Sponsored by Washington State College, W.P. Project #8102 (Index and Clipping Bureau) was part of a cluster of WPA programs centered on the Historical Records Survey. The objective of the projects was to collect and preserve all historical materials concerning the Northwest and to “afford a means of livelihood to people out of employment…both men and women, who could not do manual labor…and (give) them badly needed rehabilitation.” The Index and Clipping Bureau project, like the Federal Arts Program, aimed especially to provide relief for professional white-collar workers. Administered by Dr. Herman D. Deutsch and located at the Realty Building in Spokane, Washington, the Bureau had over 80 employees.
This collection consists of 440 boxes containing approximately 400,000 mounted newspaper clippings from the 1910s-1930s. The newspapers are primarily from the Pacific Northwest, and items clipped are chiefly items pertaining to the political, social, business and agricultural happenings in the Pacific Northwest.
This collection is arranged in three series:
Series 1: General Subjects (45 boxes)
Series 2: Northwest History (135 boxes)
Series 3: Washington State History (260 boxes)
Over 100,000 clippings have been digitized and are available online at the
This collection is open and available for research use.
Copyright restrictions apply.
[Item Description] Pacific Northwest Newspaper Collection, circa 1910s-1930s
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
This collection was created under the auspices of the WPA (Works Progress Administration) between 1936 and 1938. After completion, it was housed at the Washington State College’s Library and known as the “Black Box” Collection. It was transferred to Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections in 2012.
This collection was processed by approximately 80 workers under the direction of the WPA (Works Progress Administration) and Dr. Herman D. Deutsch between 1936 and 1938.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.