Welcome!

This women-focused LibGuide highlights resources from UW Special Collections showing the impact women had on the education, preservation, story-telling, and advocacy of the Pacific Northwest outdoors. It was built as a capstone project for the MLIS program by graduating student (2020), Maddie Maze, and sponsored by UW Special Collections (Lisa Oberg). The purpose of the guide is to share important but sometimes hidden research material on a well-loved topic, the Northwest outdoors, from the UW Special Collections library. 

Use this guide to brush up on researching women in archives and libraries, locate primary sources, find books written by women, search the catalog for material from UW Special Collections, and cite materials from Special Collections. This guide is meant to open the research door and remember how women contributed to outdoor preservation, education, storytelling, and advocacy in local history.

To improve search results while researching women in archives and libraries, try the following tips.

  Women's history material can be hidden in larger collections. Groups, clubs, associations, geographical locations, professional organizations, individuals, and families may contain information about individual women.

  It may help to use a woman's maiden name as a search alternative. Find this through marriage records, newspaper articles, census records.

  Follow a library or archival institution on social media. Often they will highlight women during celebrations such as Women's History Month. 

  Check the bibliography and citations of a particularly helpful book or article for additional sources to follow.

  Check if your archive institution or library has a regional periodical index where you can search for news material by author, subject name, and place. 

  Ask the library or archive reference team for help on search terms if you get stuck or need assistance using a catalog. They are there to help!

Pinnacle Peak (WA) ca. 1925. From PH Coll 52.22​