Contains volumes 1 and 2 of the 1987 Puget Sound Environmental Atlas and the 1992 Update. Volumes 1 and 2 have corporate authors: Untied States Army Corps of Engineers, Puget Sound Water Quality Authority, United States Environmental Protection Agency, D. R. Systems Inc. and Evans-Hamilton Inc. The 1992 Update has corporate authors: Puget Sound Water Quality Authority, Washington State and Puget Sound Estuary Program.

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 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.

Includes correspondence, performance programs, and documentation related to Stave's employment with Sears, Roebuck and Company and the Northern Pacific Railway Company in Tacoma. Also included are scrapbooks containing clippings, ticket stubs, business cards, brochures, menus, and other ephemera.

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 An unpublished manuscript, "Return to the Frontier," is also included.

Tacoma Public Library's Book Notes radio program was featured on KTNT radio Sundays at 10:30 pm. The show existed from the 1950s–1970s and featured content such as book reviews, oral histories, interviews, and poetry readings. The hosts included librarian Marile Creager, Gary Reese, Louise Morrison, and Georgeanne Schuler.

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.

A quarterly magazine focused on histories, profiles, essays, art, and photojournalistic documentation of aspects of Tacoma's society and culture. Each issue includes a supplemental art poster. This collection contains all issues of the magazine to the most current issue.

Key Peninsula News, switching its name from Key Peninsula Newsletter in 1985, was a newspaper that operated as the "voice of the Key Peninsula Civic Center". The paper served to publish community announcements, advertisements, and voting information to circulate through the South Puget Sound's Key Peninsula area, which includes the towns of Wauna, Key Center, Vaughn, Home, Lakebay, and Longbranch.

Publications, research, and writings produced by Tacoma Public Library.

Daily newspaper primarily focused on issues of relevance to Tacoma and Pierce County's Black community. Editions highlighted both local and national news and many editions included supplements titled "Happenings" and "Business Legal Journal" where local community events and business updates were published.

Five scrapbooks of Senator Ralph Metcalf's column in the TNT chronicling his travels 1927-1936.

The Argus, a weekly news magazine published every Saturday, was founded in February 1894 by A. T. Ambrose, and after his death in 1900, published by co-owner H. A. Chadwick. From 1954 on it was published by the Argus Publishing Company in Seattle. The title changed to Argus Magazine in 1983. It published news, opinion and commentary pieces, and covered local and national stories, reviews of local arts, dance and theater, local court summons and obituaries.
Annual Christmas/Holiday issue was published 1901-1952, vols. for 1960- include annual supplement with title The Argus annual collector's edition.

Audio recordings of the "PM Tacoma" radio broadcast and video recordings of "The Art Popham Show." Content includes interviews with local and national figures, Tacoma news, and local sports.

Bi-monthly community newspaper with articles and information about the Hilltop Area neighborhood of Tacoma. March/April 2017 - Present; August/September 2020 and June/July 2021 issues published in digital form only.

Contains print photographs, 35mm color transparencies (slides), color stereo transparencies (3D slides), and photographic negatives (4x5, 6x8, and 9x12) taken by the Richards Studio from roughly 1910s through to 1980. These images depict a wide range of commercial subject matter including local clubs and organizations, business and industry, sports, public events, city and local government, weddings, and the armed services.

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.

Includes photographs covering a wide range of locations, events, buildings, and people that are not part of a specific photograph collection or created by an individual photographer.

Includes lantern slides and print photographs showing mountaineering and nature images collected by Don Cooper.

Includes a collection of glass lantern slides and a set of the North American Indian. The Northwest Room’s set of The North American Indian consists of twenty individually bound books, each with an average of 250 pages and 75 images, and 20 accompanying portfolios, each with an average of 36 large image plates housed in each folding case.

Includes photographs related to a wide variety of local events and locations taken by Marvin Boland between the 1910s through the 1930s.

Includes photographs related to the Cammarano Brothers, Inc. including images of business operations, company gatherings, and business facilities.

Inlcudes digital images and prints of street photography taken primarily in Tacoma and Seattle during the 1970s and 2000s. Also included are oversize photographs, photographic negatives, and photographic slides.

Includes waterfront, street, and building photographs by F. Jay Haynes.

Includes photos taken by Thomas H Rutter of local buildings, the waterfront, and long boats.

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

Includes photographs of landscape and outdoor activities taken by Albert Henry Barnes.

Includes photographs, mostly of building exteriors and interiors, taken by Arthur French.