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The Killing Season

The Killing Season

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: “One of the lusty, colorful eras in the history of the Pacific Northwest,” writes Jim Gibbs, “centered around the pelagic sealing industry. It gained great proportions by the 1890’s when every year more than 100 small schooners, propelled only by canvas, set sail from Victoria, B.C. and Puget Sound ports fanning throughout the North Pacific, in the harsh open seas of the Bering Sea, and…

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LIKE AS “TWO DROMIOS”: COMPLICATIONS FROM A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY.

LIKE AS “TWO DROMIOS”: COMPLICATIONS FROM A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: [The following piece of found-at-random news comes from The Tacoma Daily Ledger, although the story took place in New Whatcom (a town which later became part of the City of Bellingham). The tale reads like a screwball comedy. Published on November 9, 1897, the headline writer very appropriately made a reference to characters from Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors]: Mrs. Woods of Whatcom Secures a…

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Puget Sound Mail – News from La Conner, 1879-1880

Puget Sound Mail – News from La Conner, 1879-1880

From the desk of Marly Rudeen Each newspaper has its own personality supplied in part by the editor, in part by its subscribers and correspondents, and in part by the events of the time period. The Puget Sound Mail from La Conner strikes me as an outward looking paper. Much of front page news comes from San Francisco and other west coast cities, including regular news from southern Oregon and the Willamette Valley. But the rest of that valuable space…

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An MLIS student reports on her experience working on the National Digital Newspaper Program

An MLIS student reports on her experience working on the National Digital Newspaper Program

The Washington State Library participates in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and Library of Congress.  Shawn Schollmeyer, the NDNP coordinator for our state, has had the pleasure of working this past year with two recent MLIS graduate students at the University of Washington, Rachel Foshag and Loryn Lestz. Over the last two years Loryn and Rachel worked on the evaluation of the newspapers for condition and missing pages as well as…

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Spokane – Wide Open Town?

Spokane – Wide Open Town?

From the desk of Marlys Rudeen. While looking through issues of the Newport Miner for 1907, I came across the following quote – “Poor old Spokane has had to bow to the inevitable, and beginning next Sunday the lid will be jammed down so hard that visitors will hardly recognize the town. Mayor Moore has issued an order calling for the closing of all saloons on Sunday and abolishing the notorious cribs and concert halls.” Jan. 9, 1908, p. 5…

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William Gohl – Not a Nice Man

William Gohl – Not a Nice Man

From the desk of Marlys Rudeen One of the most notorious citizens of Aberdeen in the early 20th century was William Gohl. While he might have listed his occupation as agent for the Sailors’ Union of the Pacific, his real job included such duties as graft, theft, extortion, arson, and murder. The local paper, the Aberdeen Herald, documents some of Gohl’s history through his trial and conviction for two murders in 1910. You can follow the story through the newspaper…

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The West Shore – Enticing settlers to the late 19th century Pacific Northwest

The West Shore – Enticing settlers to the late 19th century Pacific Northwest

From the desk of Marlys Rudeen, Deputy State Librarian A recent addition to the State Library’s digital collections is the lavishly illustrated West Shore. This literary and general interest magazine was published from Aug. 1875-Mar. 1891. The Washington State Library owns some of the issues from 1880-1890, and has digitized the issues and made them available online. (Warning – some of the PDFs are large and do take some time to load.) According to its tagline from the 1885 issues,…

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Life in Colville 1907-08

Life in Colville 1907-08

From the desk of Marlys Rudeen: A sampling of the local news from the Colville Examiner from Oct. 31, 1907-Jan. 1908 provides a vivid view of life in the north half of Stevens County. One thing that stands out is that the Colvillians were a traveling bunch. They visited and were visited on a regular basis, travelling to family and friends in other small towns, the big city of Spokane, and relatives in the Midwest or eastern states. Departures and…

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TENDERLOIN CELEBRITIES IN THE TOILS

TENDERLOIN CELEBRITIES IN THE TOILS

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: Found at random in the Sept. 12, 1905 issue of the always entertaining Seattle Star: TENDERLOIN CELEBRITIES IN THE TOILS Seattle’s three municipal problems, Annie Rooney, “Prof.” Price and “Yankee Frank,” are again guests at the taxpayers’ expense.  Officers Brafford and Mayou gathered in the notorious trio Monday evening while patrolling their tenderloin beat. As usual, Annie Rooney went along with sprightly step. Annie expected…

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Newspaper Discussion: Preservation and Access Issues

Newspaper Discussion: Preservation and Access Issues

From the desk of NDNP Coordinator, Shawn Schollmeyer:  In our NDNP Office located in the basement of Suzzallo Library at the University of Washington we share this insight into the world of newspaper digitization and preservation by guest writer Casey Lansinger. Casey participated as an intern in our program and will be graduating with an MLIS in June 2013. In July of 2012, I left my sunny and dry hometown of Denver, CO for wet and green Seattle. I  suddenly…

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