History : Native American: Manuscript Collections

Manuscripts and archives are unique documents produced by people and organizations. Manuscripts generally refer to personal papers while archives usually refer to organizational, institutional or business records. Oftentimes the terms are used interchangeably.

Collections can include handwritten or typed letters, diaries, meeting minutes, newspaper clippings, photographs, financial records, oral history interviews, and more. Some collections may be a single folder containing a few letters while others can span hundreds of boxes containing thousands of documents.

Research using manuscripts is different and much more time-consuming than more typical library research. Even though there are collection guides (sometimes called finding aids) listing the boxes and folders usually there is no way to know the exact content without scanning each document. A folder may just note that it contains correspondence from people with surnames ranging from A to He that range in date from 1941 to 1947 but not that there is a letter from Toshiyuki Fukushima describing his experiences at Minidoka.

The UW Libraries Special Collections (located in the basement of Allen Library South) also has unique manuscript collections that document the history and culture of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. Included in the collection are personal papers of early pioneers and settlers, labor and civic leaders, citizen activists and important writers, artists and activists and organizational records from labor unions, the University, important industries, conservation groups and local community and ethnic groups.

In addition to our local manuscript collections the Libraries also owns collections from elsewhere in microfilm plus some that have been digitized.

Help: Learning to Do Research: Manuscripts & Archives