A photographer who was integral to documenting Washington State will have his vast archive preserved and made available to the public thanks to a $25,000 grant. 

Asahel Curtis was an active photographer in the Pacific Northwest from the 1880s to 1941 and his collection is described as an “invaluable resource” by the Washington State Historical Society (WSHS).

But up until now only 10 percent of his work has been digitzed and made available. Head of collections at the WSHS Margaret Wetherbee says there are 50,000 unknown images lying hidden. 

“We really feel like it can’t be that one person goes through a collection and says what’s important anymore,” Wetherbee tells King5. 

“That’s not the standard. Our public expects to have free and public access to our materials and the 5,000 images that are currently digitized prior to the project were the work of one person’s view.”

You can read more in an article by Matt Growcoot published in the petapixel web site at: http://tinyurl.com/w22xpuyc.