Washington State’s Historical Newspapers as digitized by the Washington State Library are now available in PDF format. This means that teachers, students, and public library users no longer need to download the DJVU viewer in order to use the historical newspaper collection online. (DJVU format is still available for those who prefer it.) To view and/or search the newspaper collection, go to the Historic Newspapers in Washington site or search our Washington electronic newspaper holdings in the Washington State Library Catalog.

Historical newspapers from Washington State’s territorial period (1853-1889) are excellent primary source documents to support the new Social Studies CBA requirements. Teachers and students will particularly appreciate Moments in History, the pre-selected groups of articles on popular research topics. Additionally, Classics in Washington History, a digital collection of rare, out of print books, is also available in full-text for searching and viewing in PDF format.

The Washington Rural Heritage team has been digging for historic treasure around the state, making stops all over in our efforts to scout out our next collections. From Cathlamet to Metaline Falls and eveywhere in between, we saw mounds of photos, fascinating documents and extraordinary objects that we’re really excited about adding to the collection.

Though we’re still in planning phases for our digitization work for the upcoming year, we wanted to share with you a few highlights of what’s being stored in the state’s rural libraries and museums.

The Wahkiakum County Historical Society, perched on the banks of the mighty Columbia in Cathlamet, has an extensive local photo collection, including beautiful aerial photographs of the town’s early development.

The grassy, rolling hills of Garfield County predictably harbored wonderful agricultural items. We saw lots of farming photos, beautifully restored machinery and vehicles outfitted for cold-weather travel (we loved seeing one of the area’s first postal carriages, complete with mini stove and mail organizer at the Eastern Washington Agricultural Museum) and even Pomeroy’s founding father’s scythe.

The Metaline Falls Library in Pend Oreille County was a veritable zoo of images. Their historic scrapbooks are filled with unbelievable photos, including close-up shots of cougar kittens, the celebration around the spoils of a bear hunt, and – our personal favorite – a few images of local celebrity Black Beauty, the bag-punching dog.

These findings were just the tip of the iceberg of the materials we saw during our travels. We’re always looking for unique collections to add to our project in our efforts to help small, rural libraries preserve and provide access to their priceless historic holdings. Our grant cycle will open in the next few months; please contact us for more information.

This week, Gordon Russ, another longtime volunteer, shares his impressions of early pioneer newspapers.

Early Gunnison, Colorado residents read newspapers inside their short walled canvas tent. Photo Courtesy of Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library

Since starting as a Washington State Library volunteer in 2006, I have come across numerous interesting historical discoveries.  One surprise was the amount of space devoted to government publications.  Papers often published local or national laws, town council minutes, legislative records, and speeches in their entirety.

In these papers you can read the “Proceedings of the Territory Convention” in The Columbian (December 11^th, 1852, Column 4), and the “Washington Legislature: First Session” in the Pioneer and Democrat (March 18^th, 1854, Column 3).  They were often published in full, a marked contrast to today’s emphasis on brief summaries and television sound bites.

One of my favorites is the published Audit of the U.S. Army for the Indian Wars of 1855 and 1856. The “Third Auditor’s Report,” Puget Sound Herald (June 17^th, 1859, Column 1), lists the contractors who provided the Army with various supplies.  The report also names individuals who claimed, sometimes falsely, that they joined the Army during that period and wanted to be paid.  These claims sparked great controversy. Letters to the Editor and Editorials confirming or rebuking the report surround the article.  The report was long awaited by the people of Puget Sound.

These articles suggest that political matters were of great interest to early settlers.  While they lacked many of the mass communication options available to us in the present, the pioneers were well-informed of current events.  The printing of these documents might also point to the limitations of early editors.  Not having a staff of reporters, it was easier to get a copy of the minutes, reports, speeches and just print them in full.  Whatever the reasons, the citizens of the territorial era were well-versed in the machinations of government, even before Washington gained statehood.

Photograph of Lincoln taken by Alexander Gardner, 1863.

On this Inauguration Day, and in anticipation of Abraham Lincoln’s bicentennial in February, we thought it appropriate to revisit Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address, one of the great speeches of American history. The text of the speech is found in the Congressional Globe (1865, pages 1424-1425), which is housed in Washington State Library’s federal collection.

President Lincoln delivering his inaugural address on the east portico of the U.S. Capitol, March 4, 1865. Image via LOC.

A second digitized version can be viewed in our Historic Newspaper Online Project from the Walla Walla Statesman of March 17, 1865, (Page 2, Column 3). Interestingly enough, the wording in the newspaper account differs somewhat from the Congressional Globe version. We surmise that this was editorial license at work.

If you would also like to see Lincoln’s own handwritten draft of the address, visit the Abraham Lincoln Papers digitized by the Library of Congress.

“… and before us was a dark sea-wall of mountains…”

With those words, Caroline Leighton ended a journey from the civilized eastern states and began recording her responses to fifteen years on the Pacific coast.  Born and educated in New England, she worked in a school for former slaves in Washington DC during the Civil War.  There she met her future husband, Rufus Leighton.  After the war they married and sailed for the Pacific Northwest where Rufus had an appointment as a customs official.  They endured shipwreck, stormy seas, and travel by canoe during spring floods.

Caroline’s eye is both humorous and humane as she examines the West and all the people she meets there:  miners, farmers, Chinese workers, Native Americans, and immigrants from many countries.  She accompanied her husband as he traveled across the Territory, journeying by wagon to Walla Walla, taking steamers on the upper Columbia where the boat had to be winched up through canyons, and traveling by lumber ships between Washington and San Francisco.  On one such journey she writes:

“One day it was more than I could enjoy.  The wind roared so loud, and the sound of the waves was so heavy, that I retreated to my berth and lay down; but I could not keep my mind off the thought of how deep the water was under us.  After awhile I went on deck and sat there again, and the vessel began to plunge so that it seemed as if it were trying to stand upon one end.  I felt so frightened that I thought I would try to speak with the captain, and ask him if he ever knew a lumber vessel to tip over; and if I dared I would suggest that he should carry a little less sail…

but a little while after, he came to me and said, ‘Are you able to go to the forward part of the ship with me?  I should like to have you if you can.’   So he helped me along to the bow, where it seemed almost too frightful to go, and said, ‘Kneel down;’ and knelt down by me, and said, ‘Look under the ship.’  It was one of the most beautiful sights I ever saw, – such a height of foam, and rainbows over it.  …

Presently he said, ‘Men don’t often speak of these things to each other, but I feel the beauty of it.  Nights when the vessel is moving so fast, I come and watch here for hours and hours, and dream over it.’  When I thought about it afterward, I wondered how he could know that the way to answer my fear was to show me what was so beautiful.  I was not afraid anymore, whatever the vessel did.”

I recommend Caroline Leighton to your acquaintance.

The 1884 edition, Life at Puget Sound : with sketches of travel in Washington Territory, British Columbia, Oregon, and California, 1865-1881 is available electronically in the State Library’s online digital collection, Classics in Washington History.

Caroline’s book was reprinted as West Coast Journeys with an introduction by David M. Buerge in 2002 by Sasquatch Books.

Evan and Kirsten are the featured speakers on the upcoming First Tuesdays presentation. This free, web-based program begins at 9 a.m. on Jan. 13. We’ll discuss our mission and goals for the Washington Rural Heritage project, give you a behind-the-scenes look at how we operate, and share some stories about how WRH has impacted the libraries we work with.

According to moderator Susan Barrett, “First Tuesdays began as a service to small and rural libraries, but those from any library are welcome to take part. Branch staff should first check with supervisors. If you have never participated in any Wimba session, you will need to go through a quick set-up wizard first.”

For more information, or to access archived presentations, click here.

Hey everybody, it’s resolution time! I’ve decided to brush up on my scanning procedures, photoshop skills, and general digitization knowledge. I often find myself in the middle of doing a job wondering if there are more efficient ways to go about it.  I flip through manuals looking for answers, but they usually gloss over the advanced features, or they fail to discuss some of the most rudimentary functions.  I’ve turned to other sources for information, and have found some great sites.

The Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI), has a list of useful digitization resources. I highly recommend subscribing to the IMAGELIB listserv. I subscribed to it two weeks ago, and I have already read many informative posts on color management, a subject I realize I need to learn much more about. Digitization 101, written by digitization consultant Jill Hurst-Wahl, is one of my favorite blogs.  She focuses on many library-specific issues.

I think it is terribly important for those of us working in the field to share information. Technology and standards change so quickly that it can be difficult to stay current.  We all deal with budget constraints, time management issues, and staffing limitations.  Communicating with other organizations is a great way to prevent stagnation, and to keep the projects rolling. I’d like to take this opportunity to encourage comments from our readers.

What projects are you working on? Have you received any grants recently? What equipment do you use? Have you come across specific problems you’d like to work through? What are your frustrations? Have you had any rewarding collaborations with other institutions?

If we find certain commonalities, it might be worthwhile to continue a discussion in another forum.

We use a Zeutschel Omniscan 5000TT for grayscale images, an Epson GT-20000 for color scans, and a Nikon Supercool Scan 9000ED for microfilm. Each has advantages and disadvantages, which I may discuss in-depth at a later date. For now, I’m hoping to get some feedback to see where we should go from here.

Happy new year!

Temperatures are dropping, icicles are forming and the snow is falling! We’ve been slammed with winter weather in northwest Washington state, so as we snuggle into heated homes and offices and drive on freshly-cleared streets, we wanted to bring you a few reminders of days past when snowfall was a bit more inconvenient.

During Eastern Washington’s severe winter of 1936-37,  trains were buried, men hopelessly plowed snow with wimpy plows, and “the highway between Tekoa and Latah was closed all winter.”

Settlers in Enumclaw recalled some winters with horror. Crowded homes with minimal heating led to terrible disease; freezing conditions made travel nearly impossible, though hot water from a teakettle served to warm up the engines of Ford cars; and warm winter clothing was hard to come by: gunny sacks were the footwear-protector of choice.

Winter wasn’t always dismal, though. Early Washingtonians celebrated Christmas in drifts of white powder, and folks in Ritzville took advantage of freezing temperatures to flood a tennis court for ice-skating.

But perhaps our favorite snowy image is brought to us from Whitman County during the ‘big snow’ of 1937. We’re not sure what they were up to, or who was setting up a camera in such a frosty setting, but Pete and Govenor’s trek through the snow inspire us. What’s a few inches of snow compared to drifts looming over one’s head?

One of the benefits of volunteering for the Historic Newspapers Online Project at the Washington State Library is the opportunity to read fascinating articles written in the 1800’s.

Recently, Deb Ross, a dedicated volunteer of several years, discovered an article titled, A Cannon For Every Boy, from the 4/30/1891 issue of the Yakima Herald, which included detailed instructions on building a homemade cannon using common household ingredients.  Curious and intrepid, she decided to try the directions at home.

She captured the results in a YouTube video, provided here for your enjoyment.
(The term “cannon” in this instance represents a small, toylike object, not intended as a weapon.)

View the Historic Washington Newspapers Online Project website

Enumclaw Heritage is live! The Enumclaw Public Library teamed with the Enumclaw Plateau Historical Museum to bring us incredible photos, documents and memorabilia of the area.

Check out a homemade photo album documenting the Boise Creek flood of 1965; read the first issues of Enumclaw High School’s newspaper, published in 1919; and see photographs of White River Lumber Company’s (later, Weyerhaeuser’s) locomotives.

We’re also excited to bring you Washington Rural Heritage’s first collection of oral histories. Listen to tales of early 20th-century life in this rural dairy community: a man recalling how the “federal people” would break up area stills during Prohibition; a telephone operator remembering dances that lasted until dawn; and fascinating stories of settler interactions with local Native tribes.

To access the oral history, click on the audio files at the bottom of the list of links on the left. These will be named “tape1_side1,” etc. Then click the link to “access this item.” If you’d like to read the accompanying text, click through the pages listed on the left side. You can also search these objects by typing words or phrases in the search box in the top left corner.