The Highline News Archives

The Highline Historical Society purchased the archives of the Highline News, the local newspaper that ceased publication in the greater Highline area in January, 1998. The archives, which date from 1945, chronicle fifty-three years of community history. This very complete set of materials was moved from the former Highline News offices on SW 148th and is now in the Society storage area at the former Seattle Christian School in SeaTac. These archives consist of 70 large bound volumes of newspapers, including the former Highline Times as well as the more-recent Highline News, several thousand photographs and as many as 18,000 negatives from these newspapers’ “morgue.” In addition, the Society has purchased 20 years of the newspapers on microfilm. The microfilm records date forward from 1974. It is our hope that as funding becomes available the Society will be able to purchase additional years on microfilm, so that researchers will not need to handle the newspapers.

The Society has another collection of more than 200 laminated newspapers. These papers are from a number of sources; however, most of them are from Seattle or the Pacific Northwest. They cover the time from the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 to Barack Obama’s election; including World War I and World War II, the inauguration of Queen Elizabeth II, the assassination of John F Kennedy, and many other important events. Each paper focuses on an historic event. As they are laminated people can carefully handle them. They represent a very interesting look at the past century and are a terrific resource for students.

We are committed to the continued preservation of these valuable community archives. Society members and trained volunteers are sorting, cataloguing and compiling a database of these materials. We welcome the participation of any volunteer to assist with this project on Mondays and Fridays. The archives are available for research by appointment. Contact the Society through this website.