Digital Photograph Collection

	Come visit the Clark County Historical Museum 's digital collection featuring over 7,500 images from the photograph collection. Approximately one third of the museum's total photograph collection is now available online through a searchable image database with a subject index and other options that allow for searches by keywords, dates and location. Click here to explore the collection.
The digital collection includes images from Clark County's agricultural past in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as well as photographs documenting growth in industry and commerce through the post World War II era. The collection features photographs of historic buildings, businesses, organizations, religious communities, community celebrations, social life, aviation and much more. Images from locations throughout Clark County and the vicinity are included; Amboy, Brush Prairie, Battle Ground, Camas, Harmony, Heisson, Hockinson, La Center, Ridgefield, Vancouver, Washougal, Woodland, Yacolt and many others. The database also includes recent additions from the museum's oversize photographs and glass negatives collections. About the Project This digital collection was created through a collaboration between the Clark County Historical Museum (CCHM), the Washington State University Vancouver Library and the Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections (MASC). With a generous grant through Clark County's Historical Promotion Grants Program, the project was initiated with two primary goals in mind: 1) to digitally reformat aging photographs in the CCHM collection for the purpose of preservation; 2) to make local, historical images more readily available through an online database dedicated to the CCHM photograph collection. It is hoped that the project serves the public interest by taking steps to further the longevity of local historical photographs for future generations while providing greater access to historical materials for research and general use through an online medium. The project used CONTENTdm, a digital collection management software, to catalog, organize and create the image database.The original images selected for digitization from the CCHM photograph collection were scanned as 300 dpi TIFF files on a Microtek 9600XL scanner at the museum. The TIFF images were stored on hard dives at CCHM. The TIFF images were then migrated to WSU Vancouver where they were backed up on an external drive and converted to 100 dpi JPEG files in Adobe Photoshop for access. The JPEG images were then uploaded to the CONTENTdm database at the WSU Libraries in Pullman. Records were created for each digital image using the Dublin Core metadata standard scheme. Subject headings were added using the museums local subject index in combination with the Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Materials.

Come visit the Clark County Historical Museum 's digital collection featuring over 7,500 images from the photograph collection. Approximately one third of the museum's total photograph collection is now available online through a searchable image database with a subject index and other options that allow for searches by keywords, dates and location. Click here to explore the collection.

The digital collection includes images from Clark County's agricultural past in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as well as photographs documenting growth in industry and commerce through the post World War II era. The collection features photographs of historic buildings, businesses, organizations, religious communities, community celebrations, social life, aviation and much more. Images from locations throughout Clark County and the vicinity are included; Amboy, Brush Prairie, Battle Ground, Camas, Harmony, Heisson, Hockinson, La Center, Ridgefield, Vancouver, Washougal, Woodland, Yacolt and many others. The database also includes recent additions from the museum's oversize photographs and glass negatives collections.

About the Project

This digital collection was created through a collaboration between the Clark County Historical Museum (CCHM), the Washington State University Vancouver Library and the Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections (MASC). With a generous grant through Clark County's Historical Promotion Grants Program, the project was initiated with two primary goals in mind: 1) to digitally reformat aging photographs in the CCHM collection for the purpose of preservation; 2) to make local, historical images more readily available through an online database dedicated to the CCHM photograph collection. It is hoped that the project serves the public interest by taking steps to further the longevity of local historical photographs for future generations while providing greater access to historical materials for research and general use through an online medium.

The project used CONTENTdm, a digital collection management software, to catalog, organize and create the image database.The original images selected for digitization from the CCHM photograph collection were scanned as 300 dpi TIFF files on a Microtek 9600XL scanner at the museum. The TIFF images were stored on hard dives at CCHM. The TIFF images were then migrated to WSU Vancouver where they were backed up on an external drive and converted to 100 dpi JPEG files in Adobe Photoshop for access. The JPEG images were then uploaded to the CONTENTdm database at the WSU Libraries in Pullman. Records were created for each digital image using the Dublin Core metadata standard scheme. Subject headings were added using the museums local subject index in combination with the Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Materials.