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Shawn Reynolds, Jr., 26 and his daughter, Kailee Reynolds, 5 (PETER HALEY/THE NEWS TRIBUNE)
Discover unique collections in Washington libraries

Discover unique collections in Washington libraries

From our standpoint here at the Washington State Library, one of the best things about this summer’s Washington Library Passport Project is that every week, we learn interesting and unique things about the libraries in Washington. Everyone knows about the spectacular architecture of Seattle’s flagship branch, but often our small libraries fly under the radar. By encouraging people to visit Washington libraries and post about something they’ve learned during their visit, all sorts of interesting stories have emerged. This morning,…

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The Sea Runners: A Novel, by Ivan Doig.

The Sea Runners: A Novel, by Ivan Doig.

The Sea Runners: A Novel. By Ivan Doig. (New York: Atheneum, 1982. 279 pp. Map.) Recommendation submitted by: Will Stuivenga, Cooperative Projects Manager, Washington State Library, Tumwater, WA. There exists an actual letter-to-the-editor published in the Oregon Weekly Times, mentioning three Scandinavians who had managed to travel by canoe from Russian Alaska to Shoalwater (now named Willapa) Bay in 1852/53. Doig’s novel imagines what their trek must have been like, full of trepidations and tribulations, all the way up to and including…

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“Sensation John” Brings the Confederate Cause to Washington Territory

“Sensation John” Brings the Confederate Cause to Washington Territory

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: The fun part about murky plots and conspiracies is that they are just that– murky, leaving a mystery for historians to argue about for decades. Even at the time the daring plan of Confederate agents in Victoria B.C. to capture a Port Townsend-based Revenue Cutter was exposed, rival newspapers could not agree on the facts of the case. The following article was found in the…

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Amor de Cosmos Juggles a Sour Grass Steak in Kalama

Amor de Cosmos Juggles a Sour Grass Steak in Kalama

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: Now here’s a sentence I bet no one has constructed before: This is a tale of a crazed Canadian politician juggling and insulting a steak while in the process angering a future Washington Secretary of State to the point of near fisticuffs. The following article was found at random in the Dec. 16, 1895 issue of The Spokesman-Review. It recalls a visit to Kalama in…

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