Audio tapes of City Council committee and full council meetings, and public hearings before Council, dating from 1955 to 2015 with the bulk of the recordings dating from 1969 to 2015. Recordings consist primarily of 8-inch and 12-inch reel-to-reel tapes, but also include cassettes and born digital recordings. Tapes are divided into three sub-series: 1) full Council and Council Committee meetings (reel-to-reel), 2) miscellaneous tapes, primarily of various public hearings (reel-to-reel), and 3) cassettes of meetings and hearings, including off-site hearings. Audio holdings provide a different perspective on the legislative process than can be gained from textual documents alone, bringing to life voices not documented elsewhere in the Archives.
Although recordings date from 1955 to the present, not all are cataloged and described in the online index. Transfer of analog audio to digital copies continues on an ongoing basis; digital copies are available online.
Selected audio recordings, primarily from 1977 and 2002 to the present, are available and searchable through the Washington State Digital Archives using audio Search, an innovative speech-to-text indexing and search capability. The Washington State Digital Archives is partnering with Microsoft Research to provide this innovative search technology. From the search screen http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Search choose “Audio Recordings” for the record series and “Seattle City Council Audio Recordings” for the title. You will be able to search by key word or committee name.
A few of the topics addressed in the recordings include: Pike Place Market, Westlake Plaza, Open Housing, the Comprehensive Plan, transportation planning, including the R. H. Thomson Expressway, the budget, utility rates and wire undergrounding, and many other topics. Also included are recordings of interviews conducted by the City Council's WTO Accountability Review Committee in 2000-2001.nnSelected audio recordings are available in the exhibit space “Seattle Voices.” http://www.seattle.gov/CityArchives/Exhibits/voices.htm
Please contact the Archives to request copies of audio content for meetings not yet available online.
Audio tapes of City Council committee and full council meetings, and public hearings before Council, dating from 1955 to 2015 with the bulk of the recordings dating from 1969 to 2015. Recordings consist primarily of 8-inch and 12-inch reel-to-reel tapes, but also include cassettes and born digital recordings. Tapes are divided into three sub-series: 1) full Council and Council Committee meetings (reel-to-reel), 2) miscellaneous tapes, primarily of various public hearings (reel-to-reel), and 3) cassettes of meetings and hearings, including off-site hearings. Audio holdings provide a different perspective on the legislative process than can be gained from textual documents alone, bringing to life voices not documented elsewhere in the Archives.
Although recordings date from 1955 to the present, not all are cataloged and described in the online index. Transfer of analog audio to digital copies continues on an ongoing basis; digital copies are available online.
Selected audio recordings, primarily from 1977 and 2002 to the present, are available and searchable through the Washington State Digital Archives using audio Search, an innovative speech-to-text indexing and search capability
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