The Seattle Municipal Archives documents the history, development, and activities of the agencies and elected officials of the City of Seattle. Strengths of the records include those documenting engineering, parks, urban planning, the legislative process and elected officials. Holdings include over 6,000 cubic feet of textual records; 3,000 maps and drawings, 3,000 audiotapes; hundreds of hours of motion picture film; and over 1.5 million photographic images of City projects and personnel.

The records held by the Seattle Municipal Archives are open to the public and available for research use during business hours. To ensure the most efficient use of the records and staff time, researchers are encouraged to make appointments when requesting access to the Archives. Please see the Visiting the Archives page on our website for more information about doing research on-site at the SMA.