Washington State Digital Archives
American digital archive
The Washington State Digital Archives in Cheney, Washington preserves electronic records from Washington's state and local government agencies. It opened in October 2004 and is the first state archives in the United States dedicated specifically to the preservation of electronic records.
History
The Washington State Archives began strategic planning for the Digital Archives in 2000, and planning for the physical design and technical infrastructure occurred in 2002. Construction began in January 2003.
Concurrent with construction, research began on the programmatic and technological aspects of the Digital Archives. Site visits by project team members were made to the National Archives and the Library of Congress. A strategic plan was developed that included extensive involvement of staff, executive management and external stakeholders.
In June 2004, custom development on the web interface and database design began, blending the latest technologies with traditional archival theory to create a first of its kind repository. The goal of the program was to make the historical electronic records of State and Local government agencies easily accessible to the public, from anywhere, at any time. The first records brought into the facilities care were marriage records from three pilot counties (Chelan, Snohomish and Spokane) along with the Historic Census and Naturalization records from the State Archives and State Library.
The public source identifies “Washington State Digital Archives” as american digital archive. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Washington, State and Digital.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Washington State Digital Archives”, the useful work is to connect “american digital archive” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 22, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7972240. VIAF identifies the subject as 144616166. The Library of Congress control number is no2006067012. Authority coordinates are 47.488, -117.587. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2004, 2000, 2002 and 2003.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Washington State Digital Archives”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Washington State Digital Archives primary sources, Washington State Digital Archives archive and Washington research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Washington State Digital Archives”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Washington State Digital Archives” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.