Historical Museum

Skagit County Historical Museum Photo Identification Project

Do you want to be a part of preserving and sharing history? We have acquired thousands of images and need your help in identfying them.

Once you have reviewed the images and entered your descritions, select the "SUBMIT" button at the bottom of the page...thanks for helping us keep Skagit history alive!

About the Photo Identification Project

Mark Iverson was the Museum Director from mid-2013 until his passing in November of 2014.  As his family was clearing out his home and business, they found boxes of negatives.  His nephew, Matt Iverson, brought them to us at the Museum.  He felt they belonged in the archives.  The 4 large boxes were full of envelopes of negatives.  In 2023, we were awarded a Digital Heritage Grant through the Washington State Library.  The grant provided funds for equipment purchase, plus salary costs for an intern or temporary employee to do scanning of photos, documents or negatives! 

We hired Ian Anderson as an intern to do the scanning.  To date, he has scanned over 6500 negatives.

The photos were taken by Bill Forman.  He apparently was a commercial photographer in Mount Vernon.  Dates on the envelopes range from the 1920s to the 1950s.  There is a wide range of subject matter – everything from insurance claim photos of dented cars, to Skagit County Fair royalty; weddings to exterior/interior photos of businesses; dance recitals to football games.  There are photos of car crashes, and even one of a woman with her pet fox!  There is minimal information on the envelopes – some have dates and perhaps a last name.  Others have more information, but Mr. Forman’s handwriting is sometimes difficult to decipher.

So – we need your help!  We will be posting a set of photos each month on our website, with a link to provide any information you might have about the subjects.  Our goal is to identify as many as possible, enter them into our Museum software, and have them accessible to the public. 

Don't forget to visit often and share this page with others as we will be updating the images.