In the early days of the Seattle-based Washington Hellenic Civic Society, little did community citizens know their comings and goings would reach an international audience through the publication of the monthly newspaper, the Washington Hellenic Review.

It had just over a 10-year run (1924-1936) under the vision of WHCS president Pericles H. Scarlatos.   It reached an audience mostly in Seattle, but also across to subscribers in 33 cities, and even a few in Greece. The many activities of members of the community were chronicled: births, baptisms, name days, marriages, illnesses, deaths, vacations abroad, visitors, graduations, picnics, bazaars, formal dinners, events of local clubs and societies, and the news of the local parish of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church.

At the time of publication, the Society aimed to assist the Greek immigrants of Washington with integrating into American culture and keeping up on church news, how to apply for and practice good citizenship in America, which candidates to support in upcoming city and state elections, and when and where to see Greek cultural activities.

The Hellenic Review was an essential newspaper to the Greek community in Seattle and now the publication is an essential document of Seattle’s local history and to the descendants of Greek immigrants in Washington. The Washington State Library is proud to present online access to the Hellenic Review, one of our most recent titles on the Washington Digital Newspapers website.

Front page of the March 1930 edition of the Hellenic Review.

Washington Digital Newspapers is a State Library continuation of the National Digital Newspaper Program. WDN has nearly 400,000 pages of historic newspaper content ready through online access for genealogists, researchers and historians to hunt for Northwest treasure. The Washington State Library has the largest collection of Washington Newspapers on microfilm and over 40 titles from across the state.

The State Library is constantly working toward adding new issues, such as the Vietnamese/English newspaper Dat Moi, and will be working on adding the Anacortes American and the Catholic Northwest Progress in 2017/2018.

You can read our essays about these titles on our WDN website by clicking on the newspaper title page or search our collection by keyword and calendar date.

Go here to learn more about the State Library’s historic newspaper collection.