Rural Heritage Project Aims To Preserve And Share Washington History

Historic Photos And Documents Tell Forgotten Stories

For the last five years, the Washington State Library has been sponsoring the Rural Heritage Project, a joint effort among the smallest libraries in the state to gather and preserve community history. The project is the brainchild of Gary Bortel, a Westport librarian who now works for the Washington State Library. Bortel had the idea to collect the cultural buried treasure from Washington’s rural communities – old photos and other documents – and scan the photos to digital in order to build a website accessible to all. This would allow Washingtonians to share their heritage with the world.

The collections include a wide variety of historic treasures, including formal portraits of town residents from more than a century ago, and photos of various rural towns before they were transformed, first by irrigation and then by modernization. Of particular note are the postcards depicting historic floods. Photos show town barbershops and bakeries being lapped by encroaching waves for the only time in recorded history. These clues to the histories of the state’s smallest communities have been collected from basements, attics, thrift stores, and garage sales. Many of these treasures have been lost, forgotten, or in the possession of just one family or person for 100 years or more. In order to allow everyone to share in the richness of these historical artifacts, some suggested a museum.

But Bortel realized there was another solution that would allow even more people to enjoy the history of rural Washington. That solution was of course to scan the historic documents and photos to digital, and put them on a website for all to enjoy. Washingtonians were encouraged to retrieve their own personal artifacts so they could be scanned or photographed for inclusion on the website. Bortel pitched his idea to colleagues at the state library. Eventually, a $50,000 annual grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Service led to the founding of the Rural Heritage project in 2006, with the goal of preserving and sharing pieces of Washington State history that might otherwise be lost. Now, some 25 libraries across Washington State have historic documents online, and seven more have begun compiling their collections.