Central Washington University Archives & Special Collections

09/04/2026

09/01/2026

Happy Tuesday, Wildcats! In honor of yesterday being National Eat Outside Day, we share these images form our online collections.

The first two images (undated) are from the H. Glenn Hogue Collection, https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/glenn_hogue_photos/.

The third image was taken in 1940 and from the Thorp Mill Collection, https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/thorp_mill/.

08/27/2026

Happy Thursday, Wildcats! Yesterday was National Dog Day and today we share some of our favorite images of dogs from our online collections.

The first image is from the John Foster Collection and shows a dog in the 1950 Freshman registration line at Central.

The second image is from the Frederick Krueger Collection and shows a woman with her child and dog in their automobile in Upper Kittitas County in 1915.

The third image is also from the Krueger Collection and shows a man and dog taking in the mountain view in 1930.

08/20/2026

Happy Thursday, Wildcats! As we approach the Annual Ellensburg Rodeo, today we share these images from past Rodeo Parades.

The image of the 1940 Rodeo Parade is from the Thorp Mill Town Historical Preservation Society Collection, https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/thorp_mill/.

The second undated image of the Parade is from the John Allen Nicholson Diaries and Pictures Collection, https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/nicholson_photographs/.

08/17/2026

Good morning, Wildcats. Today we honor Margaret Nancy Lester who passed away earlier this month.

Dr. Lester grew up in New a Jersey and graduate from Middlebury College with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature in 1949. She then attended the University of Colorado where she received a Master’s degree in Spanish Literature in 1968 followed by a Ph.D. in Spanish in 1973.

Before coming to Central, Dr. Lester taught at South Dakota State University. She began her tenure at Central in 1970 as an Associate Professor of Spanish and later received the rank of Full Professor. During her time at Central, she served as chair of the Faculty Senate Code Committee and was president of Central’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors. She also traveled throughout Europe and Mexico.

Dr. Lester retired in 1992 and was awarded the honor of Emeritus Professor.

Dr. Lester’s oral history interview on her tenure at CWU is at https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/cwura_interviews/69/.

Her obituary is at https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/dailyrecordnews/name/margaret-lester-obituary?id=62109859.

08/13/2026

Happy Thursday, Wildcats! In looking through some past Summer Session booklets, I noticed these great covers from the 1970s and 1980s. Enjoy!

08/10/2026

Good morning, Wildcats. Today we honor former CWU Director of Physical Plant from 1957-1988 Paul Bechtel who passed away last month.

Paul grew up in Montana and graduated from Montana State University in 1950 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. He served three years in the Air Force.

He began his tenure as Director of Physical Plant at Central in 1957. During his 30 years in this position, Paul was heavily involved in shaping and growing the campus. His work included obtaining funds for and building the new Physical Plant facility. He moved away from using coal in the old boiler plant. Paul also developed the system of monitoring the flow of natural gas into the Ellensburg community. He also developed the plans for and had his crew lay out the new athletic fields, including the football field.

When Paul retired in 1988, he was awarded the title of Distinguished Administrator. As noted in the recognition of this award, “Paul’s number one goal has always been to provide the best care and maintenance of the facilities and grounds within the resources available.”

The oral history interview Paul did documenting his time at CWIU is at https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/cwura_interviews/108/.

The obituary is at https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/dailyrecordnews/name/paul-bechtel-obituary?id=62042175.

08/03/2026

Good morning, Wildcats. Our thoughts are with Spokane and its communities affected by the horrific wildfires occurring there that have already destroyed homes, businesses, and history.

Today we share this diary kept by Lucy Breckenridge, https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/lucy_breckinridge/1/. Lucy lived in Spokane and kept this diary from 1919-1930. She describes daily life, attending church, visits with family and friends, dreams she had, and how she was often treated differently as an African American woman. This typed version is compiled from the handwritten papers Lucy wrote on for her diary.

Lucy Breckenridge was born into slavery in 1855 in Abemarle, Virginia. She married Henry James Breckinridge in 1871. The family moved to Roslyn, Washington in 1888. The family later moved to Spokane in 1899. Henry died in 1907. Lucy died in 1940.
The diary is on loan to the CWU Archives from the Williamson family, Lucy’s descendants, and they reside in Spokane.

The image below is of Lucy with her son.

07/27/2026

Happy Monday, Wildcats! With the hot summer temps, we thought we would look at past indoor summer activities. The images below are from a Summer 1985 production by the Laughing Horse Theatre in Ellensburg. Do you recognize the actors in the images? Share in the comment below!