From the desk of Sean Lanksbury. PNW & Special Collections Librarian

The Pacific Northwest: Growth of a Regional Identity By Raymond Gastil and Banett Singer. (Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., Publishers, 2010. 221 p.)

The Pacific Northwest: Growth of a Regional Identity attempts to distill and define the major themes and players in the Pacific Northwestern literature as they trace the development of both the style and substance of the writing represented in our regional literary tradition.  The book is not a comprehensive review, but does touch upon major ideas such as the importance of the geography and climate on author identity, the balancing tension of early 20th century radicalism against pioneer tradition and historical irony as essential thematic elements in the writing.  The authors of this book blend a serious academic commitment to the subject with a conversational tone, which brightens and propels the reading experience. This analysis of the regional literature makes a valuable contribution to Pacific Northwest literary criticism.

Many acknowledge that this analysis began with the salty rant Status Rerum (1927) written by two renegades named Harold Lenoir Davis and James Stevens. At the time, Davis and Stevens were still struggling writers dismayed with what they deemed an insipid regional literary scene.  They set out to skewer florid, sentimental, and sensationalistic writing that permeated the local writing, attempting to spur on better craft and a more honest representation of life in this land.  Later on, both the authors went on to regional and national acclaim.  H. L. Davis’ Honey in the Horn (1935) remains the only Pulitzer recipient for literature awarded to a Pacific Northwesterner, while Stevens’ Paul Bunyan (1925) help to transform an outlandish lumberjack tale into a beloved piece of American folklore.

Gastil and Singer’s analysis reaches back to place the Lewis and Clark Expedition Journals, The Hudson Bay Company, missionary journalism and correspondence, and Native American oral tradition as precursors to the literary tradition.  They discuss the problems and the merits of apocryphal interpretations of the Chief Seattle “ecology speech” and Col. Charles Erskine Scott Wood’s transcription/embellishment of Chief Joseph’s famous “fight no more” speech.  It also makes a chapter-long case for the appointment of V. L. Parrington, Progressive Historian and founder of the “American Studies” movement, to the University of Washington English Department in 1908 as a catalyst for a Pacific Northwest Literary Tradition.

Throughout the work the authors critique, praise, and set into context all manner of thinkers, novelists, and poets within the canon – individuals such as Zola Ross, Richard Hugo, Frederick Homer Balch, Ella Higginson, Theodore Roethke, Gary Snyder, Louise Bryant, William Stafford, Abigail Scott Duniway, Nard Jones, Ken Kesey, Joaquin Miller, and the aforementioned Stevens and Davis.  Any reader looking for a better sense of the literary tradition, or just looking for a new read, could benefit from reading this engaging book.

ISBN: 978-0786445400

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 979.5 GASTIL 2010
Available as an eBook,
Not available as a talking book, or as a Braille edition.

From the desk of Sean Lanksbury. PNW & Special Collections Librarian

Washington State Library Pacific Northwest and Special Collections compiled a selection of resources on the language, culture and intercultural connections of the first peoples of the Pacific Northwest, as part of the Washington State Heritage Center’s exhibit “We’re Still Here: The Survival of Washington Indians.”  In honor of the federally recognized Native American Heritage Month 2012, the State Library is highlighting this list in hopes that it will stoke your interest in the diversity of native peoples hailing from the State of Washington.

“We’re Still Here” is display at the lobby of the Office of the Secretary of State, inside the Washington State Legislative Building, until April of 2013.  Supported and vetted by many Washington Indians, this exhibit displays colorful artifacts to tell compelling and personal stories. Artifacts include rare baskets, tools, feather hats, ceremonial colorful clothing and drums.

View/Download the resource list: Washington State Library, First Peoples of Washington State: Selected Resources*

Read more on the exhibit: We’re Still Here: The Survival of Washington Indians

* The resource list has been published using Adobe’s Portable Document Format (PDF); you will need the free Adobe reader in order to read it, available for download at get.adobe.com/reader.

Wisdom of Elders: Traditional Food Ways of Five Tribes in Western Washington.  Recipes collected and cookbook edited by Melissa E. Christy.  (Phoenix, AZ : National Society for American Indian Elderly (NSAIE) ; Shelton, WA : South Puget Intertribal Planning Agency (SPIPA), 2008. 64 p.

Recommendation by:
Rand Simmons, Acting Washington State Librarian, Tumwater, WA.

The delight of this small book is that it provides glimpses into the history, culture, and daily living of the people of five Western Washington tribes. Reflecting the wisdom of elders from the Skokomish Tribal Nation, Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe, Squaxin Island Tribe, Confederate Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation and Nisqually Indian Tribe, this small book is chocked full of recipes, ancient and modern, photographs, and remembrances provided by tribal elders.

Readers can learn how people preserved and cooked food when there were no refrigerators, freezers, microwaves or electricity. Basic information on Lushootseed, the Puget Sound Salish language, at the back of the book includes examples of pronunciation and phrases. Sound advice can be gleaned: “Cook while you are in a good mood and love who you cook for” – Tschudub Indian Shaker Church belief. Many of the recipes can made using common pantry items: flour, sugar, baking powder eggs and oil. For other recipes, you may need assistance gathering kinnikinnick berries and salmon eggs or making tuddee from fern roots. But if you have a penchant for geoduck patties, this book will provide you with the recipe.

Colorful photographs help identify what ingredients and finish foods look like. Yes, this is a cookbook but it is so much more. This book is ideal for the cook who is collecting Pacific Northwest cookbooks, for librarians who are selecting materials on the Pacific Northwest, for school librarians who need basic information on Indians of the Pacific Northwest for their students’ curricular needs and for the generally curious reader. A joint project of the National Society for American Indian Elderly (NSAIE) and the South Puget Intertribal Planning Agency (SPIPA) Wisdom of the Elders was produced with funds granted by the Administration for Native Americans as part of its Knowledge Preservation Project. Melissa E. Christy collected the recipes, edited the cookbook, and contributed photographs.

For more information on this project and the NSAIE , visit http://nsaie.org/projects/the-wisdom-of-elders-cookbook/

Available at the Washington State Library,  NW 641.5929 WISDOM 2008
Not available as an eBook, talking book, or as a Braille edition.