Washington State Library

The Washington Territorial Library was established on March 2, 1853, with the signing of the Organic Act by President Millard Fillmore to create Washington Territory. The law included an appropriation of $5,000 for the territory library that was used by appointed Territorial Governor Issac Stevens to buy and ship 2,130 volumes from New York City to Olympia.{{cite news |last=McDonald |first=Lucile |author-link=Lucile Saunders McDonald |date=July 19, 1959 |title=Treasured Collections Installed In State Library's Washington Room |page=7 |work=The Seattle Times}}{{cite web |last=Crowley |first=Walt |author-link=Walt Crowley |date=February 22, 2003 |title=Washington State Library |url=http://www.historylink.org/File/5271 |work=HistoryLink |access-date=January 12, 2018}} The first shipment of books departed from New York City on May 21, 1853, aboard the Invincible, which traveled around Cape Horn and South America to San Francisco. The books were transferred to the Tarquinia and arrived in Olympia on October 23, 1853,{{cite news |date=March 8, 1953 |title=Territory's First Library Custodian Met Violent End |page=7 |work=The Seattle Times}} a few weeks before Governor Stevens arrived from his overland trip and took office.{{cite web |last=Roach |first=Matthew |date=May 29, 2013 |title=The Voyage of the "Unknown Steamer" |url=https://blogs.sos.wa.gov/library/index.php/2013/05/the-voyage-of-the-unknown-steamer/ |publisher=Washington State Library |access-date=January 12, 2018}}{{cite web |date=September 25, 2013 |title=Oh, the places you'll go! |url=https://blogs.sos.wa.gov/library/index.php/2013/09/oh-the-places-youll-go/ |publisher=Washington State Library |access-date=January 12, 2018}} The library was opened to public use beginning in 1855, after an amendment to the territorial library law was passed by the territorial legislature.{{harvp|Reynolds|Davis|2002|p=3}}

Prior to achieving statehood on November 11, 1889, the Territorial Library reported a collection of 10,448 volumes.{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Charles W. |title=Early Library Development in Washington |date=October 1926 |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=246–247 |journal=The Washington Historical Quarterly |publisher=University of Washington Press |oclc=2392232 |jstor=40475043 |url=http://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/WHQ/article/viewFile/7056/6093 |access-date=January 12, 2018}} The new state legislature passed a bill creating the state library on March 27, 1890.{{cite book |date=March 27, 1890 |title=Session Laws of the State of Washington, 1889–90 |chapter=Chapter VIII: Commissions |pages=254–259 |chapter-url=http://leg.wa.gov/CodeReviser/documents/sessionlaw/1889c8.pdf |publisher=Washington State Legislature |access-date=February 4, 2018}} The state library's collection was organized under the Dewey Decimal Classification system in 1898, and a card index was created in 1901.{{cite book |last=Kaiser |first=John B. |year=1917 |title=Report on a Survey of State Supported Library Activities in the State of Washington Made by the State Library Advisory Board |page=44 |publisher=Frank M. Lamborn |location=Olympia, Washington |oclc=8081060 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001164594 |via=HathiTrust |access-date=January 12, 2018}} The library occupied the Joel M. Pritchard Building on the State Capitol campus in Olympia from 1958 until it was damaged by the 2001 Nisqually earthquake and evacuated.{{cite web |year=2012 |title=Historic Sites of the Washington State and Territorial Library: 1853 to the present |url=https://www.sos.wa.gov/library/historicsitesofthewashingtonstateandterritoriallibrary.aspx |publisher=Washington State Library |access-date=January 12, 2018}} At its greatest extent in the 1990s, the library contained 547,000 books, periodicals, and documents.

The library was moved to a temporary location in Tumwater in December 2001, while the Pritchard Building underwent already-planned renovations and served as the temporary chambers for the state senate.{{cite news |last=Condon |first=Patrick |date=October 25, 2001 |title=Library set for move to Tumwater |page=B1 |work=The Olympian}}{{cite news |last=Ammons |first=David |date=December 2, 2002 |title=Not much room to negotiate as Capitol squeeze continues |page=B3 |work=The Seattle Times |agency=Associated Press}} The general collection was downsized by 260,000 books, which were donated to local libraries.{{cite news |last=Guiterrez |first=Scott |date=January 19, 2004 |title=State library survives transformation |page=B2 |work=The Olympian}} The state government proposed closing the state library as part of its 2002 budget, saving $9 million in annual expenses,{{cite news |last=Koepp |first=Autumn |date=January 28, 2002 |title=Reading the library its last rites? - Locke proposes closing facility to save money |page=B1 |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20020128/library28m/reading-the-library-its-last-rites |work=The Seattle Times |access-date=January 12, 2018}} but the library was saved by eliminating the state library commission and merging operations with the Office of the Secretary of State effective July 1, 2002.{{cite news |last=Ammons |first=David |date=April 24, 2002 |title=Her library is safe, so leader is going |page=B2 |work=The Seattle Times |agency=Associated Press}}{{cite news |date=September 2002 |title=Washington State Library Merges with Secretary of State's Office |url=http://www.ala.org/ascla/archives/contentlistingby/volume24/washintonstate/washintonstate |publisher=American Library Association |access-date=January 12, 2018}} The state government attempted to eliminate the state library a second time in December 2002, with collections transferred to local universities and colleges,{{cite news |last=Condon |first=Patrick |date=December 4, 2002 |title=Locke has library on the block, Reed fears |page=B1 |work=The Olympian}} but was saved by downsizing its staff and reorganizing under the Office of the Secretary of State.{{cite news |last=Condon |first=Patrick |date=December 19, 2002 |title=State library would stay open, but not to public |page=A1 |work=The Olympian}} The library has since expanded its digital collections, which include scanned copies of older state newspapers and books.

In 2019, the state legislature approved a $2 fee on recorded documents to fund the construction of a new library and archives building in Tumwater. The $108 million project would construct a joint facility on the South Campus near the former state library.{{cite news |last=Drew |first=James |date=April 25, 2019 |title=New state library-archives building and the $2 fee to pay for it are closer to reality |url=https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/politics-government/article229685364.html |work=The News Tribune |access-date=August 21, 2019}} The Washington State Archives are currently housed in a building on the capitol campus that was constructed in 1962 and deemed too small to hold the state's records.{{cite news |date=January 29, 2019 |title=Secretary of State shows off reasons the state needs a new building for its archives |url=https://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article225263505.html |work=The Olympian |access-date=August 21, 2019}}

The State Library maintains branches at several state agencies, as well as in correctional facilities and mental hospitals:{{cite web |title=Branch Libraries |url=https://www.sos.wa.gov/library/BranchLibraries.aspx |publisher=Washington State Library |access-date=January 9, 2018}}

• Washington State Department of Transportation Library
• Washington State Department of Natural Resources Library
• Washington State Utilities and Transportation Committee Library
• Washington State Department of Labor and Industries Library
• WSDOT Materials Laboratory Library
• Washington Talking Book & Braille Library, Seattle (since 2008)
• Eastern State Hospital Library
• Western State Hospital Library
• Airway Heights Corrections Center Library
• Clallam Bay Corrections Center Library
• Coyote Ridge Corrections Center Library
• Stafford Creek Corrections Center Library
• Twin Rivers Corrections Center Library
• Washington Corrections Center Library
• Washington Corrections Center for Women Library
• Washington State Penitentiary Library
• Washington State Reformatory Library

The Washington State Library coordinates library access to the Washington K-20 Network (computer network).{{cite web|publisher=Washington Secretary of State/Washington State Library|title=Washington Public Libraries and the K-20 Network|url=https://www.sos.wa.gov//library/libraries/projects/k20.aspx|access-date=January 12, 2018}} The library also operates the {{ill|Washington Digital Newspapers|wd=Q134519989 }} program, begun in 2015.{{citation |url=https://washingtondigitalnewspapers.org/?a=p&p=about |title=Washington Digital Newspapers: About |work=washingtondigitalnewspapers.org |publisher=Washington Secretary of State |access-date= 2025-05-20 }}{{citation |url=https://www.sos.wa.gov/about-office/from-our-corner/general/great-news-washington-digital-newspapers |title=Great news for Washington Digital Newspapers |date=April 22, 2015 |work=sos.wa.gov |publisher=Washington Secretary of State }}

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• Bion Freeman Kendall, 1853–1857
• Henry R. Crosbie, 1857
• Urban East Hicks, 1858
• Andrew Jackson Moses, 1859
• James Clark Head, 1860–1861, 1863, 1865
• Thomas Taylor, 1862
• John Paul Judson, 1864
• Samuel Nelson Woodruff, 1866
• Henry Lensen Chapman, 1866
• Levi Shelton, 1867–1869
• Jeremiah D. Mabie, 1869–1870
• Sylvester Hill Mann, 1870
• Champion Bramwell Mann, 1870
• Issac Van Dorsey Mossman, 1870–1873
• Benjamin Franklin Yantis, 1873–1875
• Frederick S. Holmes, 1875–1877
• Elwood Evans, 1877–1879
• Walter W. Newlin, 1879–1880
• James Peyre Ferry, 1880–1881
• Eliza Des Saure Newell, 1882–1887
• Eleanor Sharp Stevenson, 1888–1890{{cite web |title=Territorial Librarians |url=https://www.sos.wa.gov/library/territoriallibrarians.aspx |publisher=Washington State Library |access-date=January 12, 2018}}
• Gretchen Knief Schenk, 1942-1945
• Carma Zimmerman, 1945–1951
• Marayan Reynolds, 1951-1975
• Roderick Gardner Schwartz, 1975-1986
• Nancy Zussy, 1986-2002
• Jan Walsh, 2002-2010
• Randall Simmons, 2010-2015
• Cindy Altick Aden, 2016-2020
• Sara Jones, 2021-present day{{cite web|title=State Librarian|publisher=Washington State Library|url=https://www.sos.wa.gov/library/State-Librarians.aspx|access-date=April 29, 2023}}

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{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last1=Reynolds |first1=Maryan |last2=Davis |first2=Joel |year=2002 |title=The Dynamics of Change: A History of the Washington State Library |publisher=Washington State University Press |location=Pullman, Washington |ISBN=9780874222487 |oclc=464873581 }}

• {{official|https://www.sos.wa.gov/library/}}
• [https://www.sos.wa.gov/library/specialcollections.aspx Special Collections]

{{US state libraries}}

{{US archival agencies}}

{{Washington library systems}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1853 establishments in Washington Territory

Category:Government agencies established in 1853

Category:Libraries in Washington (state)

Washington