From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

Even when this randomly found article in the July 29, 1911 issue of The Irondale News was published, the Jefferson County town was already declining. In the 1880s-1890s Irondale seemed destined to become the steel center for the Pacific Northwest, but it was not to be.

In between all the columns of news coverage about the metal industry, I found this odd little piece. It almost reads like the lyrics to the Beatles’ Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds. Just south of Port Townsend, Irondale was a waterfront town and interested in news of the Strait of Juan de Fuca:

 SEES MIRAGE IN STRAITS

 Officers of Tug Goliah Witness Remarkable Phenomena.

“Officers of the Tug Goliah reports having witnessed a wonderful mirage while crossing the Strait of Fuca Wednesday afternoon. During the mysterious phenomenon, which lasted nearly two hours, the Olympic mountain range was mirrored in the heavens while several vessels that appeared in the picture seemed to float in the clouds like so many aeroplanes.”

Asotin County Library has recently added over 100 newly digitized photographs to the Asotin County Heritage collection with the assistance of a grant from the State Library’s Washington Rural Heritage initiative!

Oliver Brodock poses with his cat outside his service garage in the Silcott area of Asotin County, Washington, 1940.

Asotin County Library director Jennifer Ashby and cataloger/metadata specialist Marjean Riggers partnered with local resident Eva Lynn Thomson this year to digitize a portion of Thomson’s family collection, documenting the history of the Wilson Banner Ranch and the Silcott area along the Snake River just west of Clarkston, Washington.

In 2010, the Asotin County Library and the Asotin County Museum joined over 65 cultural institutions throughout the state that have digitized material with grants from the Washington Rural Heritage initiative. Grant funds are available  to public and tribal libraries serving populations under 25,000, funded through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Packing crew at White Brothers & Crum Orchards, 1910.

If you have comments or additional information about any of the items in the Asotin County Heritage collection — or would like to contribute your own material for digitization — please contact the Asotin County Library.

And keep an eye out for a number of new Washington Rural Heritage projects to be published in the coming weeks! Find out more (or subscribe to this blog) right here.

“If you are going to circulate eReaders to middle schoolers, consider buying “bomb proof” covers for each eReader device.” This is the advice that a school librarian tendered after participating in the eBook Pilot project which concluded in May, 2012. The objective of this pilot project was to distill the experiences of academic, public, and school librarians as they experimented with circulating eReader devices and training staff and the public on how to use these devices.

Their collective wisdom includes information on the following:

• Circulation of eBooks
• Developing eReader Collections
• Policies, Procedures, & Resources
• Promotion & Marketing
• Purchasing eReaders
• Technical Aspects
• Training

Read more on the eBook Pilot Project’s Purchasing Tips page.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

This week’s newspaper on microfilm picked at random is the Centralia Daily Chronicle for Feb. 9, 1909. The reporter who covered this ghost story must have been something of a Wise Guy.

Dealy McCracken, the main subject of this piece, was born De Laparis McCracken in North Carolina in 1838. He served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and at some point was held as a POW. By 1887 he had moved his family to Lewis County, according the Territorial Census. He died in Winlock in 1925.

The Maplewood Rink still exists today in Centralia as the Rollerdrome.

The Centralia Daily Chronicle, which ran from 1908-1913, can be counted as an early ancestor of Centralia’s current newspaper, The Chronicle.

 WINLOCK MAN HAS GHOSTLY EXPERIENCE

 Strikes a Match in the Dark to Light His Cigar and Flare Reveals Reproachful Face of a Woman – Tried to “Chuck” Her Under the Chin, But Was Restrained by Invisible Substance.

 “‘I tell you there is a woman haunting me and I am going to leave this town. Do I believe in spooks?– Never saw one in my life before, but I tell you I saw Her. You can call her a spook or whatever you please, but I tell you I saw her and there is no doubt about it. I came here to visit relatives and I intended to remain several days, but there is one spot in this town where I see her everytime I pass at night. I have not looked for her in the daytime, but I know I have seen her face there in the dark.'”

“‘Dealy’ McCracken, of Winlock, stood on the platform of the Northern Pacific depot in Centralia a few days ago and wasrelating his experience in Centralia to a friend. ‘Dealy’ is a southerner. He rolled his r’s and ‘reckoned’ this and could not account for the harrowing experience which he stated he had undergone. He appeared as one fleeing from some impending, mysterious, and unaccountable danger. He denied he was superstitious, but added, ‘there are some things we all don’t know about.’ Then he told what had so badly upset him.”

“He was going by the Maplewood rink. It was a very dark night and it was late. Not a soul was astir excepting himself. The darkness and silence, he says, got a little on his nerves. He noticed that his footsteps sounded on the board sidewalk with a hollow, rumbling sound. The noise of his footfalls seemed to steal out away from him and then be thrown back at him in a thousand distributing echoes. It affected him so that he tried to walk on tip-toe to get away from the sound. No sooner had he done than the thought was suggested to him that he was stealing away from something– he knew not what. He had a sneaky feeling and on the heels of that came the sensation that he was being pursued. He searched his conscience as to why he should feel that way, but found nothing in the reflection upon which to base such an apprehension. But the sensation that he was being pursued by something uncanny remained. It made him feel cowardly and ashamed of himself. It occured to him that it was foolish for him to let himself feel that way and that by an effort of the will he would calm himself. He would act unconcerned. Instead of tip-toeing as though attempting to avoid detection, he would walk in the ordinary manner. But even walking had a suggestion of flight, so he decided to stop in his track and light a cigar.”

“All those thoughts flashed through his mind in much less time then it takes to tell it. The mind under excitement thinks with more than lightning rapidity. When he stopped to light his cigar he was standing in front of one of the windows in the skating rink. He struck his match on the sill of the window. Then it was that the great shock came. The flare of the match revealed the face of a woman. Just the bare face and nothing more. It was a pallid face, very pale with the exception of the cheeks, which were earmine colored. There was a suggestion of rouge and powder about the countenance and the eyes were the eyes of a woman in which the light had nearly burned itself out by its own intensity and was flickering low. It was the face of a woman who might have lived much in a short time. A face that knew and knew sorrowfully and its expression was reproachful.”

“All that ‘Dealy’ saw by the flare of the match. The match went out and left ‘Dealy’ in darkness and horror. He forgot to light his cigar. He was held to the spot as one fascinated. His feet weighed a ton each and seemed to be pulling him down. He stood there until the darkness seemed to bear in and down on him as though it would smother him. It became unbearable and he fumbled for another match. With a trembling hand he struck it and there again was the face before him. It was close enough for him to reach with his hand.”

“It is a peculiar fact that often in moments of most intense excitement a sense of humor developes. ‘Dealy’ says that for some unaccountable reason he resolved to ‘jolly the old girl.’ He extended his hand in a spirit of bravado with the intention of ‘chucking’ her under the chin. His hand was put forward to carry out his intention, but some invisible substance was encountered which seemed to restrain him from a violate act. Although his hand almost touched the reproachful face there was not a change of expression, not a quiver of the eye. The face seemed to know it could not be violated. Then ‘Dealy’ discovered that his hand was against the window pane and that the face was on the other side was pressed against the pane. But that did not impress him half as much as the fact that the face was really there. He lost all resolution to quiet his nerves. He no longer felt that his imagination was playing him false. He knew the face was there. What did he do?”

“He did not tell his friend what he did for just then the train for Aberdeen began moving out and he boarded it.”

“Unless superstitious persons be too deeply impressed by Mr. McCracken’s experience it is to the point to state that a reporter for the Daily Chronicle inspected the window in the skating rink in which the face was reported to have appeared. He made his investigation in broad daylight and the face was there. It is there now. But there is nothing unnatural about it. The inside of the window has been boarded up. Some thoughtless masquerader at some of the numerous masquerade balls that have been held there evidently removed her mask, a false face of a woman, and thrust it between the boards and the windowpane.”

From the desk of Rand Simmons

Recently I blogged that we had received an extension on our National Endowment for the Humanities grant to allow us an extension of time to continue to digitize Washington historical newspapers. The project is the National Digital Newspaper Program of the Library of Congress (LoC). Washington State Library’s contributions appear in Chronicling America.

The project requires collaboration between the Washington State Library and the University of Washington Libraries Microfilm and Newspaper department. At UW we have two students helping us evaluate and process necessary metadata for each page posted to LoC’s public website. In our UW office at Suzzallo Library Britta Anson, a doctoral student of history, is helping us with title research for essays that accompany the newspaper titles and Ashley Fejeran, a second year library and information student, will be helping with page evaluation. Ashley took a break in her busy schedule to write about her experience this summer with the Washington program:

Each day, tucked deep in the cozy basement of Suzzallo Library at the University of Washington, my colleagues and I are working to prepare Washington newspapers from the late 1800’s to 1922 for OCR (optical character recognition) software that will make each paper searchable. I am working with the Washington State Library as a part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP); a project that will digitize many historic newspapers across the United States. Now in the fourth year of the program we are deep in the midst of processing important Washington State newspaper titles. Papers like the Industrial Freedom from the tiny town of Edison, the Yakima Herald, and the Aberdeen Herald are already on their way to being published on the Chronicling America Website which holds over four million pages of already processed papers. Our Washington program has already processed over 25 titles, with more to come in the next two years!

While enrolled in the University of Washington’s Master of Library and Information Science program this project has given me invaluable exposure to the principles of digital librarianship and a new perspective on the age old question of preservation versus access. In classes, forums, and over drinks I’ve had countless discussions on the merits of each with my library colleagues, and I’ve seen my own feelings roam the spectrum between these seemingly disparate ideas. It wasn’t until I started work on the National Digital Newspaper Program that I began to see that it is possible to both preserve historically significant artifacts and offer increased access to these interesting and important documents.

As an aspiring librarian this program has much professional appeal; however, it has become of personal interest to me as well. A few days ago on the radio program This American Life I heard a story about the mysterious disappearance of a little boy named Bobby Dunbar in the summer of 1912. As the story unfolded, the whole nation was captivated by the tragedy of this lost boy and the controversy that ensued with his eventual recovery.

Not long ago (before working on the Washington NDNP project) this story might have just remained an interesting episode of This American Life. Because of the work I’ve been doing on this project, I knew that many of the newspapers from the time of Bobby Dunbar’s disappearance were probably available online. Through Chronicling America I searched for, and found, many articles covering the disappearance of Bobby Dunbar. Reading the story as it was actually reported was fascinating, and brought a new level of depth to what happened for me. These were real people!

In other, local, news I’ve been reading about the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition which happened in 1909 on the University of Washington’s campus. The Exposition is considered the precursor to the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. As Seattle paper The Ranch proclaims, “Opening Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition Marks and Era In Progress of the Pacific-Northwest!”

What I do is just one step in a long process; it is exciting that my job is to help make these papers available, so that anyone can read for themselves how an historic story played out. As I fuss with text and image zones, and correct page alignment, not only am I gaining valuable professional experience, I also get to take a look into the daily lives of people living 100 years before me. The discussion of preservation and access will certainly continue, and it is likely that there is no perfect solution, working with Washington’s National Digital Newspaper Program has proved a fascinating look at the possibility for both.

Random News from the Newspapers on Microfilm Collection: Anna Agnes Maley, First Woman to Run for Washington Governor, 1912

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

 The microfilm reel found at random this week contained The Clayton News-Letter, a publication that served the Stevens County community of Clayton for a little over a year, 1912-1913. The town was so named in recognition of the rich clay deposits in the area, a source for their main industries of brick and sewer pipes. Clayton had a large Italian American population of craftsmen, producing the well known Northwest artist Leno Prestini (1906-1963).

By no means a propaganda sheet, The Clayton News-Letter included a regular column devoted to socialism tucked between the advertisements, local gossip, and hard news. This was prior to World War I and the subsequent Red Scare. In the issue for August 15, 1912, the column featured coverage of a lecture by one of Washington State’s most overlooked political figures, Anna Agnes Maley. It is interesting her run for Washington State Governor is not mentioned:

 SOCIALISTS’ COLUMN

 Socialist Lecture a Success

 “Miss Anna A. Maley spoke to a good-sized audience of appreciative and attentive listeners at the school house on the evening of Aug. 7.”

“Miss Maley has a very pleasing personality, earnest manner and clear delivery, and sets forth her subject in such a plain, convincing manner that none could avoid understanding her.”

“Not one of her hearers left the house without understanding what Socialism meant, if he did not know before. The general verdict was that her lecture was a good one; that she showed remarkable keenness and perception and a deep knowledge of the subject under discussion, and had a clever way of clinching an argument and proving every assertion made.”

“Among other things Miss Maley spoke of the much-abused word ‘prosperity.’ She said that the capitalists gauge prosperity by the amount of profits they rake in and the number of markets they can control; that the Socialists judge of prosperity by the amount of the products of their labor which the workers can succeed in realizing, claiming that ALL the products of their toil rightfully belong to them.”

“She spoke about the present socialization of the schools, post offices, fire departments, public roads, etc., and said that we have yet a step further to go and socialize the industries; for she argued that if the schools, which grind out food for the brain, are publicly owned, why should not flour mills and other factories, which grind out food for the body, also be so owned?”

“She argued that every one is a Socialist by nature, but only a few had found it out.”

“She said the average farmer thinks he is independent on his own farm, whereas, in reality, he is as bad off as the wage slave in a factory, and is taxed on every hand– indirectly, perhaps, without his realizing it– through the capitalist profit system; for the capitalists use him for a tool and get him both coming and going, both in buying and selling.”

 Notice to Socialists

 “Local Clayton will hold its regular monthly meeting next Saturday evening, Aug. 17, at the school house. It is to be hoped that comrades will attend in full force, as matters of importance will be discussed. We debar none from becoming members.”

Anna Agnes Maley is a best-selling biography waiting to happen. A native of Minnesota, she was active in the suffrage movement and saw the Socialist Party as the vehicle for making gender equal rights a reality. Her work took her around the United States as she lectured and wrote for socialist newspapers. In 1911 she landed in Everett, where Anna became the editor of The Commonwealth.

The September 27, 1912 issue of The Commonwealth included an 11-point program as part of the Socialist Party of Washington’s platform:

1.   Collective ownership and management of all public utilities, and all industries that have become monopolized.

2.    Abolition of private ownership of land, and natural resources when used for exploitation and speculation.

3.    Public employment of the unemployed at not less than prevailing union scale of wages and not more than eight hours per day.

4.   We demand the enactment of a maximum eight-hour law to apply to both men and women, employed in all capitalized industries.

5.   We advocate initiative, referendum and recall to apply to all public officials, the petition not to exceed 10 per cent of the voters at the previous election.

6.   Abolition of child labor under the age of 16 years.

7.   The elimination of the injunction in labor disputes.

8.   Abolition of all residential qualification or other restrictions for voters. The abolition of all filing fees at primaries and other elections and repeal of all non-partisan laws. Abolition of property     qualifications for jurors. We favor the election of a public defender as well as prosecutor together with the adoption of other means to insure the free administration of justice.

9.   We favor a constitutional amendment abolishing the senate and we also demand that all cities be prohibited from enacting ordinances infringing on the right of free speech and free press.

10. We favor the establishment of a state board of health with full power for the inspection and condemnation of all unsanitary factories, tenements, etc. and the liberal appropriation for the use of the latest scientific methods of eliminating disease.

11. We demand the free use of all public buildings and property for public meetings, including court houses, school houses, parks, etc., without discrimination, and we demand a liberal appropriation for promotion of social centers.

1912 was the first year a woman could legally run for Governor in Washington State, but putting that aside, Anna’s campaign appeared to be unusual. It seems she saw the role of candidate as an opportunity to extend her lecture circuit, a format where she felt quite comfortable.

On Election Day Anna placed 4th (behind the two big parties and the Progressives) with a whopping 12% of the vote, the highest ever garnered by any Socialist running for Washington State Governor. In her home county, Snohomish, she placed second, and in ten counties she came in third. But Socialists and women made other gains in Washington. The Socialists elected officials to school boards and city councils, as well as two mayors (Edmonds and Pasco) and a state legislator. The first two women were elected to the Legislature (one Republican, one Progressive), the first female Superintendent of Public Instruction won office, and Washington was the first state to send a woman to the Electoral College.

Although Anna’s time in Washington State was short, it was eventful. Seen as too moderate, she was basically forced out during a 1913 party purge and moved to New York where she became a teacher and author. She married late in life, but her husband died after contracting malaria during a tour of the South. Anna herself fell into poor health and died in Minnesota, November 24, 1918 at age 46.

From the desk of Shawn Schollmeyer

We are very excited to announce that we will be able to continue our historic newspaper digitization project for an additional two years. The National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) is a collaborative grant program between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress, seeking to fund state newspaper digitization projects and make select titles available through the Chronicling America website. The long term goal is to provide access to public domain newspaper titles in all U.S. states and territories (1836-1922). The Washington State Library will coordinate scanning and prepping another 100,000 pages from microfilm for remaining titles in Seattle and Olympia. A panel of partner libraries across the state has pre-selected over 25 titles representing large and small communities and historically significant regions to share on the Chronicling America site. Among  the titles already available are  the Aberdeen Herald, Colfax Gazette, Lynden Tribune, San Juan Islander, and Tacoma Times. More information about the state program and other titles is available on our WIKI page.

The microfilm for the three remaining titles is housed in the Washington State Library and University of Washington collections. We will continue our collaboration with the UW Libraries Microfilm and Newspaper department where we have two students helping us evaluate and process necessary metadata for each page posted to the Library of Congress public website.

Shawn Schollmeyer is the project manager for the Washington State Library. Her contact information is [email protected], 360-570-5568.

Random News from the Newspapers on Microfilm Collection: Kleptomaniac Cows in Everett

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

Ah, the growing pains of urbanization as found in the Feb. 20, 1901 issue of the Everett Daily Herald:

SHALL COWS RESPECT THE RIGHTS OF THE CITIZENS OF EVERETT?

 A Long-Suffering Merchant Gives Expression to His Sentiments Thereon.

 “The business men of the city have under serious advisement the matter of protection against the festive and ubiquitous cow. They say she is a nuisance of the first order and they believe that she should be suppressed.”

“Yesterday afternoon a Herald man was talking with a Hewitt avenue produce dealer. There were several bales of hay on the sidewalk. A cultured, ‘gentlemanly’ looking cow approached and began gingerly partaking of the hay. The produce man did not notice her at first and she warmed up to her task with considerable alacrity. Finally the produce dealer spied the cow. Being a Christian gentleman he said ‘Doggin that cow!’ and charged her in a way which led to the belief that he had left over several more expletives of a more vigorous nature. Returning he said:”

“‘That makes twenty-seven times I’ve driven that cow away from the hay. Is there no respite, no balm of Gilead, I implore? If I should shoot that cow, would I have to pay for her?'”

“‘You might make the experiment,’ suggested the newspaperman.”

“‘I’ll tell you,’ continued the produce dealer. ‘I am getting mighty tired of this. I understand there is an ordinance against cows and other stock running at large and the city has a poundmaster, but I have never been able to see any of the beneficial results.'”

”Of course they annoy grocers and produce dealers more than other business men. They hang around and eat our high priced vegetables when we are not looking, and occasionally I’ve been told they make a meal of men’s or women’s furnishing goods left on the street for advertising purposes; but their diet is usually confined more strictly to food products for man and beast.'”

”What remedy would you suggest?’ was asked. ‘Would you suggest that the cow be cured of her kleptomaniacal traits, educated and improved in her ways so that she may be able to take her place in society, to walk along the streets of this city fast assuming metropolitan airs with the busy throng without molesting other people’s property, and knowing which way to turn when she meets a pedestrian on the sidewalk?'”

“The produce man looked pained: ‘I’m in earnest about this matter,’ he said: ‘there’s that infernal cow again! Where’s my gun? I’ll kill her! But let her go this time. Maybe she’s not prepared to die.'”

“‘No,’ he continued, ‘I would suggest nothing of the sort. The remedy should exist in enforcing our present city ordinances and if they are not sufficient, others which are should be enacted. But the idea of allowing cattle to run at large in a town fast taking on the airs of a city is ridiculous beyond words to say nothing of the annoyance.'”

“‘It should be remembered that cities do not inflict their live stock on the bosom of the general public, and that the average individual does not care to be jostled or elbowed by the mild-eyed cow however chaste of well bred she may be.'”

“‘I hope to goodness the chamber of commerce will appoint an entertainment committee for the cows and keep them out of sight during the coming visit of the state legislature to Everett.'”

In 1901 Everett was less than a decade old as an incorporated city. The population, according to the 1900 census, was 7,838. But by 1910 the city has exploded to a population of 24,814. Everett was indeed “fast taking on the airs of a city.”

We don’t know the identity of the grocer, but in the Polk Directory for 1901 no less than five produce dealers had shops on Hewitt Ave. Of course, it is highly likely this particular grocer was fictional.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

The editor of the Clarkston Republic appears to be able to barely contain his gloating while reporting on the demise on a rival newspaper. I found this on page one, top of the fold, July 10, 1913:

 CLARKSTON DAILY HERALD SUCCUMBS

 Daily Paper Short Lived — Published Only Six Weeks. Cause Unexplained

 “Last Saturday evening the Herald Publishing company suspended publication of the Clarkston (daily) Evening Herald, after a brief career lasting only six weeks. It came as a total surprise to citizens of the city as from appearances and declarations it was to be a very permanent institution.”

 “A strenuous subscription campaign had been carried on by the paper which closed Saturday night. For this they were offering prizes to the several girls who would secure the highest number of paid up subscriptions, the grand prize to be a free trip to Yellowstone Park with all expenses paid for two, while the other prize consisted of three $60 diamond rings and three watches. Subscriptions were taken at $5 per year, and for a shorter or longer time accordingly. The final result as announced was Nellie Bittle, first, Milicent Lahm, second, Allie Malone, third and Miss Jones of Asotin, fourth.”

“Mr. E.D. Griffin, proprietor of the defunct concern positively refuses to make any public statement to the people here and elsewhere who have paid for the paper for various lengths of time, only stating that it is a very unfortunate affair and that it will do no one any good. Other than this he will not say regarding the likelihood of the prize winners receiving their prizes, of what happened to the subscription money or what is to be done about the good United States money that has been paid the concern for advance subscriptions, so that the only particulars that can be given is heresay which are as follows: A Mr. W.F. Heght it seems was managing the subscription campaign for the Herald and had a good deal more to do with the handling of the money than good business management generally allows a stranger, and on Saturday night when the contest closed, instead of a settlement of the affair being effected then it was deferred until Monday morning, before which time it is said that Mr. Heght made a hurried get away, taking with him all the funds that had been collected on advance subscriptions, the amount of which seems to be in doubt. It is also said that a warrant has been issued for his arrest but of this Mr. Griffin will state nothing.”

“Another story is current that the suspension came from a lack of the Chamber of Commerce, of which J.E. Hoobler is president, to make good a promise to secure a certain number of subscriptions, but the Chamber denies ever making any definite promise along this line however.”

“As soon as Mr. P.S. Pease, district salesman for the American Type Founders company heard of the affair he hurried to the city to make an adjustment of affairs concerning the equipment which was secured from his company, and it is likely they will have charge of the disposition of most or all of it.”

“The situation is the main topic of conversation all over the community and it is considered to be of much more discredit to the city than never to have started the institution. Many were dissatisfied with the news service from the first, both local and telegraphic.”

“Many are the reasons thought to be the real cause of the suspension and many are demanding the management make some explanation, but only time will tell what developments will be made in the case. At all events it is a sad affair for it means a loss to some, and from appearances it will be the ones who put up the money for the advance subscription.”

The Clarkston Republic is part of a newspaper lineage that runs something like this: Clarkston Republican / Clarkston Republic / Clarkston Herald / Valley Herald News / Clarkston Herald. WSL has many issues in this run available on microfilm via interlibrary loan.

What really caught my eye in this article was an accompanying crude illustration of three newspaper titles in coffin shaped boxes, stood up on end like the corpses of dead outlaws on display on a dusty storefront in the Old West. The Clarkston Republic’s vanquished competitors run from the obscure to the cryptic.

The Teller was apparently the Lewiston Evening Teller. It ran from 1903 to 1911. Several libraries in Idaho and Utah hold copies.

The Evening Herald apparently lasted only six weeks in 1913. It was edited by Edwin DeWitt Griffin (1873-1949) who later moved to Long Beach, California, continuing to work in the newspaper business. So far as I can ascertain, no copies of this newspaper can be found in any library, either in hardcopy or microform. But at least we know it existed, who published it, where it came from, and how long it lasted.

The most mysterious of all is the Search Light. In searching all the usual places, I can find nothing confirming there was a such a title in the Clarkston-Lewiston area in this time period. Not in OCLC, not in Ayer’s, not in local histories. In fact, this coffin drawing is the only evidence I have proving such a newspaper existed. I don’t even know if it was published in Clarkston or Lewiston. But I’m betting someone out knows all about this title.

If you have any information on, or better yet, actual copies of these two lost newspapers, give us a call here at WSL.

There was one rival the Clarkston Republic was unable to bury: The Lewiston Morning Tribune, still around today and now known simply as the Lewiston Tribune.

Asotin County’s days of yesteryear have been captured by our Washington Rural Heritage Project.

It has already been a busy year for Washington Rural Heritage.

iris0105. Cataloging in progress.

In addition to launching a newly-designed website this spring (with upgrades to our server and content management system), we have improved our long-term digital preservation strategy to better protect our collections for future generations. We have also recently re-opened our metadata to outside harvesters (using best practices established by the Open Archives Initiative, or OAI), and we are currently in the process of contributing over 19,000 item-level records to OCLC’s WorldCat online catalog, enhanching discovery of WRH collections to library patrons across the world.

Congratulations are in order for the latest group of Washington libraries who will receive LSTA grants (FY 2012) through the Washington Rural Heritage initiative!

• Denny Ashby Public Library
• Nisqually Tribal Library
• Port Angeles Public Library, North Olympic Library System
• Ritzville Library District #2
• Roslyn Public Library
• Sedro-Woolley Public Library
• Sno-Isle Libraries

These organizations will spend the next year digitizing historically significant materials from their own holdings, the holdings of partnering heritage institutions, and in some cases, privately held collections. Read more on each project here.

Libraries currently participating in grant-funded digitization projects this year (FY 2011) will wrap up and launch their new collections or sub-collections in the coming weeks, including Asotin County Library, the Connell Branch of Mid-Columbia Libraries, Ellensburg Public Library, Odessa Public Library, North Central Regional Library, Roslyn Public Library, and the Everson Branch of Whatcom County Library System. Look for announcements here as these new projects come online.

Funds for Washington Rural Heritage are made available by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. For more information, contact Evan Robb, Project Manager, (360) 704-5228.