Collections Sponsorship Opportunities

The Washington State Historical Society was founded in 1891 to collect, preserve, and interpret the history of the state of Washington. We are comprised of a family of museums, a research center, and several state-wide outreach services. Of our many heritage activities, our core responsibility to the people of Washington is to preserve our collections. These collections, housed in our Research Center, make up the fabric of Washington's history.

While we house and care for these collections with the goal of longevity, we also long to make them more accessible to the public. The Historical Society has more than 600,000 historical photographs, negatives and other images, as another 90,000 artifacts under its care, each a small part of Washington's history. They mark momentous events, exemplify changing trends, and provide insight into the day-to-day lives of the people who lived in the state at different points in time. But, because of the sheer size of our collections, we can not display every item in our museums.

Many museums and historical societies have turned to digital media to make their collections accessible to the public. Like these institutions, the Washington State Historical Society is in the process of digitizing artifacts, photographs and art works to populate our web site. But, with this monumental task comes many challenges. Time spent photographing and scanning images is difficult to come by with a small staff and limited budget.

Many of our collections are not scheduled for digitization for years to come, but with your help, we can make available to the public these important items much sooner. If you are interested in sponsoring the Society by providing in-kind scanning services, please contact us at 253/798-5911 or by email: fpoyner@wshs.wa.gov. Because of the size and variety of the Society's collections, there are sponsorship opportunities at several levels.

Sponsorship Levels
Washington State Historical Society Digital Collections

$500 Level
Recognition in the Society's annual report
Scanning credit in metadata to be included in online catalog*
Sponsorship credit in online article about the collection (article display for 60 days)

$1,000 Level
Recognition in the Society's annual report
Scanning credit in metadata to be included in online catalog*
Sponsorship credit in online article about the collection (article display for 60 days)
Business level membership to the Washington State Historical Society **
Exclusive guided tour for 4 of the Society's research Center in Tacoma

$2,000 Level
Recognition in the Society's annual report
Scanning credit in metadata to be included in online catalog*
Sponsorship credit in online article about the collection (article display for 60 days)
Business level membership to the Washington State Historical Society **
Exclusive guided tour for 4 of the Society's research Center in Tacoma
Free board room rental at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma