Into The Archives

Washington’s Legislative Building is approaching its 100th anniversary — a century under one of the most recognizable domes in the Pacific Northwest.Recorded before a live audience in downtown Olympia, Into the Archives explores how Washington built its Capitol, why architects Walter Wilder and Harry White designed it as they did, and how classical architecture became a visual language for democracy. Historian Ed Echtle and State Archives outreach archivist Ben Helle trace the building from its construction in the 1920s through a remarkable 1965 proposal that would have dramatically expanded it — and demolished the Governor’s Mansion and Insurance Building in the process.State conservator Maya Foty takes us inside the architecture and craftsmanship of the Capitol, including details almost no visitor ever sees. We also revisit the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, recent vandalism, the arrival of TVW and a century of history made under the dome.And as the Capitol turns 100, we ask a larger question: What does “the people’s house” mean today?Watch the extended video cut of the live event on YouTube: Ben mentioned that the State Archibes will be hosting tours of the Olympia Archives Building from 5-7PM on Thursday, October 22. Check the Archives’ social media for details: https://x.com/wastatearchives

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**********************************************************YOU’RE INVITED: INTO THE ARCHIVES — LIVEJoin TVW and be part of the audience for a special live taping of Into the Archives as we look ahead to the 100th anniversary of Washington’s Capitol Campus.Thursday, Sept. 24 | 5:30–7 p.m.Nicole’s Bar | 109 Legion Way SW, OlympiaCome for the stories. Stay for the history.**********************************************************About this episode…The Seattle Steelheads played just one season — 1946 — and nearly vanished from Seattle’s collective memory.Into the Archives traces the team’s roots in Black baseball, wartime Seattle and the short-lived West Coast Negro Baseball League. This episode explores what the Steelheads meant, why so little of their history survives and why the Mariners’ decision to wear Steelheads uniforms on Sundays is about more than a throwback jersey.It’s a story about baseball, segregation, community — and what can disappear remarkably quickly when nobody records the people who were there.

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How do you make a state?Washington’s answer involved 75 delegates, a six-week constitutional convention and powerful railroads - ribbons of steel that bound the new state together and connected it to the nation’s economy.Washington became the nation’s 42nd state on Nov. 11, 1889. But statehood was not a single moment. It was a process shaped by political ambition, railroad power, constitutional compromise and one consequential missing signature.From a constitution carried across the country by rail to two telegrams announcing statehood, this is the story of how Washington was made.

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Airplanes. Explosives. Six trapped orcas. A legal permit.In March 1976, SeaWorld contractors captured six young killer whales in Budd Inlet near Olympia. Within days, a public outcry, a fast-moving court battle and an unlikely coalition of citizens, journalists, scientists and state officials would help secure their release.Featuring firsthand recollections from the late Ralph Munro, eyewitnesses, historians and participants in the legal fight, this episode tells the dramatic story of the Budd Inlet Six and the event many credit with ending the capture of wild orcas in Washington waters.A story of whales, activism, government and a changing public conscience.Six trapped orcas. A legal permit. A two-week court battle that changed Washington forever. Fifty years after the Budd Inlet Six, we revisit the capture that helped end wild orca captures in the Pacific Northwest.A poster made by school students in 1976 as part of a campaign to free the whales. Courtesy: Washington State Archives.

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What began as a small software company founded by two young Seattle-area programmers became one of the most influential forces in Washington history. In this episode of Into the Archives, we trace Microsoft's journey from Albuquerque startup to global technology giant and explore how Bill Gates, Paul Allen and the company they built transformed Washington's economy, universities, philanthropy, government and identity. Through archival interviews and firsthand accounts, we examine how a software factory helped create a technology ecosystem that continues to shape the region fifty years later.

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In 2004, Washington voters chose a governor—but it took recounts, a courtroom battle, and months of uncertainty to determine who actually won. In this episode, Into the Archives traces the closest gubernatorial race in U.S. history, the trial that followed, and how a crisis of confidence reshaped the state’s election system—accelerating Washington’s path to vote-by-mail.

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On a Saturday afternoon in 1928, smoke began pouring from the clock tower of Washington’s Old Capitol building in downtown Olympia. Within minutes, flames engulfed one of the state’s most recognizable landmarks — drawing half the town into the streets to watch it burn.In this episode of Into the Archives, we step inside that moment: the fire, the frantic effort to save irreplaceable government records, and the turning point it marked in Washington’s history.It is a story of firefighters racing from Tacoma, volunteers carrying the state’s records out by hand, and how the loss of the eight-sided clock tower reshaped Olympia’s skyline — and its sense of time.Despite the destruction, government never stopped. The fire accelerated a transition already underway — from a cramped downtown seat of power to the modern Capitol campus up the hill.A story about loss, resilience, and the fragile nature of history itself.

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The Pig War - Talking It Out at the BorderA pig in a potato patch nearly sparked a war. In 1859, American settler Lyman Cutlar shot a Hudson’s Bay Company hog on San Juan Island, igniting a sovereignty dispute between the United States and one of the British colonies that would become Canada. British warships soon appeared offshore as tensions rose. In this episode of Into the Archives, historian Ed Echtle and archivist Ben Helle join TVW's Paul Taylor to explore the Pig War — set against the Fraser River gold rush, rising nationalism and the looming American Civil War — and why a crisis on the U.S.–Canada border ended in restraint instead of battle.Show Notes:John Dwyer, The San Juan Pig (1978) - https://pnwfolklore.org/PigWar.html

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A government file labeled “Sasquatch.” A fake law citation. A taped strand of “hair.” In this episode of Into the Archives, the Washington State Archives reveal how a legendary forest being found its way into official state records. Through archivists, historians and Indigenous perspectives, the story moves from Coast Salish traditions to the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film and the rise of American Bigfoot culture. Along the way are hoaxes, laws, festivals and environmental anxieties — all preserved on paper. The episode doesn’t ask whether Sasquatch exists. It asks what happens when mystery collides with government, pop culture and Indigenous knowledge — and what those records say about the people who created them.Sources for this episode:* Oregon Public Broadcasting* Bigfoot Field Research Organization* Salish Sasquatch* Skamania County Sasquatch Protection* The Lore Lodge* Wild Assault

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On its debut episode, Into the Archives explores the hidden history of Washington’s State Archives, tracing its origins from a Cold War–era fallout shelter beneath the Capitol campus to its role as the state’s institutional memory. Through archival audio and interviews with historians and archivists, the episode examines how Washington came to preserve its public records, why only a small fraction of government documents are retained, and how those materials illuminate everything from legislative intent and agency formation to overlooked stories of immigrant life, popular culture, and even UFO sightings. As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, the episode underscores the archives’ civic purpose: slowing the rush of misinformation, grounding public debate in evidence, and safeguarding the historical record through the stewardship of generations of archivists.

Related links: Rachel La Corte's 2013 story about the state archives doubling as a fallout shelterOSOS Legacy Washington's websiteJohn C. Hughes's interview on TVW's Inside Olympia

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