At city, county, and state levels, budget planning is underway for 2011, and your elected officials want to hear from you. Because funding for cultural endeavors often is the first thing to be cut, it is especially important during these tough economic times for heritage advocates to get in touch with their elected officials RIGHT NOW. In making these tough budget decisions, your government representatives need to hear what their constituents value. The more people they hear from, the more of an impact it will make on their budget priorities. Read the rest of this article »

The Seattle City Council has come down on the side of the Museum of History & Industry after a recent faceoff between MOHAI and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn. Read the rest of this article »

After several months of negotiations, the Shoreline Historical Museum will be leaving its beloved Ronald School Building at the end of this year.  The Museum operated in the nearly century-old building for 35 years. Read the rest of this article »

The Museum of History & Industry Library has 50 or more gray archival periodical and pamphlet shelf file boxes available to a new home. If your organization would like any or all of these, please contact Mary Montgomery at mary.montgomery@seattlehistory.org or 206-324-1685 x38 to arrange pickup. First come, first served, you transport.

Also, Read the rest of this article »

Last month, I traveled to Oklahoma City for the American Association for State and Local History Annual Meeting. In addition to attending stimulating sessions and networking with history practitioners from around the country, I had the honor of accepting the prestigious Award of Merit for 4Culture’s Destination Heritage project at the annual Leadership in History Awards Banquet. Read the rest of this article »

Seattle City Archivist Scott Cline has received the Society of American Archivists Fellows’ Ernst Posner Award for the outstanding essay published during the preceding year in American Archivist. Cline was honored for his article “To the Limit of Our Integrity: Reflections on Archival Being” in American Archivist (vol. 72, no. 2). Read the rest of this article »

HistoryLink.org, the online encyclopedia of Washington state history, has introduced its first mobile app, which can be located by searching for PastMapWa on an iPhone or Android phone. PastMapWA has a user-friendly map interface that features content from HistoryLink.org. Map pins indicate essays on historical topics relevant to specific places, including Washington state’s counties, cities, towns, ports, and other selected places.

Seattle Municipal Archives celebrates Archives Month with an Introduction to Research on October 26 at 1:30 PM (limit 25) and with tours of the Archives that same day at 11 AM and 3 PM (limit 12 people per tour). RSVP to either or both at archives@Seattle.gov.  Also, on October 28 the free Seattle Archives Fair will be held at the Seattle Public Library, Level 10, from 10 AM – 3 PM.

The Museum of Flight last month moved three iconic airplanes in its collection from their long-time restoration home at Boeing’s Plant 2. The Lockheed Constellation Super G, the Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress, and the Boeing B-29 Superfortress all are being relocated as Boeing proceeds with plans to demolish the historic airplane fabrication plant. Read the rest of this article »

Humanities Washington has announced its slate for this year’s Inquiring Mind program, which brings some of Washington’s finest scholars, authors, and others to local communities for engaging educational presentations. To learn more about this program, and how you can book an Inquiring Mind presentation for your community, visit www.humanities.org/inquiringmind.