TACOMA, WA.- Turner Publishing Company has selected 136 images from the Washington State Historical Society’s image collections, for use in a book project offering a photographic history of Washington State. The still-untitled book will feature images of locations and events in the state over the last century. It is scheduled for release in winter 2008.

Turner Publishing Company is an independent publisher that specializes in regional and local history. They have published historic photo books of many cities, including “Historic Photos of Tacoma” and “Historic Photos of Seattle.”

Images selected for publication include many from the Society’s online digital collections, which may be accessed at http://digitum.washingtonhistory.org.

The Society has also recently entered into agreements with HistoryLink.org and Art Resource, Inc. to provide image content from the Society’s permanent collections. Art Resource, one of the world’s largest fine art stock photo archive, will offer a selection of images for third-party licensing purposes, including photography, sculpture, paintings, and other artworks. HistoryLink.org, an online encyclopedia of Washington State history, will offer the images via its web site while providing the Society with a selection of historical essays for presentation on its own online portals, such as the Women’s History Consortium web site at WashingtonWomensHistory.org. The Women's History Consortium is a Society-led initiative dedicated to preserving and making available resources about Washington women's history.

The Society’s permanent collection includes an image archive of more than 600,000 historic photographic prints, negatives and digital photography, as well as over 90,000 artifacts and other special collections. It is made available to the public through the Washington State History Research Center in Tacoma. The Research Center serves as both the primary research facility and the repository for the Society’s permanent collections. Its staff typically works with researchers, book publishers, and other third parties to offer image content for a wide variety of projects, including usages that are personal, editorial or commercial in nature.