Browsed by
Tag: Washington

50 years of preserving and exploring in the North Cascades of Washington.

50 years of preserving and exploring in the North Cascades of Washington.

From the desk of Sean Lanksbury, PNW & Special Collections Librarian A small selection of resources tracing 50 years of preserving and exploring in the North Cascades of Washington. On September 3, 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the wilderness act as a result of pressure from national and state level citizens and organizations who shared similar concerns about the protection of the United States uninhabited environments amidst increasing industrialization and population growth.  Four years following that act, the North Cascades National…

Read More Read More

Protection Island

Protection Island

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: Some people just don’t know their boundaries. This Seattle Daily Times article from April 9, 1908 actually describes two problematic boundary issues in the Strait of Juan de Fuca:  ISLAND OWNERSHIP IS IN DISPUTE Judge Albertson of Seattle Hears Rival Claims of Jefferson and Clallam Counties at Port Townsend. Will Require Some Time to Decide Puzzling Question–Bit of Water in Straits Said to Belong to…

Read More Read More

Profiles of Washington Territorial Librarians – Eleanor (Ellen) Sharp Stevenson, 1888-1890

Profiles of Washington Territorial Librarians – Eleanor (Ellen) Sharp Stevenson, 1888-1890

Eleanor (Ellen) Sharp Stevenson, 1888-1890 From the Desks of the Central Library Staff She was the last Territorial Librarian and by default became the first State Librarian when Washington attained statehood on Nov. 11, 1889. Born July, 1848 in Logan County, Ky., she surfaced as a teacher in Olympia in 1882. In 1884 she was apparently teaching in Mason County. By 1886 Ellen was employed as a clerk for the Legislature and in that brief window of time (1883-1888) when…

Read More Read More

Profiles of Washington Territorial Librarians – Eliza Des Saure Newell, 1882-1887

Profiles of Washington Territorial Librarians – Eliza Des Saure Newell, 1882-1887

From the Desks of the Central Library Staff Eliza Des Saure Newell, 1882-1887 The longest serving Territorial Librarian was born in 1853 in New Jersey. In 1882 her father, the eccentric William Augustus Newell, was the Governor. Gov. Newell had appointed his daughter Eleanor as his personal secretary. His other daughter, Eliza, he appointed to the post of Territorial Librarian. The Governor’s nepotism forced the Legislature to change the Territorial laws regarding women in office. Maryan Reynolds picks up the…

Read More Read More

The One Minute Jail Sentence

The One Minute Jail Sentence

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library The following news article describes what was most probably the shortest jail sentence in Washington State history. This is from the Seattle Daily Times, January 20, 1906: MINUTE IN JAIL  SHORTEST SENTENCE EVER PASSED GIVEN TO JOE INCARCERATION. JUDGE FRATER THINKS HE SHOULD GO TO JAIL BUT NOT STAY THERE. RESULT OF SIX MONTHS’ LITIGATION IS ONE MINUTE’S INCARCERATION. “Joe Munch yesterday received from Judge…

Read More Read More

Profiles of Washington Territorial Librarians – Elwood Evans 1877-1879

Profiles of Washington Territorial Librarians – Elwood Evans 1877-1879

From the Desks of the Central Library Staff It is difficult to get away from Elwood Evans while reading about the political history of Washington Territory. Born in Philadelphia Dec. 29, 1828, he was appointed a Deputy Collector of Customs under Simpson P. Moses and arrived in Olympia with the Moses brothers in 1851. Admitted to the bar shortly after setting up shop, he became one of the Territory’s earliest lawyers. His initial stay in Washington Territory was brief, in…

Read More Read More

WSL and Wheedle at the National Book Festival

WSL and Wheedle at the National Book Festival

On Saturday, September 21st, the Wheedle traveled to Washington, D.C. to represent our state in the Pavilion of the States at the National Book Festival. The Pavilion of the States represents the reading and library promotion programs and literary events in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. When people entered the Pavilion they picked up a Discover Great Places Through Reading map of the United States, which they took around to each state and territory in…

Read More Read More

Profiles of Washington Territorial Librarians – Frederick S. Holmes, 1875-1877

Profiles of Washington Territorial Librarians – Frederick S. Holmes, 1875-1877

Frederick S. Holmes, 1875-1877 From the Desks of the Central Library Staff He was born May 8, 1849 in Chicago and spent his early years in Kenosha, Wis. Holmes arrived in Olympia Nov. 9, 1853 with his parents, Samuel and Mary. Only 25 years of age, he was the first Territorial Librarian to be appointed directly by the Governor. According to Maryan Reynolds in The Dynamics of Change, When Yantis vacated the position of librarian in 1875, members of the…

Read More Read More

The Devil Fish and Octopus Wrestling

The Devil Fish and Octopus Wrestling

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library What was a life and death struggle in 1913 became a weird form of recreation in Puget Sound in the 1950s-1960s and then an environmentally taboo practice by the 1970s. I am talking, of course, about octopus wrestling. Although the story is set near Anacortes, the article was found at random in the Camas Post, August 15, 1913. A note before we start, the term…

Read More Read More

Profiles of Washington Territorial Librarians – Benjamin F. Yantis, 1873-1875

Profiles of Washington Territorial Librarians – Benjamin F. Yantis, 1873-1875

 Benjamin Franklin Yantis, 1873-1875 From the Desks of the Central Library Staff Born Mar. 19, 1807 in Garrard County, Ky., B.F. Yantis emigrated to Missouri in 1835, where he became the Superior Court Judge of Saline County. In 1850 (some sources say 1852) he was part of an overland party to the Oregon country that was an ordeal even by pioneering standards. His wife was included among the several deaths in the group. Judge Yantis ran a stage line to…

Read More Read More