Would you like to bend time and travel to pioneer days in Washington territory?  Volunteers at the Washington State Library find themselves re-living the lives of settlers through the pages of historical newspapers published from 1852 to 1889.   If you enjoy Washington State history, you may want to work a few hours a week reading articles electronically and entering keywords, titles, and subjects into a searchable database.  Library users can then access the newspapers online. 

 What kind of stories might you read?  Almost every town’s newspaper described the glorious opportunities available to any who had the gumption to immigrate to their promising location.  The drama of life and death, in the form of births, deaths, marriages and divorces were regularly printed.  Politics, both blatant and concealed, motivated many of the early editors and publishers to promote a particular party’s platform or candidate.  And don’t forget those important social occasions:  balls, holiday parades, birthday parties, picnics, church teas, and year-end school promotions/graduations.  Descriptions of military encampments, Native American treaties and reservations, and pioneer land claims paint a picture of changing demographics.  National events were excerpted from other papers when available.

The Historical Newspapers Online project gives researchers, students, teachers, and genealogists free access to historical information via computer, 24 hours a day.  Specialized searches include:

Personal Names Search access to births, deaths, marriages, divorces or general search

Moments in History links to newspaper articles about pivotal events in Washington State history

Advanced Search limit by newspaper title, article type, year, or keywords

For further information about volunteering, please contact:

Beth Bowden – Historical Newspapers Online Coordinator– 360.570.5570

Tags: newspapers

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