Into The Archives

Into the Archives explores Washington’s history through letters, laws and lived experience, showing how democracy leaves a paper trail. Produced by TVW in collaboration with the Washington State Archives’ Legacy Washington program, the series blends narrative storytelling, archival audio and original interviews to revisit moments that shaped the Evergreen State. Each episode draws from letters, blueprints, court rulings, oral histories, photographs and film, revealing the human dramas behind defining chapters of state history. Listeners travel from territorial standoffs and constitutional debates to legendary creatures, close elections, environmental turning points and the rise of the modern tech economy. tvwstories.substack.com

Episodes

Remember the Steelheads

September 8, 2026 • 21 mins

**********************************************************YOU’RE INVITED: INTO THE ARCHIVES — LIVEJoin TVW and be part of the audience for a special live taping of Into the Archives as we look ahead to the 100th anniversary of Washington’s Capitol Campus.Thursday, Sept. 24 | 5:30–7 p.m.Nicole’s Bar | 109 Legion Way SW, OlympiaCome for the stories. Stay for the history.**********************************...

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Making a State: How Washington Became Washington

August 11, 2026 • 18 mins

How do you make a state?Washington’s answer involved 75 delegates, a six-week constitutional convention and powerful railroads - ribbons of steel that bound the new state together and connected it to the nation’s economy.Washington became the nation’s 42nd state on Nov. 11, 1889. But statehood was not a single moment. It was a process shaped by political ambition, railroad power, constitutional compromise and one ...

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The Budd Inlet Six

July 14, 2026 • 15 mins

Airplanes. Explosives. Six trapped orcas. A legal permit.In March 1976, SeaWorld contractors captured six young killer whales in Budd Inlet near Olympia. Within days, a public outcry, a fast-moving court battle and an unlikely coalition of citizens, journalists, scientists and state officials would help secure their release.Featuring firsthand recollections from the late Ralph Munro, eyewitnesses, historians and participants in the...

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The Software Factory That Changed Washington

June 9, 2026 • 16 mins

What began as a small software company founded by two young Seattle-area programmers became one of the most influential forces in Washington history. In this episode of Into the Archives, we trace Microsoft's journey from Albuquerque startup to global technology giant and explore how Bill Gates, Paul Allen and the company they built transformed Washington's economy, universities, philanthropy, government and identity. Through archi...

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Washington's Closest Election

May 12, 2026 • 11 mins

In 2004, Washington voters chose a governor—but it took recounts, a courtroom battle, and months of uncertainty to determine who actually won. In this episode, Into the Archives traces the closest gubernatorial race in U.S. history, the trial that followed, and how a crisis of confidence reshaped the state’s election system—accelerating Washington’s path to vote-by-mail.

This is a public episode. If ...

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The Fire That Changed the Capitol

April 16, 2026 • 14 mins

On a Saturday afternoon in 1928, smoke began pouring from the clock tower of Washington’s Old Capitol building in downtown Olympia. Within minutes, flames engulfed one of the state’s most recognizable landmarks — drawing half the town into the streets to watch it burn.In this episode of Into the Archives, we step inside that moment: the fire, the frantic effort to save irreplaceable government records, and the tur...

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The Pig War of 1859

March 10, 2026 • 19 mins

The Pig War - Talking It Out at the BorderA pig in a potato patch nearly sparked a war. In 1859, American settler Lyman Cutlar shot a Hudson’s Bay Company hog on San Juan Island, igniting a sovereignty dispute between the United States and one of the British colonies that would become Canada. British warships soon appeared offshore as tensions rose. In this episode of Into the Archives, historian Ed Echtle and archivist Ben H...

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The Sasquatch File

February 13, 2026 • 17 mins

A government file labeled “Sasquatch.” A fake law citation. A taped strand of “hair.” In this episode of Into the Archives, the Washington State Archives reveal how a legendary forest being found its way into official state records. Through archivists, historians and Indigenous perspectives, the story moves from Coast Salish traditions to the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film and the rise of American Bigfoot cultur...

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Underground Archives Doubles as a Fallout Shelter

January 6, 2026 • 20 mins

On its debut episode, Into the Archives explores the hidden history of Washington’s State Archives, tracing its origins from a Cold War–era fallout shelter beneath the Capitol campus to its role as the state’s institutional memory. Through archival audio and interviews with historians and archivists, the episode examines how Washington came to preserve its public records, why only a small fraction of gov...

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