The first American library north of the Columbia River, the Washington State Library was established by the Organic Act of the Territory of Washington passed on March 2, 1853. This act provided for $5,000 to be spent on books for the territorial library. The first Territorial Governor, Isaac Ingalls Stevens, selected and purchased over 2,000 books with those funds. He had also asked for documents and published archives from the executives of each state and territory of the United States and from a number of learned societies. One month before Governor Stevens arrived in the territory, 1,850 books had already been placed on the shelves. Another 2,000 followed, shipped around Cape Horn. Most of the original collection consisted of law textbooks and law reports and a sizeable number of science books. However, novels were also included, as were five mounted maps, and terrestrial and celestial globes. These materials were the core of the collection until Washington became a state in 1889.

According to the Organic Act, the library was “to be kept at the seat of government.” As the seat of government moved, so did the library. The first books to arrive were stored in an Olympia warehouse. They were subsequently moved to a room in a one-story building between 2nd and 3rd Avenue on the west side of Main Street (Capitol Way) that had been rented by Governor Stevens from Father Pascal Ricard of the Oblate Mission. In the fall of 1854, the library was housed in a building located at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Main Street in Olympia, presided over by the first librarian, B.F. Kendall. It was later relocated to the first Old Capitol building, which stood near the present-day Legislative Building. It remained there until 1891 when it was moved to the McKenny Building (again on the corner of 4th and Main). In 1901 the collection was moved to the Old Capitol Building on South Washington Street. The library was moved yet again in 1917 to the basement of the Temple of Justice where it remained until 1959 when it was moved to its next home, the Joel M. Pritchard Library, located south of the Legislative Building. In 2001 the library was moved to its current home in Tumwater at Point Plaza East on Capitol Boulevard.

In the first librarian’s report to the Territorial Legislature in December of 1854, there were 2,130 books in the library. Only about 12 books were added to the general collection and 8,000 to the law collection between 1853 and 1889. By 1892 there were 16,000 volumes. By 1906 the law library collection numbered 26,000 volumes, covering 4,152 feet of shelving. At that time the general collection occupied 1,300 linear feet, bound papers covered 792 feet of shelving, and the reference section covered 2,700 linear feet. In 1907 legal materials (including items from the original territorial collection) were moved to the State Law Library. At the time of the library’s centennial in 1953, the collection exceeded 270,000 volumes, 200,000 of which were newspapers, documents, and magazines. By the late 1990’s, the library had reached 547,554 volumes and still retained 750 items from the original territorial collection.

The Washington State Library has promoted numerous services throughout its history. In 1905 it became a clearing house for old magazines and collected issues indexed in Poole’s and the Reader’s Guide from libraries in the state. In 1933, the Legislative Information Service was made available at the library to help Washington lawmakers to prepare bills for the Legislature. In carrying out its mission to preserve the state’s written record, the Washington State Library began the Washington Author Collection in 1940 and in 1952 began to microfilm early state newspapers. Currently the Washington State Library offers historical and government resources relevant to the general public, professionals, researchers and students; provides consulting, administrative, and other services to aid the planning and development of libraries in the state of Washington; and serves as a Regional Federal Depository Library and Washington State Publications Depository.