The bookmark caught my eye.

I picked it up at the Central Washington branch of the Washington State Archives in Ellensburg. It was titled, “Why Records Matter.” And next, “Why is it important to protect records from damage or destruction?”

The book mark listed four categories of reasons for keeping records:

• Records protect life.
• Records protect property.
• Records protect rights.
• Records are essential to restoring order and resuming operations following a disaster. 

If you’d like to learn all 17 points under those four headings, click to:

www.statearchivists.org/prepare/Why_records_matter.htm

I had never heard of the Council of State Archivists, had you? And I had never thought of record keeping in these terms; that little bookmark was a good find for me.

This post highlights something else our WSGS blog is good for!

Today in our paper, The Spokesman-Review, was a story dear to any genealogist’s heart. Jennifer Priest walked into a antique shop and spotted and bought this little charm bracelet. Each charm is engraved with a first name and the dates range from the 1930s to the 1960s. To read the full story, click on the link below. If you can offer help, contact Jennifer at TheCharmBracelet@hotmail.com.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/aug/22/spokane-woman-seeks-to-identify-owner-of-engraved/

Emil Albert and Stella Veva Gehrke had lived in the Grand Coulee area since 1958. In 1965 Emil began his unusual occupation of making windmills from scrap metal. The couple traveled some 62,000 miles picking up thrown-away materials to create over 500 windmills, whirligigs, and merry-go-rounds in their yard. Emil died in 1979 and Stella followed in 1980. Some 120 of their many windmills were acquired by the town of Grand Coulee and are displayed at North Dam Park as a memorial to the Gehrkes.

I visited this unique Washington garden last weekend and signed the guest book…. bottom photo…. even the guest book cover is made from an old rusty 8×11 pan. Do  stop whenever your travels take you through Grand Coulee. You will enjoy seeing this, I guarantee.

This is legit….. click to www.PCAACA.org and view their very nice website………………

CALL FOR PAPERS Interested scholars are invited to submit papers for the 2016 Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Annual Conference in Seattle, Washington, March 21-25, 2016

Special Topics Area, Genealogy. Academics studying and writing on American popular culture might examine genealogy within the context of television and literary disciplines, library and archival disciplines, American and public history disciplines, museum studies, or folklore.

Possible themes for papers/panels include but are not restricted to:  DNA in genealogy  Comparison of different genealogy television programs  Comparison of US genealogy television programs with British or Canadian programs  Study of the motivations for researching family history  Religious aspect of family history (e.g., LDS church)  The monetary impact of the business of genealogy  Redefining genealogy: from elitist pursuit to the Roots phenomenon  Fiction or non-fiction: when genealogists write the family story  Genealogy in mystery novels  The fate of the FitzRoys and Royal Bastards if DNA had been discovered in 1100 AD  Serendipity in genealogy  Comparing “traditional” research methods with “Internet Genealogy”  Ethnic studies in genealogy  Ephemera as family history evidence  Victorian obituaries and death stories  The relationship between genealogy and history or law or medicine

Please submit a 100 to 250 word abstract on your proposed topic to the PCA website as described here: http://pcaaca.org/national-conference/proposing-a-presentation-at-theconference/.

Potential participants do not need to be members to submit proposals; however, membership in PCA/ACA and registration for the conference are required in order to present. Please send all inquiries to: Bruce E. Drushel, Ph.D. VP Programming & Area Chairs, PCA/ACA drushebe@miamioh.edu

A veterans cemetery for soldiers who served as far back as the Civil War will get a $250,000 renovation thanks to a provision in the latest state budget.

According to an article in the Tacoma News Tribute, the money will go to the state Department of Veterans Affairs, which manages the Washington Soldiers Home in Orting and the cemetery on its grounds. Almost 2,300 veterans are buried there.

In early June, 2015, husband, John, and I took the free government-run tour of the Hanford Nuclear Site, north of Richland, Washington. We both knew something of the chronology and the story but we were eager to learn more details and to see the places for ourselves. What I’ve summarized below is not meant to be a full and detailed explanation of all the history and parts of this two-fold massive project (first to build to get the plutonium and then, after the war, to clean up the mess that was made) but to share our new understanding of this episode in American history.

In the early1940s America greatly feared that the Germans would get a nuclear bomb (and use it) before we did. That fear prompted the haste to get the job done and since nobody had done a project like this before they were “flying by the seat of their pants” in many instances.  It then follows that very little care, understanding or recognition was given at the time to the nuclear waste mess that was being created.

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Pend Oreille County is located in the far upper northeast corner of Washington and boasts some of the state’s most stunning natural beauty as well as being rich in history. The Pend Oreille runs through it and is one of only 20 north-flowing rivers in the U.S.

How many cave tours are there in Washington? One is Gardner Caves where rangers will lead you down 500 feet and let you experience true darkness when all the flashlights are turned off. Nearby is the tour of Boundary Dam, so named due to its proximity to the border.

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