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Tag: Hudson’s Bay Company

May “Library jewel” #1: Ranald MacDonald

May “Library jewel” #1: Ranald MacDonald

(Image courtesy of Washington State Library) In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’re kicking off the May edition of our “State Library jewels” blog series by featuring an item from the library’s Rare Publications Collection with an Asian subject matter: a collection of books about Ranald MacDonald (no Big Mac jokes, please), the son of Hudson’s Bay Company Chief Trader Archibald MacDonald and Koale’zoa, the daughter of Chinook Chief Concomly. As a boy, Ranald encountered three…

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The Whitman Tragedy – Part 2

The Whitman Tragedy – Part 2

For decades after the tragedy at the Whitman Mission, writers, preachers and others sought to place blame for the event itself and for the underlying causes. Resentments against the Hudson’s Bay Company and religious prejudices often colored narratives, and led to charges of cowardice or malice. Square in the middle of these disputes was Rev. H. H. Spalding, a colleague of the Whitmans. While there was often tension between the two families, the Whitmans and Spaldings were also colleagues and…

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