Using the King County Archives

For help with your research query, or to find out more about our records, you have several options:

 
What is the Historical Records Guide?

The online Historical Records Guide summarizes selected collections held by the King County Archives. The Guide is not a complete list of all collections and does not list all records in all collections. The Guide provides information about records, not digital images of the documents themselves.

The historical records in the Archives are organized in relation to the King County agency, office or department that created them. The Historical Records Guide is arranged alphabetically by names of some King County agencies, offices or departments. The Archives calls these record groups. For each agency (record group) you will find:

For some series, a container list may also be present. A container list provides specific information about the contents of that record series at the box, folder, item, or other appropriate level.

Some series descriptions include links to container lists are available in Adobe Acrobat format (PDF). These files are indicated by a (PDF) following the series title.

You will need a PDF reader to view these documents. To download the free software, visit King County's PDF help page.

 
How do I use the Historical Records Guide?

Links to detailed descriptions of the agency and its related series are available in the table below.

If you identify records of interest to you, contact the Archives to arrange access to the records themselves.

Aerial Survey
Arts Commission
Assessor
Auditor
Board of Equalization
Budget and Program Development
Charter Review Commission
Commissioners
Council
Design Commission
Election Board
Engineer
Executive
Executive Administration
Financial Management
Freeholders
Justice Court
Office of Cultural Resources
Park System
Parks, Planning & Resources
Planning & Community Development
Planning Commission
Planning Department
Policy Development Commission
Prosecuting Attorney
Public Health
Public Safety
Public Works
Road Engineer
Sheriff
Sheriff's Office
Stadium Administration
Territorial District Court