Historical Photographs - photographic prints, slides, and negatives. The collections range in date from the third quarter of the 19th century to present day.
The Historical Photograph Collections, numbering almost one quarter of a million images, offer a wealth of visual documentation for the study of ethnic history and human and material culture in terms of the campus, the city of Pullman, the Palouse Country, the Inland Empire and, more generally, the Pacific Northwest.
Some of the earliest images of Washington State University are found in the William Barkhuff Collection 1892-1921. Barkhuff enrolled at WSU on opening day in 1892; his photographs reveal a campus of few buildings and no trees. Additional photographs of Thompson Hall, past and recent University Presidents are available for viewing. Visit our online exhibit of WSU buildings and our new database of historic campus buildings.
Frank Matsura Studio
Some 1800 photographic prints depicting pioneer life in Okanogan County, Washington, including scenes of work and entertainment, comprise the Frank S. Matsura Collection. Matsura arrived in the United States from Japan in 1905, settling briefly in Seattle before crossing the Cascades to take a job at the Elliot Hotel in Conconully, Washington, as a handyman. In 1907 he moved to Okanogan, Washington, and opened a photography studio, which he operated until his death from tuberculosis in 1913 at the age of 32. To view over 1,200 digital images of Matsura's photographs, please visit the Frank S. Matsura Image Collection.
The Charles R. Pratsch Collection documents the towns of Aberdeen, Hoquiam, and Grays Harbor (Washington), from their earliest times and also contains some 64 portraits of Quinault Indians. The collection is a valuable resource for tracing the effects of erosion along the Pacific Coast, as well as the results of logging. Images from the McWhorter Collection provide visual documentation of the Nez Perce and Yakima Indians. Lucullus V. McWhorter assembled an impressive collection of images, including portraits and images of battle grounds, to illustrate his books and pamphlets concerning the plight of Native Americans.
Born in Indiana on February 24, 1862, Frank Fuller Avery later became associated with the Colville Indian Agency. From 1898 to 1916 Avery worked in a number of capacities, first as superintendent of the Indian Boarding School at Fort Spokane, and then as inspector of Colville Indian Agency Day Schools. Photonegatives from the Colville Indian Agency, were taken between 1901-1916 when Avery was assigned to the Colville Indian Agency. The images record agency headquarters and personnel, along with numerous photographs of Colville Indian farmers and school children. Some 800 photographs from the Avery Collection may be viewed online as a one of an expanding group of Digital Collections.
Murrow speaking at WSU
in 1942. Hutchison Studio
The Photographs of E. R. Murrow 1909-1964 Collection includes over 100 photographs spanning Murrow's life, from boyhood scenes to college, and through his career with CBS.
Collection Guides
Collection Guides, or Finding Aids, are guides, inventories, registers, lists, or indexes that describe the contents of a collection. These Collection Guides provide an overview of specific collections in varying degrees of detail. Please note that more resources are available in MASC than indicated by this list of guides. The most comprehensive way to access MASC's collections is through the WSU Libraries online catalog ("Griffin").
For your convenience, the following list of selected collection guides has been arranged into broad subject categories. Please click into these guides for more detailed collection descriptions.
