Page:Washington, A Guide to the Evergreen State.djvu/10

 Foreword THIS GUIDE, written by the Washington Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration, has had a succession of sponsors. Next to the last of these, the Washington State Planning Council, withdrew because it lacked trained personnel to handle the manuscript. The Wash- ington State Historical Society, after much urging, finally accepted the sponsorship. The Society, therefore, has not been concerned with plan- ning the work, nor with compiling and writing. There was before the Society only the question of accuracy and inclusiveness. The members of the Project had written well, but errors are inevitable in a work of this magnitude. The final sponsor, the Washington State Historical Society, has had to do in four or five months what other historical societies serving as sponsors-as Virginia, Nebraska, Iowa, and Nevada-had three or four years to do: namely, to put to rights any faulty passages and, more happily, to verify the large amount of excellent and interesting material. There was the additional chore of bringing some parts up to date; for more than a year-and that a census year-had elapsed between the closing of the Project and the time of the manuscript's going to press. It is not claimed that the Society has caught all errors; in fact, it would be virtually impossible for any State guide-and we have studied thirty-six-to be wholly free from error. We have done this work for Washington as a labor of love, in addition to our regular job. Mr. T. C. Elliott of Walla Walla, Mr. Lancaster Pollard of Seattle, and Mr. W. P. Bonney of Tacoma, though frequently called on, have always given most valuable and most enthusiastic help. Mr. W. L. McCormick, newly elected President of the Society, has given constant encouragement. To Miss Charlotte Shackleford, a new and enthusiastic member of the Society, we give credit for the excellent index. She was assisted by Miss Elizabeth Shackleford and Mrs. Bessie S. Matthiews. O. B. SPERLIN, Acting President Washington State Historical Society