Begin your search for books, periodicals, photographs, archival and manuscript materials, architectural records, maps, moving images and funeral home records here.
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Senator Henry M. Jackson and Congressman Ed Edmundson looking through observation periscopes, UW Special Collections item no. HHMJ0061 |
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Books and Periodicals
- UW Libraries Search
Best place to search for all books and periodicals held in Special Collections. - Pacific Northwest Reference Collection
For information about Pacific Northwest topics, start here. - Pacific Northwest Regional Newspaper and Periodical Index
Newspaper and periodical articles about the Pacific Northwest. Citations since 1996 and select other entries are available online; however, most of the citations are only available in the card files in the Special Collections Reference Area. - America History & Life Database
Index of scholarly publications. - Washington State Newsstand
Indexes 18 Washington newspapers since the mid-1980s. Access to these resources is limited to the UW community. - City Directories or database of Phone books
To find out which Pacific Northwest city directories and phone books Special Collections owns, consult these lists. - Bibliography of University of Washington History
Books about the history of the University of Washington.
Photographs
- Digital Collections
Special Collections has over 600,000 photographs in its collections. Photographs can be found in photograph collections or within collections of organizational records, personal papers, or university records. If you want to see a photograph online, you can search or browse these collections. Please note, however, that less than 10% of our photograph holdings are represented online. - Collection Guides Search (Finding Aids)
Select photograph collections are also described in these online guides. Finding aids provide detailed descriptions of a collection, including background information about a collection and its context, identification of and description about the content of photographs or groups of photographs, and restriction information.
- J. Willis Sayre Photograph Digital Collection
The J. Willis Sayre collection consists of more than 24,000 photographs of theatrical and vaudeville performers, as well as musicians and motion picture scenes, that played in Seattle between about 1900 and 1955 (some of the materials date back to the 1870s). The collector was J. Willis Sayre: drama critic, journalist, promoter. The database includes the data for all images in the database, but only includes links to digital images that are not under copyright restrictions. - Washington State Jewish Archives Photograph Collection Database
This database searches Washington State Jewish Archives (WSJA) photograph collections held by Special Collections and provides textual descriptions of individual images. WSJA has over 350 photograph collections containing over 4000 photographs dating from the mid 1800s to present day, that relate to Jewish life and history in the Pacific Northwest, as well as nationally and internationally.
Archival and Manuscript Materials
- Catalog Records
Brief descriptions of a number of archival holdings appear in the Libraries catalog. Many older holdings are briefly summarized in the following sources, available in the Special Collections Reading Room:- Comprehensive Guide to the Manuscripts Collection and to the Personal Papers in the University Archives (University of Washington Libraries, 1980)
- Historical Records of Washington State: Records and Papers Held at Repositories (Washington State Historical Records Advisory Board, 1981)
Currently, the best way to find out about archival collections relevant to your research is to contact reference staff.
- Collection Guides Search (Finding Aids)Archival collections are described in greater depth in finding aids. Finding aids often have two components, the inventory and the guide. The inventory is a list that reflects the organization of the papers and provides inclusive dates. The inventory helps researchers to identify boxes or folders of interest that may be retrieved from the stacks for study. Inventories are often prefaced with narrative guides that establish biographical or historical context. Guides provide a detailed discussion of the content and arrangement of papers as well as information about the collection’s creators and related materials.Finding aids (including several comprehensive indexes) for all of the materials may be consulted in Special Collections Reference Area. Please ask reference staff for assistance in identifying relevant finding aids. A small but growing number of our Collection Guides (Finding Aids) are also searchable online.
- Other Resources
Special Collections also has other in-house tools to help you identify relevant archival material. Reference staff can either direct you to print sources describing our collections or conduct searches in staff databases. If you are not finding what you need, please ask for research assistance.
Architectural Records
Information about a large portion of the architectural drawings found in Special Collections. Advance notice is required to view drawings. Request materials
- Collection Guides Search (Finding Aids)
Select photograph collections are also described in these online guides. Finding aids provide detailed descriptions of a collection, including background information about a collection and its context, identification of and description about the content of photographs or groups of photographs, and restriction information.
Maps
Special Collections’ map holdings are in the process of being cataloged; however, many maps can be found in the UW Libraries Search. Once you identify an appropriate call number, staff will also bring you related uncataloged maps to peruse as well.
The Special Collections Reference area also has maps and atlases available to browse, including:
- Baist’s Real Estate Atlas of Surveys of Seattle
- Select Kroll Atlases of the Puget Sound area
- Metsker’s Atlas of King County (other Metsker atlases housed in Special Collections are described in a separate list), and an atlas produced in 1975 by the Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority about Seattle neighborhoods.
- Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps may be consulted on microfilm in the Suzzallo Library’s Microform department. Seattle Public Library users may also access them online.
Moving Images
- Moving Images Digital Collection
Special Collections has over 200 moving image collections, consisting of thousands of films and videotapes from 1915 to the present. Short 3-5 minute selections from these moving image collections can be viewed as part of the UW Libraries Digital Collections. - Collection Guides Search (Finding Aids)
Select moving image collections are also described in these online guides. Finding aids provide detailed descriptions of a collection, including background information about a collection and its context, identification of and description about the content of photographs or groups of photographs, and restriction information. - Other Resources
Some films and videotapes from the moving image collections are available for viewing in Special Collections without an appointment. Consult the list of available viewing copies. There are thousands of original moving image materials that have not been transferred or reformatted. It may be possible to learn about these materials and view them (depending on condition) by appointment. Contact the Film Archives Specialist ([email protected]) for additional information about the full scope of the moving image collections.
Funeral Home Records
Special Collections has acquired a limited range of local funeral home records. Additional details about our holdings can be found on our Seattle Funeral Home Records page.
Web Archives
Special Collections contracts with the Internet Archive to capture web sites related to our collecting areas. You can access the web site captures at the Special Collections Web Archives page .