Includes audio recordings from the Laureate Listening Project. This project, organized by Tacoma Poet Laureate Lucas Smiraldo, took place between 2013 and 2015 and recorded community members reflecting on the importance of a particular place in their using through the form of poetry.

The Suburban Times was a local newspaper created by the Meadowdale Publishing Company, beginning in 1963. It was the successor of Tacoma Suburban Times, which was established in January 1961 by combining The Lakewood Log (est. in 1937) and Suburban Press. The print newspaper served Pierce County local news as well as neighboring McChord Air Force Base and Fort Lewis, which has since combined to Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

In 1980 the publication would become the Lakewood Suburban Times, reverting to The Suburban Times after January 20, 1981. The Publication would end entirely in 1982. In 2005, the publication would become an online newspaper and community space.

Holdings: Print, 1963-1972 (bound), 1973-1978, Jan. 1981-Jan. 1982.

Includes research files compiled by Lorraine Barker Hildebrand on the experiences and history of Chinese migrants living in the Pacific Northwest.

Includes programs from storytelling events in Washington, and the meeting minutes and scrapbooks created by the League.

Includes scrapbooks, photographs, teaching materials, and ephemera related to Margaret Rawson Goheen's career as a music educator. Also included are manuscripts for her musical play "Men and Models."

The Tacoma-Pierce County Buildings Index contains information on Tacoma and Pierce County buildings found in Tacoma papers, local and national magazines, and in over 200 books on local history and architecture. Each source cited in the index is available to view in the Northwest Room.

Records in this index are organized according to address, and include information on the year built, style of construction (where the literature can agree), whether the building has been demolished, and whether it appears on any local, state, or national register of historic places. Architects, builders, and contractors are listed, when known. Families or companies that may have been housed in the building are listed with dates of occupation. The location of any building plans known to exist is also provided. The Tacoma-Pierce County Buildings Index does not cover parks, bridges, dams, docks, and other infrastructures.

For assistance in conducting historic building research, please reference the Northwest Room's Tacoma and Pierce County Home and Buildings Research Guide or contact us at nwr@tacomalibrary.org or (253) 280-2814.

Abbreviations used,
TNT = Tacoma News Tribune / Morning News Tribune / The News Tribune
TDL = Tacoma Daily Ledger
TDN = Tacoma Daily News
TNL = Tacoma News Ledger
T. Times = Tacoma Times
T. Weekly = Tacoma Weekly

The abbreviation (il) following a citation indicates that a photo or illustration accompanies the article cited.

Includes reports, appraisals, plans, and other files generated by the division. Many reports include detailed descriptions and photographs of buildings and land parcels.

Includes organizational newsletters and periodicals published independently.

Includes interviews conducted by Franklin Pierce High School students for an Ethnic Studies class with teacher Dan Call. Students interviewed family, friends, and other community members about race, racial identity, microaggressions, and discrimination. Interview transcripts created by students have been produced for some audio recordings.

Includes annual meeting materials, membership directories, "They Represent You" brochures, studies, and scrapbooks.

Includes seven boxes of primarily historic and aerial photographs, CDs containing documents, reports, slide photos, and letters relating to the projects and work conducted by the City of Tacoma's Planning and Development Services.

Also includes documents, surveys and reports from the three agencies that merged into the Planning and Development Services in 1991: the City Planning Department, Community Development Department and the Human Development and Planning Department.

American Forests was a monthly magazine published by the American Forestry Association that covered articles related to forests, soil, wildlife and outdoor recreation. It also advocated for forest resources and environmental policies that would protect forests.

Includes correspondence, newspaper articles, speeches, writings, and financial documents related to Andrews' work as Director of Tacoma Public Library. Also included are Andrews' diaries from 1942-1945.

Includes materials related to World War II collected by Tacoma Public Library including reports, pamphlets, propaganda, maps, bulletins, and Tacoma war ration book. A photo biography of Adolf Hitler compiled by Joseph Goebbels for the German people titled "Adolf Hitler: Pictures from the Life of the Fuhrer" is also included.

Includes flyers, posters, and brochures that cover many of the Tacoma Art Museum’s shows and events dating back to the2003 grand opening in their current building.

Includes oral histories, digital images, and event flyers related to the development and creation of a Black Lives Matter mural produced in Tollefson Plaza in 2022. The mural was created by artists Dionne Bonner, Kenya Adams, Gwen Jones, Charles Taylor, and Breeze and was a collaboration between the Human Rights Commission's Racial Justice and Equity Committee, the Tacoma Arts Commission, and the Tacoma Art Museum.

Includes photographs and promotional materials for productions, fundraising information and promotional materials, scrapbooks, sheet music, and set design and costume sketches.

Includes audio and video recordings on various formats including cassettes, reel-to-reel and vinyl, correspondence, OWL Party items, oversized photos, band performance flyers and newspaper clippings, various subject files including writings on Red Kelly, Woody Herman book edits and Harry James book reviews, scrapbooks and sheet music.

Includes documentation related to Miller's work advocating for the clemency and release of Leonard Peltier, an American Indian Movement activist of Lakota descent who was imprisoned in 1976 following the 1975 shootout at Pine Ridge Reservation, which left two F.B.I. agents dead. Along with issues of Miller's "Bayou La Rose" newspaper, the Arthur J Miller Papers features published documents from the Northwest Leonard Peltier Support Network, issues of Native Resistance News and the Survival Network Newsletter, photos from rallies in support of clemency for Peltier, rally and march flyers, VHS video of rallies, and writing by Miller.

Includes publications, reports, internal memos, newspaper clippings, and other documentation related to the operations, closure, and cleanup of the ASARCO site in Tacoma. Also included are extensive photographic documentation of personnel, facilities, and cleanup activities from 1948 to 2009.

Includes lesson plans, writings, club yearbooks, meeting minutes, and other records relating to the operations of the Poetry Appreciation Club from 1934 to 1979.

Includes records gathered by George Watkins Evans related to the operations of the Beaver Hill Coal Mining Company, including plans and blueprints, photographs, correspondence, and reports.

Includes an oral history with Sulja Warnick along with digital copies of photographs, newspaper clippings, and correspondence related to Warnick's life and career.

Includes performance programs, meeting minutes, concert records, and scrapbooks related to the Orpheus Club. Also included is information related to the Ladies Musical Club and the St. Cecilia Club.

Includes dairies, correspondence, legal documents, photographs, and other documentation related to the Stanley-Mason family and their work as fur trappers in Alaska. Also included is information related to their "Alaska Friends" organization, a group for former Alaska residents living in Seattle. An unpublished manuscript, "Return to the Frontier," is also included.

Includes meeting minutes, programs, and planning documents related to the Tacoma Centennial Celebration.

Includes two scrapbooks, one dating from 1947-1953 and the other from 1952-1960. Both scrapbooks hold newspaper articles, photographs, and yearbooks documenting the club’s activities. Additionally, there is a file containing yearbooks, photographs, newspaper articles, ribbons, and certificates from 1971-1976. Also included is a folder on the garden club’s Mini-Standard Flower Show in 1977 and a file about the Magic with Decorative Wood event hosted by the Alling Park Garden Club on May 18-19, 1968.

Includes photos taken by Prue Stuckey during his time as a photographer for the City of Tacoma and Tacoma Police Department.

Includes photos taken by Lee Merrill of construction projects, group outings, and a Daffodil Queen.