The materials from which alone a history of Washington can be written have nowhere been assembled in one collection, with any degree of completeness. The State Historical Society has done something, but the material it has gathered is not yet arranged so as to be readily available. The State University also has a considerable collection which it is steadily and very methodically increasing. The State Library has something.

The shelves of the Oregon Historical Society also hold much that is as valuable to the historian of Washington as of Oregon, and is equally at his disposal. It is to be regretted that the State government has not already made such provision as most other States have made for collecting, arranging and preserving the materials for its history. The work can be done thoroughly and well at very moderate cost, once it is begun in a proper way. The greatest need will be for a competent secretary, whose heart will be in the work, who has already displayed some genius for it, and who has a wide acquaintance among the earlier settlers now living.

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