We have planned a great slate of programs for our 2010 AKCHO membership meetings, and a vote at the recent AKCHO annual meeting has provided us with a bit more flexibility in planning. Click on the Next AKCHO Meeting link for news about our February 23 program, which will be hosted by the Mountains to Sound Greenway at the historic Preston Community Center. Read the rest of this article »

In AKCHO’s efforts to grow and be more helpful to the historical community, the AKCHO display board attended more events during the 2009 year with members’ help. One of the perks is we learn more about Washington history when we are out talking to the public. There are so many parts to history that make up the whole and it is always interesting to learn new pieces to the puzzle. Read the rest of this article »

Invoking memories of an old Seattle telephone exchange, Historic Seattle announces the launch of its new preservation blog, MAin2. The blog promises to provide up-to-date information about preservation issues, news, events and projects in Seattle and around Puget Sound. Read the rest of this article »

The next round of spending cuts will have a big effect on the Washington State Library, according to a report in The Olympian. Agency leaders say that over a third of the Library’s staff may be cut, and preservation work on some of the state’s oldest historic documents will likely be eliminated. Read the rest of this article »

HistoryLink.org reports that the Library of Congress recently updated its Chronicling America web site, where you can find information about American newspapers dating all the way back to 1690. You can also search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922. The site includes a few historic newspapers from Washington, including the Colfax Gazette, the Colville Examiner, the Leavenworth Echo, the Pullman Herald, and the Seattle Republican.

The Discovery Modeler’s Education Center is looking for a temporary home for three of its historic ship models. The vessels are Vancouver’s ship Discovery that explored and surveyed the northwest from 1792-1796, the steam powered Beaver, of the Hudson Bay Company which serviced their trading posts beginning in 1836, and the schooner Exact which brought the founders of Seattle to Alki in 1851. Read the rest of this article »

Photo courtesy of Black Diamond Historical Museum

The Black Diamond Historical Society holds the first of this year’s series of guided tours to the Historic Town Site of Franklin, WA, a town deep in the hills along the Green River Gorge, where the excellent grade of coal from the famous McKay Seam was discovered. Read the rest of this article »

The Redmond Historical Society still seeks more designs showing Redmond’s heritage. These will be turned into 100 quilt squares for a giant quilt to be raffled off as a fundraiser in 2012 when Redmond turns 100!

Kalakala owner Steve Rodrigues last month embarked on a 180-day “Walk of Hope” to bring more recognition to the aging ferry, according to a story in the Peninsula Daily News. Rodrigues has chartered a bus that will tour Puget Sound, various national parks and 10 state capitals as he makes his way to Washington D.C. In the nation’s capital, he hopes to ask President Barack Obama to declare the 75-year-old vessel a national monument.

You can shop for that special someone and help your favorite museum this Valentine’s Day. If you shop on-line at www.shopformuseums.com, part of the proceeds will be donated to a museum of your choice. That’s a sweet deal!