HistoryLink is an online encyclopedia of

Washington state Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

history. The site has more than 8,100 entries and attracts 23,000 weekly visitors. It has 500 biographies and more than 14,000 images. The non-profit historical organization History Ink produces HistoryLink.org, stating that it is the nation's first online encyclopedia of local and state history created expressly for the Internet.

Walt Crowley Walter Charles Crowley (June 20, 1947 – September 21, 2007) was an American historian and activist from Washington state. He first entered the public sphere in Seattle through his involvement with the social and political movements of the 1960s, ...

was the founding president and executive director.

History

In 1997, Crowley discussed preparing a Seattle-

King County King County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 12th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle ...

historical encyclopedia for the 2001 sesquicentennial of the

Denny Party The Denny Party was a group of American pioneers credited with founding Seattle, Washington. They settled at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. History On April 10, 1851, a wagon party headed by Arthur A. Denny left Cherry Grove, Illinois and he ...

. His wife Marie McCaffrey suggested publishing the encyclopedia on the Internet. They and Paul Dorpat incorporated History Ink on November 10, 1997, with seed money from Priscilla "Patsy" Collins, by birth a member of Seattle's wealthy and prominent Bullitt family. The prototype of HistoryLink.org debuted on May 1, 1998, and attracted additional funding for a formal launch on January 15, 1999, with 300 entries. The website was noted for its coverage of the 1999 WTO protests in Downtown Seattle, maintaining a live

webcam A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in Videotelephony, video telephony, live streaming and social media, and Closed-circuit television, security. Webcams can b ...

feed pointed at the intersection of 4th Avenue and Pike Street that refreshed every 30 seconds. The website received more than 1.5 million views during the WTO protests, which overwhelmed the server at times. In 2003, HistoryLink expanded its content to cover

history, including new essays and features. Meanwhile, HistoryLink continues, focusing on the production of history books. Following Crowley's death in 2007, McCaffrey served as HistoryLink's executive director before her departure in 2023. Jennifer Ott replaced her as HistoryLink's executive director. A 2008 grant from the Henry M. Jackson Foundation funded several freelance writers to expand coverage of

Snohomish County Snohomish County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. With a population of 827,957 as of the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous county in Washington, after nearby King and Pierce counties, and the 72nd-most popul ...

. The Snohomish County Historic Preservation Commission has funded yearly grants for the same purpose.

Content

HistoryLink primarily features articles that are similar to a traditional encyclopedia entry, as well as timeline entries and first-person accounts called "People's Histories." The website has around 50 historians who are paid a rate of $775 per article.

Awards

Crowley and HistoryLink.org have won many awards, including * The

Pacific Northwest Historians Guild The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

's 2007 History Award * The Washington State Historic Preservation Office's award for media in 2001 * The Association of King County Historical Organizations award for best long-term project (2000)

References

External links

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HistoryLink video
{{Authority control American online encyclopedias History of Washington (state) Internet properties established in 1998 Creative Commons-licensed websites