Old Darrington photos scanned to preserve history

Published 10:35 pm Thursday, April 2, 2009

DARRINGTON — Preserving history is the goal of the Darrington Historical Society, whose members plan to spend two days a week for the next six months electronically scanning old photographs.

Former Herald reporter Scott Morris and his wife Erika, along with historical society president Leah Tyson are among the crew who plan to set up shop from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays beginning today in a temporary office at 1115 Sauk Ave. behind the Rasmussen chiropractic clinic.

The effort is part of the society’s new Archiving, Recruitment and Outreach Project.

People are invited to stop by to see the society’s new computer software and help identify photographs that will be laid out in a rotating display. The group plans to scan historical photos and save them in a digital inventory. People who wish to add a copy of their photos to the society’s collection are encouraged to visit, Erika Morris said.

It takes about 5 or 10 minutes to enter each photo into the archive, she said.

Until now, the society’s precious photo collection has been stored in a closet at the Mansford Grange, Morris said.

“When we get the project done, we’ll be able to share the photos with students and the public,” she said. “We want to preserve Darrington’s history and make it accessible for future generations.”

Eventually, the photography archive could serve as a virtual museum, Morris said.

Along with gathering photos, the society is hoping to recruit volunteers to help with the archiving project and new members for the group. Currently the historical society has about a dozen members.

“People are interested in local history, but everybody is busy,” Erika Morris said. “We hope the office and the project will generate more participation. It’s a grand experiment.”

Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.

If you’re interested

To learn more about the Darrington Historical Society’s photo archiving project, call Erika Morris at 360-436-1562 or Leah Tyson at 360-436-0675.