The Seattle Municipal Archives are the official

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

of the city of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. The organization is housed in

Seattle City Hall Seattle City Hall (also known as the Seattle Municipal Building) is the home of the offices of the mayor and city council of Seattle, Washington, located between 4th Avenue and 5th Avenue in the downtown area of the city. Most city departments ha ...

. The organization was formally established in 1985. The city of Seattle stores its city records here. The Seattle Municipal Archive accepted from the

National Archives and Records Administration The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

to process records. By 2002 many of the archives photographs from before the 1930s had begun to deteriorate and the archival budget did not allow for all of them to be digitized to contemporary quality standards for archives. At this time, the archival collection had at least been scanned, but many of the pieces were low quality, and the decision was made to prioritize 3000 of the 1.5 million pieces in the collection for high quality

digital preservation In library science, library and archival science, digital preservation is a formal process to ensure that digital information of continuing value remains accessible and usable in the long term. It involves planning, resource allocation, and appli ...

. Most of the archive's pictures from this time period were taken by city workers and document civil engineering. From its founding until the present, Scott Cline has served as director of the archives. Cline studied history at

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the next ...

References

External links

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video archives
kept on YouTube {{authority control Government of Seattle Archives in the United States Government agencies established in 1985 City archives 1985 establishments in Washington (state)