Over the last four weeks, King County Archives has hosted two high school seniors from the Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences (SAAS) for their senior project. During their 4-week tenure at the Archives, Ana Sieler and Ian Law were introduced to some of the common tasks associated with archival work. This included relabeling shelves, shadowing the reference desk, and completing an inventory of our reference library.
The Archives’ reference library has dozens of books about Seattle and King history. Patrons may reference the texts to assist with their research when working with archival records. Before the inventory, staff and patrons couldn’t locate books by topic; they had to manually search the shelves to find books. The inventory created by Ana and Ian increases the discoverability and usability of these books and highlights areas purchase books in needed subject areas. Through creating a reference library with books exploring underrepresented histories in the King County region, the Archives aligns with the County’s “We are racially just” True North and Values.
Ana and Ian’s main project was beginning an audit of environmentally related records held at the Archives. As King County continues to feel impacts of climate change and environmental degradation, it is essential that the County Archives program highlights records about the environment. Environmental stewardship has long been central to the work of King County government. For decades, County employees have worked to ensure that current residents and future generations can enjoy the unique natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest.
The Archives contains numerous records on environmental protections enacted by the County, ranging from salmon preservation to renewable biosolids fertilizer. Ana and Ian combed through dozens of boxes related to the Sensitive Areas Ordinance (SAO). The SAO protected environmentally sensitive areas in the County and the environmental work of the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (METRO, 1958-1994). Ana and Ian inventoried the boxes they reviewed and noted which records were of particular interest. In addition, they also wrote two blog posts about their findings, so keep an eye out for those on the Archives’ blog, Bytes and Boxes, in the coming months!
A big thanks to Ian and Ana for their hard work, and congratulations on graduating from SAAS!
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