Sources for Spokane Historical Research

Your final project is to create four interpretive stops--text and images only--for Spokane Historical. I want to make this as easy a project as possible, while creating high-quality stops. The pedagogical goal is to have you learn how to contribute to a digital history project and also to have something out there with your name on it to show to future employers.

It is strongly recommended that you choose four buildings on the National Register for Historic Preservation. Working from the register will make your life easier! You will know when you begin that the building is historically significant, there will be nomination form with the basic history of the building already provided, and additional research will be relatively easy.

Here are some good sources for researching your buildings:

1. First stop, the National Register of Historic Places database. What you are looking for is the Register Nomination form for the building (here for example is the form for the Davenport Hotel). If the form is not available on the database, check with the Spokane Historic Preservation Office, particularly the Spokane Register of Historic Places. If your building appears on one of the Historic Spokane Heritage Tours, you are in luck. If your property is listed on the National Register but you cannot find the form at either of the above databases, you should be able to find a paper copy of the form at the Spokane Historic Preservation Office, or the Northwest Room of the Spokane Public Library, or perhaps in government documents at the JFK library.
2. An excellent book for researching the history of downtown Spokane is Spokane's Building Blocks by Robert B. Hyslop,  available here.
3. The above sources are excellent, but somewhat dry. Once you have done the basic research, see what you can find in online newspapers. Start with Google News Archive, and don't forget Chronicling America. Search for the name of the building, the name of the owner(s) and architect, the street address (note that some buildings will have multiple addresses, and that a few Spokane street names have changed over the years), and for the names of businesses or prominent individuals who one resided there. 
4. Another good source of local color is the original history of Spokane, A History of Spokane (1911) by Nelson Wayne Durham is the most comprehensive (if biased) history of early Spokane and contains some excellent images. It might also be available at Archive.org.
5. Spokane City Directories (1880s-present): Before there were telephone books there were city directories, which came out yearly and listed by name every person living in Spokane, their address, their profession, and other vital information. business were also listed and the pages are crammed with advertising for those businesses. Collections of Spokane City Directories are available at the Eastern Region Branch of the State Archives, at the Northwest Room of the Spokane Public Library, and at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Cultures.
6. Sanborn Maps: These colorful, detailed, block-by-block maps of early Spokane are a great source of images. Sanborn maps are not available online (actually there is a commercial database, but those maps are black-and-white only and I don't think EWU subscribes) but can be found at the Northwest Room of the Spokane Public Library and also at the MAC.
7. There are many other books that might yield information. See this page for lots and lots of additional research suggestions, including where to find historic images.

This will be a fun project!

Getting Good with Google Reader

This looks like a useful blog post.

Volunteer for Historic Preservation

I do hope some of you will lend a hand at the National Trust for Historic Preservation Conference in Spokane in a few weeks. Here are the details:

Be a part of the excitement as we go “Beyond Boundaries” at the National Trust for Historic Preservation Conference taking place October 31st – November 3rd. 

Your participation as a volunteer will help connect attendees to a great Spokane experience!

Volunteer roles range from greeting conference attendees as they arrive at the airport to directing attendees to their specific events being held at The Convention Center, the Davenport Hotel, The Fox Theatre, The Bing and The Masonic Center.   You’ll be Ambasadors to Spokane!!

The public is invited to participate in some events during the conference:  The Opening Plenary at The Fox Theatre featuring Annie Leonard, creator of “The Story of Stuff Project, the first National Preservation Conference Pow Wow, Design Awards Program and the Closing Plenary Luncheon for a cost of $15.    To find out more, go to www.PreservationNation.org/conference <http://www.PreservationNation.org/conference> 

We’ll have a Volunteer Training Session on October 9th at 1:30PM at the Convention Theatre at The Convention Center.

You can help us by volunteering for several shifts.   Attached is the Sign Up Sheet with the various opportunities.  To serve as a volunteer, please respond to me by October 2nd via email at kgendron@sisna.com or by phone at (509) 327-0452 and let me know what positions you’d like to volunteer.

Thanks for helping showcase Spokane as a city that goes Beyond Boundaries!!

Sincerely,

Karen Gendron
NTHP Volunteer Coordinator Chair

Count Votes, Earn Cash

Here are the details on how to get hired by Associated Press to tally the votes:

Hello and welcome back to the 2012 school year – As you may know the Associated Press is working with the Associated Students of Eastern, Eastern’s Journalism Program and Eastern’s administration in setting up a national General Election call-in center in EWU's PUB Multipurpose Room for the November General Election.  Eastern's students will be handling election returns for the Presidential election, Congress and many state-wide races in 22 states from across the U.S.  Eastern is the only college or university in the United States to have this distinction.  For this exciting event the AP is hiring up to 210 Eastern students to work in the Center, at $12/hour for both training and the day of the election.  Training will take place the morning of Nov. 3 (a Saturday) and the election this year is Tuesday Nov. 6. 

I am responsible for recruiting the student workers and it would be a tremendous help if you would please share this information with students in your classes and program.  It will be a great civic involvement experience for them as well as providing them with some well-deserved extra cash. 

Thank you so much. 

Steve Blewett, Emeritus Professor of Journalism and currently adjunct professor in the Journalism Program.  Students can contact me at:  sblewett@ewu.edu or call me at 534-1455 if they have any questions or would like to sign up for a position. 

Welcome to Class

Esteemed Students:

Welcome to Digital History! This course will teach the basics of researching, writing, and presenting history with new information technologies. We will learn how to find, evaluate, and organize digital sources of history.  We will also learn how to collaborate digitally through mailing lists, weblogs, and other “Web 2.0” technologies. Above all we will learn how to present history digitally, taking historical research into the digital realm.

This is a classroom course, and this blog will serve as 1) a place to find the syllabus and course schedule, 2) a linking place for your individual student blogs, which I will add to the sidebar, and 3) a spot for occasional announcements and resources.

Check back here every week for important announcements, changes, and inspiration.

Dr. Cebula