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Exploring the 1918 Influenza Pandemic with the State Library’s Digital Collections

Exploring the 1918 Influenza Pandemic with the State Library’s Digital Collections

In 1918, while Washingtonians were anxiously awaiting for their boys to come home near the end of WWI, reports were coming over from Europe about soldiers dying from a mysterious Spanish Influenza. Reports of “la grippe,” the “flu,” and “pneumonia,” the epidemic was caused by a strain of Pfeiffer’s Bacillus, named after the epidemiologist who discovered it in 1892. By mid-September, before the war was over, it had reached the shores of Washington and at least 23 other states. Warnings…

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The Arbuckle Scandal in the Seattle Star

The Arbuckle Scandal in the Seattle Star

From the desk of Marlys Rudeen – Former Deputy State Librarian The scandal surrounding Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and the death of Virginia Rappe played into many of the anxieties of the general public in the early 1920’s.  Changing morals, the role of alcohol in American life, the growth of the movie industry and its effect on modern youth were all hot buttons that were pushed in the various inquiries and trials engendered by Miss Rappe’s death.  A movie actor beloved…

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Fashion Forward in Early Washington

Fashion Forward in Early Washington

If you are like many of us here at the State Library, you are waiting in breathless anticipation for the debut of Season 6 of Downton Abbey.   While the wait is almost over (January 3rd) it got me thinking about why we love it so much.  I’m not sure about the rest of you but for me the costumes are a large part of the enjoyment.  As the show has taken place over several decades we’ve seen those fashions…

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Baseball and Golf Not Similar

Baseball and Golf Not Similar

From the desk of Shawn Schollmeyer: With the wrap of the 2015 U.S. Open on Father’s Day on Washington’s very own Chambers Bay golf course, Jordan Spieth walked away with the championship as the youngest player since Bobby Jones in 1923.  Golf tends to be a quieter, unassuming game and not quite the loud, cheering spectator sport that you’d see at a Mariners game, but there were thousands of viewers attending in person and millions via televisions across the globe….

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Yakima Herald – During the year of Statehood

Yakima Herald – During the year of Statehood

From the desk of Marlys Rudeen The year is 1889 and Washington Territory is on its way to becoming Washington State. There’s a great deal of enthusiasm for the process, and a great deal of regional competition as a constitutional convention is held along with fierce debate about which city should be the capital of the new state. While all this is going on the residents of Yakima are also devouring news from back East, local comings and goings and,…

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Beriah Brown and the Puget Sound Dispatch

Beriah Brown and the Puget Sound Dispatch

From the desk of Judy Pitchford The Puget Sound Dispatch, published in Seattle from 1871 to 1880, has been added to the Washington State Library’s Historic Washington Newspapers Online. Published Weekly from 1871 to 1880, the newspaper was launched by Beriah Brown and Charles H. Larrabee in December 1871. Brown, who also served for one term as mayor of Seattle in 1878, was known to be a strongly opinionated editorialist. So much so, that it is sometimes hard to distinguish…

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Tax the Unmarried, Pay for Social Security

Tax the Unmarried, Pay for Social Security

From the pages of the Tacoma Times, Sept. 30, 1910. In September of 1910, officials from the Finance Ministry in Paris were scrambling to come up with ways to pay for the French Old Age Pensions bill, a compulsary insurance plan similar to social security.  The Minister of Finance, M. Cochery, asked clerks to come up with ideas and was bombarded with suggestions, some ideas were “decidedly original” and some that were “highly impracticle.” Among the proposed subjects of taxation: “Bachelors and old maids;…

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New Classics in Washington History

New Classics in Washington History

From the desk of Judy Pitchford Volume 5, # 2 –  November 2010   Historical Newspapers in Washington   The Puget Sound Argus of Port Townsend (1882-1883) has been added to Washington State Library’s Online Historic Newspapers, available at http://www.sos.wa.gov/history/newspapers_detail.aspx?t=44. The collection now includes approximately nine years of Port Townsend newspapers, ranging from 1875 to 1883. The collection also contains newspapers from ten other Washington cities. Additional newspapers will be added as soon as indexing is completed. Our volunteer indexers…

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