OLYMPIA…In honor of Archives Month, the Washington State Archives is offering an open house tour and demonstration of its Cheney facilities on Tuesday, October 12.

The event includes a 2:30 p.m. tour of the State Archives’ Eastern Region Branch conducted by Eastern Regional Branch Archives Assistant Lee Pierce. A demonstration and tour of the Digital Archives will take place at 3:30 p.m. Digital Archivist Kerry Barbour and Assistant Archivist Larry Cebula will demonstrate the Digital Archives’ website, and Network Administrator Harold Stoehr will lead a tour of its state-of-the-art facility.

The ERB Archives holds government records for 11 counties, cities, local government offices, school districts and cemetery boards.

“From attendance records for one-room schools to Spokane Garry’s death certificate to frontier court records, the Eastern Regional Branch has the raw materials of our history,” Pierce said. “There are literally thousands and thousands of historical nuggets for people to uncover.”

Now in its sixth year of operation, the Digital Archives preserves almost 100 million records from Washington state and local governments.

“We’re proud to have the first Digital Archives of any state in the nation,” Barbour said. “We have a goldmine of documents and photos for genealogists, history buffs, researchers, students and anyone else to access and enjoy. Our Digital Archives is a state-of-the-art facility that brings Washington’s past to us literally at our fingertips.”

Some posters of colorful birds-eye maps of Spokane and Port Townsend will be given away as door prizes to a few lucky visitors who come to the Cheney facilities on October 12.

The Eastern Regional Branch Archives and Digital Archives facilities are located at 960 Washington St. in Cheney, on the campus of Eastern Washington University. Both are open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays, excluding state holidays.

The Eastern Regional Branch Archives can be reached at (509) 235-7508 or era@sos.wa.gov. Digital Archives can be contacted at (509) 235-7500, ext. 200, or digitalarchives@sos.wa.gov.