Island County Historical Society - Museum and Archives

Island County Historical Society - Museum and Archives The Island County Historical Society Museum and Janet Enzmann Archives and Research Library are located in Coupeville, WA on Whidbey Island.

We are a free museum open year-round and offer tours and access to our research facilities by appointment. The Janet Enzmann Archives and Research Library has an extensive collection of Island County, WA history. Materials entrusted to our care span hundreds of year and include photographs, newspapers, journals, maps and oral histories. Our team is currently working on improvements and updates to

our collections. Our team of volunteers and archivists strive to be good stewards of history and to provide the public with access to their history. This page has been created to keep you up to date on the happenings of the archives. We hope to provide interesting and insightful information on our archives and our history. We welcome students, scholars, and those interested in history to come and explore this amazing resource. Please call, email or message us to make an appointment. We also encourage questions, comments and requests. If you are interested in purchasing copies of any of the photographs or documents we post, please send us a private message or email.

TOMORROW! June 3, we welcome back Porch Stories. Pamela Seamonster will return with her Coast Salish stories at 2PM. Eve...
06/02/2026

TOMORROW! June 3, we welcome back Porch Stories. Pamela Seamonster will return with her Coast Salish stories at 2PM. Every Wednesday all summer long-- see you on the Porch!

We want to send out a big thank you to the Whidbey Community Foundation for a capacity-building grant that they gave us ...
06/01/2026

We want to send out a big thank you to the Whidbey Community Foundation for a capacity-building grant that they gave us to update our security system. We're already seeing a difference, and it is great to know that the precious artifacts and documents that we house here are more secure, and that our precious staff, volunteers, and visitors are more secure too! What a wonderful community we have!

So many good things happening next weekend! Coupeville is the place to be!
05/31/2026

So many good things happening next weekend! Coupeville is the place to be!

In one week!
05/30/2026

In one week!

In one week!
05/30/2026

In one week!

In 2 weeks!
05/30/2026

In 2 weeks!

Did you know that Whidbey had quite a timber industry in the mid to late 1800s? The island lost a lot of old growth timb...
05/29/2026

Did you know that Whidbey had quite a timber industry in the mid to late 1800s? The island lost a lot of old growth timber to sailing ship masts and building. These gentlemen were masters of the art of Log Rolling. Log rolling, or "birling," is a traditional technique where lumberjacks use their feet to spin a floating log in the water, historically used to navigate logs downstream and to prevent log jams during river drives and moving timber to sawmills. Log Rolling was a necessary skill for preventing drowning during historical log drives, but
It became a sport in the late 1800s, and teams still compete to showcase their incredible skills.

Porch Stories are BACK! Starting in one week, we'll have a special speaker every Wednesday at 2PM on the museum porch. O...
05/27/2026

Porch Stories are BACK! Starting in one week, we'll have a special speaker every Wednesday at 2PM on the museum porch. Our lineup this year has some really wonderful speakers and some fascinating topics. See you on the porch!

It's Memorial Day and we honor all those who have sacrificed so much.Here is Vin Sherman by the grave of his Great Grand...
05/25/2026

It's Memorial Day and we honor all those who have sacrificed so much.
Here is Vin Sherman by the grave of his Great Grandfather, who fought in the Civil War. Be sure to make Sunnyside Cemetery part of your day today for the American Legion ceremony and our cemetery tour at 2PM.

In Two weeks! Historian and naval history reenactor Michael "Tug" Buse will be giving a presentation at the Island Count...
05/23/2026

In Two weeks! Historian and naval history reenactor Michael "Tug" Buse will be giving a presentation at the Island County Historical Society Museum at 11AM on June the 6th during the historic encampment. Come for a presentation in our maritime exhibit, to ask questions, and to see fragile maritime artifacts.
He will be presenting living history in a custom-made and thoroughly researched naval uniform from 1850 as a sailor from the U.S.S. Massachusetts. The Massachusetts spent a few days in Penn Cove in 1850, her crew was probably in what is now Coupeville, as they visited Chief Snetlam (Snakelum).
Tug will talk about the historic and fascinating events from that time.
The talk is open to the public and is free

Address

908 NW Alexander Street PO BOX 305
Coupeville, WA
98239

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 4pm
Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 11am - 4pm

Telephone

+13606783310

Website

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