Washington State’s Primary Election is nearly upon us, occuring next Tuesday, August 7.  In honor of the upcoming Primary, we are featuring two rare political business cards as our third “Library Jewel” for July, located within the Rare Publicans section of the Washington State Library.

These political business cards, featured below in the picture, belonged to candidates who were running for separate elections in 1908.  The card on the left belonged to Republican Party candidate Theodore Mentzer, a lumberjack from Tenino, who was running for State Senator.  The card on the right belonged to Democratic Party candidate James Doherty, an Irish-American contractor from Olympia who ran for Thurston County Treasurer.