EWGS was founded in 1935 with six interested people and a handful of books. In 2005, EWGS celebrated its 70th anniversary, now counting 360 folks and partnered with the Spokane Public Library to house a collection numbering over a thousand items.

The Society meets the first Saturday of the month in February, March, April, May, November and December. Meetings for January and June are usually luncheon meetings, held in different locations. There are no meetings held in July and August, and the September meeting can sometimes be the second Saturday, depending on how Labor Day falls. The first Saturday in October is the Annual Fall Workshop, held at different sites. The regular meetings officially begin at 1:00 pm, but the "Coffee, Cookies & Conversation" part of the meetings begins at 12:30. All those interested in genealogy are welcome at any meeting.

GENEALOGY COLLECTION
The Genealogy Collection of Eastern Washington Genealogical Society is housed on the 2nd floor of the Spokane Public Library at 906 W. Main Street. The Collection is open to the general public for research during library hours. Members of the Society act as research assistants on Tuesday from 10:00 AM to 12:00 Noon and 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.

ANNUAL DUES OF THE SOCIETY
Individual Membership: $25.00
Family Membership: $25.00 (2 people, one household).
Individual/Family Life Membership: Annual membership fee $375.00.

PUBLICATIONS
The society's digital publication, EWGS Digital Digest is published on our website quarterly. Information about submissions for the Digest can be directed to our Digest Coordinator at digestcoordinator@ewgsi.org.  Back issues are located on the website under the heading "Digital Digest Archive" (menu at left).

YOU CAN HELP
If you want to help; your Society in any capacity, please call Patricia Bayonne Johnson, President, at 509-535-0152, or PBJ524@aol.com or contact any Board Member.

 

Research questions should be directed to EWGS Researcher Charles Hansen at ASKEWGSI@gmail.com or use the form found in the Research Tips section of this website.

 

When I was EWGS president (for the second time) between 2010 and 2015, I accomplished a project to gather all the paperwork pertaining to EWGS history that I could find and see it safely housed in a public place. I did accomplish that! After asking all living former Board members for anything they might have in basement boxes or dusty files, I collected all of that material; it amounted to about three Xerox-paper boxes of materials. I collected the minutes back to the very beginning of EWGS in 1935, membership directories, program brochures and several (not nearly all) issues of The Bulletin. All of this material was placed at the Joel E. Ferris Research Library, Eastern Washington Historical Society located at the NW Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane. This is a public facility (by appointment) and any interested person can access the EWGS history.