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Tag: Steilacoom

Stumps and the Tides: Early Newspapers in Washington Territory, Part 2

Stumps and the Tides: Early Newspapers in Washington Territory, Part 2

Thanks to past and ongoing digitization efforts at the Washington State Library, Washington Digital Newspapers hosts digital copies of some of the earliest newspapers published in Washington. Through their columns, early territorial editors provided a glimpse of some of the hardships faced by settlers in general, and by publishers in particular in the 1850s. This blog, one of a three part series, covers the challenges publishers confronted in obtaining supplies for themselves and their presses. The September 16, 1854 issue…

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Washington’s Second Library is Also the First

Washington’s Second Library is Also the First

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: Although the Washington Territorial/State Library was formed in 1853, making it the first library and indeed cultural institution in Washington to be supported by public funds, the distinction of becoming the very first community library belongs to Steilacoom. In our Rare Vault, WSL has two copies of the Constitution, by-laws, and rules and orders of the Steilacoom Library Association, Washington Territory : organized in March,…

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Sea Serpent at Devil’s Head

Sea Serpent at Devil’s Head

 From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: Sea serpent stories are developing into a subgenre in this column. Although the creature described here resembles the “DungeNessie” serpent sighted in 1892 in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, this particular sighting took place very near to the 1899 episode of The Sea Serpent That Got Away.  This article was found in the Dec. 7, 1855 issue of the Puget Sound Courier, published out…

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