Despite Washington’s notoriously long (okay, endless) rainy season, Washingtonians tend to be ambivalent about the use of umbrellas.  The following is a typical conversation in a Washington workplace…

Jill: “Ack, it’s pouring!  It wasn’t pouring two minutes ago when I was packing up for lunch.”

Jane: “Give it two minutes, and it’ll stop.”

Jill:  “What do you think?  Should I bring my umbrella?”

Jane:  “No.”

Jill:  “But I don’t want to ruin my suit.”

Jane:  “Fine, then take an umbrella.”

Jill:   “Okay…[looks for umbrella under desk]…um, I can’t find my umbrella.  May I borrow yours?”

Jane:  “I haven’t used an umbrella since 1976.  Check with Bob.  He’s from California.”

Jill:  “Okay.  Oh, look!  It stopped raining!” 

And scene. 

It is no wonder that our Archives staff had a tricky time digging up historic photographs of umbrellas in our records.  We did find a great picture of Sylvester Park in Olympia, circa 1900, replete with several umbrellas…on a very sunny day.  This was, undeniably, not a day in March.  Yet this month does serve as a good reminder that the umbrella truly is…sometimes…a useful invention…rain or shine…on occasion- even for us frontiering Washingtonians.

Photograph courtesy of Washington State Archives