the TCC Archive and can be accessed by students on request.

Tacoma Community College Archive
The Archive holds primary source materials, including an oral history collection.
Oral History TCC Library Guide
This TCC Library guide offers resources to learn about oral history.

Washington State Historical Society & History Research Center

We are fortunate that the Washington State Historical Society is located right here in Tacoma. The Washington State History Research Center is here as well. The collections in the Center include: photographs, archives and manuscripts, posters, maps, printed ephemera, books, and finding aids. The museum collection of artifacts presently numbers over 90,000 items, including artworks, clothing, archaeological artifacts, ethnographic materials, tools, equipment, and furniture. The digital collection includes electronic records, documents, digital audio and video files, and digital photography and images.

Washington State Historical Society
The Washington State Historical Society website has a lot of information about the state's history. Search through various collections using this website.
Washington State History Research Center
Research Washington is the gateway to learning about Washington’s past by exploring objects, publications, ephemera and more. The Washington State Historical Society is home to many unique collections and includes over 70,000 artifacts and half a million images.