image courtesy of Pacific Northwest Quarterly

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

Did you know that for the last 50 years, the Washington State Library has compiled a quarterly bibliography of recent Pacific Northwest history publications, including notable journal articles, for the journal Pacific Northwest Quarterly?

The historian, author, and Washington Room librarian Hazel Emery Mills started the column as a service to researchers of Pacific Northwest history. The first edition of Northwest History News Notes appeared in Volume 58 (January 1967). A staff librarian specializing in Pacific Northwest materials of the Washington State Library has performed this outreach continuously ever since.

The following is a list of the librarians who have produced Northwest History News Notes:

Hazel Emery Mills: Vol. 58 (January 1967)–Vol. 65 (April 1974)

Nancy Blankenship Pryor: Vol. 65 (July 1974) –Vol. 76 (January 1985)

Jeanne Engerman Crisp:  Vol. 76 (April 1985) –Vol. 82 (April 1991)

Gayle Palmer: Vol. 82 (July 1991) –Vol. 89 (Fall 1998)

Shirley Lewis: Vol. 89 (Fall 1998) –Vol. 100 (Fall 2009)

Sean Lanksbury: Vol. 101 (Winter 2009/2010) –current issue.

Pacific Northwest Quarterly (PNQ) began as The Washington Historical Quarterly (WHQ) in October 1907, making it 110 years old this year.  All of the Washington Historical Quarterly issues are available online free of charge at https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/WHQ/issue/archive.

PNQ also has a freely accessible online index and a table of contents by issue at http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Website/PNQ/PNQ%20Main.html.

You can access physical copies of all WHQ and PNQ issues at the State Library Reading Room or other holding institutions, and you can access PNQ issues published more than five years ago online by JSTOR subscription at http://www.jstor.org/journal/pacnorwestq

For more information, contact the Pacific Northwest & Special Collections Librarian at [email protected] or 360-704-5279.

You can also contact the Public Services Staff via email, phone, chat, and mail.

Bonanzas & Borrascas. By Richard E. Lingenfelter. (Norman, Okla. : Arthur H. Clark Co., 2012. 2 vols., 1056pp.)

Recommendation submitted by Gordon Russ, Volunteer, Washington State Library, Tumwater, WA

Bonanzas & Borrascas is a well written two-volume set on mining and mineral investing in the West. The first book is “Gold Lust and Silver Sharks, 1848-1884”, the second book is “Copper Kings and Stock Frenzies, 1885-1918”.  Mining is a very expensive operation requiring large amounts of cash with little or no certainly of making money or even getting your investment back.  To raise the cash mine owners sold stocks or shares offset expenses.  In its simplest form, you’re buying a share in the mine you were eligible to share in its profits.  To develop a mine thousands even millions of dollars were and still is required to place it into operation.  Even then there is a high risk the mine would never have any value.  All these factors played into the hands of disreputable people selling stocks and greedy people buying stocks.  Mr. Lingenfelter does an excellent job of weaving the story of these miners and stock manipulators together. Some are humors, some are heart rendering and most are fools having a good time.  He starts with the 49ers moving into California during the 1849 gold rush and the development of gold and silver mines throughout the west.  The second book is about the corporate movement into the mining business developing names like ASARCO, Kennecott, Phillips Dodge and others developing copper mines.

The Author presents an interesting tightly written story of the people and circumstances that developed the mining industry of the west. He is aided along the way with the audacity of mine owners, and stock brokers and willing buyers participating in any schemes or scams that looked to make unbelievable wealth.  In the world of big money and a few successful players the attraction of money and possible wealth is uncontrollable.  As one Idaho mine owner stated when ask how could he lose a newly made $100,000 so quickly.   He replied,

“A man with good sound judgment and reasonable-sized head does not lose it”, but “A man who begins to feel poor when he gets his first $50,000, a man who constantly and willfully…getting in over his head in the confusing water of speculation, who belittles the size of his pile as he associates with millionaires, joins their schemes, and buys their stock…he it is who loses a hundred thousand dollars”.

At first you start think the sharks are the miners and brokers feeding on the unassuming public then as the stories develop I began to feel the sharks are the public on a feeding frenzy of the tidbits of possibilities provide by the stock brokers.  These people are not ignorant of what they are doing, but guided by the greed of desire for wealth.  As one unscrupulous scoundrel said, “Never appeal to the intelligence of fools….., turn your batteries on the thinking ones and convince them…the unthinking ones will follow.”  This was the case time after time.  In some cases, the craze for mining stocks is so high that stock brokers just registered a mines name and printed stock certificates then sold them in hours without buyers questioning its backing.  The old adage “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me” the “me” people were in the great majority.

Much legislation was proposed and put into law trying to protect people from themselves not everyone was in agreement it should be done.  Future U.S. President Herbert Hoover, who was a mining engineer, said, “if a mine should fail…” it “is in and of itself not an economic loss.  It simply means …national wealth was transferred from one individual into another…”and “often invested to more reproductive purpose than if it had remained in the hands of the idiots who parted with it.”  In many ways, he is right.  Much wealth that built America in to the country it is today came from these mines and the people who owned or invested in their future wealth.  I would encourage you to give the books a try.  It is very entertaining on many levels from the humors stock broker “Corduroy Bill”  in Baker City, Oregon selling stock on a worthless mine to acquaintances in his home town of Des Moines, Iowa to the  fortunes made by the Guggenheim family and many others.

ISBN: 978-0870629501

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 338.2097 LINGENF 2012
Not available as an eBook, talking book, or Braille edition.

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

Many Pacific Northwesterners recall the Columbus Day Storm of October 12, 1962 with the same vivid memories as we remember the Mount St. Helens eruptions of May 1980.

For those who were witness to the storm, it remains a terrifying testament to the destructive force of nature.  The storm that began in the deep western Pacific as a typhoon named “Freda” was ignored at the time by many meteorologists and media forecasters, due to insufficient data and reporting, until reports of grim marine weather conditions rolled in the morning of the 12th.

The peak wind measurements remain untouched in this region.  Speeds reached 160 mph in Naselle by the evening and were equally high elsewhere on the coast and inland.  When it finally subsided the toll was staggering.  This force of natural power claimed 46 lives and left millions without power across the region, from Ukiah, CA to Victoria, B.C.

The State Library commemorates the 50th Anniversary of this somber event by encouraging readers to learn more about Pacific Northwest Weather History and Forecasting with a newly created list of selected resources in the collection.  The library also has numerous state and federal resources on disaster preparedness and emergency response available for public use.  Please feel free to use the Ask-A-Librarian service for more information.

Note: for more images of the devastation, check out images housed at the State Archives, featured on From Our Corner, the Office of the Secretary of State blog. 

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

Well, perhaps that title is a touch dramatic, but we are very pleased to share with you a very interesting item with importance to northwest cartographic history.  The mystery starts with a gentleman named Sir Francis Drake.  Perhaps you have heard of him.  If not, then you should know that Sir Francis was the second seafarer to circumnavigate the earth, from 1577 to 1580, second only to Ferdinand Magellan, and the first to return with his ship (Magellan was killed en route).

According to the historical record, Drake made port on the north pacific shoreline June 17 1579, north of the Spanish claimed Point Loma (now part of San Diego, CA) after an eventful trip around the horn of South America and raiding for gold on Spanish Ships in Lima.  Herein lies the mystery—how far north of San Diego did Drake travel and where did he and his crew touch ground?  Did he make port in Bolinas, in San Francisco, California? Nehalem Bay, Oregon? Or did he travel as far as Washington or even Alaska?!  The exact point where he stopped was kept secret for reasons of British national security.  They remain secret as all of Drake’s primary documents from his voyage likely burned up in the Whitehall Palace Fire of 1698.

So how does this all possibly connect to the map shown above? Well, this map, Carta particolare dello stretto di Iezo: fra l’America è l’Isola Iezo. D’America carte XXXIII,  is the first Mercator projection of the Northwest coastline and one of the first serious maps of the region.  It was produced in Florence, Italy by noted English explorer Sir Robert Dudley as part of his cartographic masterwork, Dell Arcano del Mare, this particular map is also notable for its depiction of shoreline features above a longitude of 39°N, Cape Mendocino, all the way to the 50^th parallel, the northern tip of Vancouver Island.  You might see some similarities to the modern coastline of Washington and Oregon, especially features that resemble the Columbia River and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Then again, you might not, but many others do, and some researchers suspect that Sir Dudley, who never actually visited the Pacific coastline, may have based his engravings off some insider knowledge.  Robert was the illegitimate son of another Sir Robert Dudley, First Earl of Leicester, and this Robert was a main financier of Francis Drake’s Famous Voyage.  So, did the son have access to Drake’s secreted charts through his family connection to the expedition?  Is the chart pure speculation above Mendocino?  It is a matter for debate, and historians both professional and amateur have been going toe-to-toe on the subject for centuries.

This map is available for use (by appointment) at the Special Collections Desk , M-F 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Interested in learning more about maps of Washington or theories surrounding Francis Drake?  Try out these titles available at the Washington State Library:

• The Cartography of the Northwest Coast of America to the Year 1800. 

  By Henry R. Wagner. (Mansfield Centre, CT: Martino Pub., 1937

  [Limited ed. facsimile of the original ed. produced in 1999]  OCLC / WSL

• Historical atlas of the Pacific Northwest: Maps of Exploration and Discovery: 

  British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Yukon. By Derek Hayes.

  (Seattle : Sasquatch Books, 1999. 208 pp.) OCLC / WSL

• The Golden Hind. By T. W. E. Roche.

  (New York: Praeger, 1973. 200 pp.) OCLC / WSL

• Francis Drake in Nehalem Bay in 1579: Setting the Historical Record Straight.

  By Garry David Gitzen. (Wheeler, Or.: Isnik Pub., 2008. 245 pp.) OCLC / WSL

Hutch: Baseball’s Fred Hutchinson and a Legacy of Courage. Written by Mike Shannon; Illustrated by Scott Hannig. (Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., 2011. 216 p.)

Recommendation by:
Sean Lanksbury, NW and Special Collections Librarian, Washington State Library

Mike Shannon and Illustrator Scott Hannig’s graphic novel biography of professional baseball player and manager Fred Hutchinson is a detailed graphic novel, complete with bibliography, index, and copious notes.  The duo trace Hutch’s entire life: his family history and childhood  in Seattle’s Brighton neighborhood, his up and downs in both major and minor league baseball (including two stints with the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League), enlistment in the United States Navy for the majority of World War II, return to a mostly winning career as baseball manager, and his battle with cancer that ultimately took his life in 1964.

To many readers, Hutch’s name is synonymous with the Cancer Research Center founded in 1975 by his brother, Seattle Surgeon Dr. William Hutchinson.  Thoroughly researched and cleanly illustrated, this quick read will delight sports fans and fill in the outline for those unfamiliar with one of the Pacific Northwest’s early professional sports heroes.

ISBN-13: 978 0786446254

Another book on Hutch, Fred Hutchinson and the 1964 Cincinnati Reds, by Doug Wilson was released in 2010 and is also recommended reading.

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 796.357 SHANNON 2011
Available as an eReader edition.
Not available as an talking book, or as a Braille edition.

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

Have you ever wanted to learn more about Pacific Northwest and Washington State History?  Perhaps you moved here later in life and hear faint murmurings of arduous emigration, political intrigue, land dispute, and subsequent prosperity, but know little of the stories or characters involved?  Maybe you vaguely remember those early Washington State History lessons you had in school and want to brush up on the details?

Whatever the reason might be, a fine way to start your reading selection is to consult The Washington 89, a standard bibliographic reference authored by Boeing executive and respected antiquarian George Tweney.  Mr. Tweney selected and annotated 89 essential Pacific Northwest Americana titles that were published before 1959, in honor of the 1989 Centennial of Washington Statehood.  In 2002, The Washington State Library set upon a project to unify all Washington 89 titles highlighted by Mr. Tweney into a curated collection that spans multiple library collection areas.  The result became the Washington State Library Tweney 89 Collection.

A first-class article describing the library’s Tweney 89 project appears in the Fall 2011 issue of The Journal of the Book Club of Washington.  Written by retired Special Collections Librarian Kathryn Hamilton-Wang, the article details the project from soup to nuts.  Starting with identifying what the collection already held, Ms. Hamilton-Wang describes the acquisitions process, the extensive cataloging description and record cleanup, the establishment of a unified author to establish the link to Tweney’s work.  She concludes with an analysis of the collection’s many facets and highlights representative selections throughout the story.

The Book Club of Washington was founded in 1982 and “is a non-profit organization of book lovers and collectors who have a special interest in collecting and preserving printed materials. Its mission is to further the interests of book collectors and scholars and to promote an understanding and appreciation of fine books.”

There are other fine bibliographic references for researcher of Western and Pacific Northwestern history.  A selected list of Indexes, Union Lists, Catalogues, and Bibliographies for Western Americana and Pacific Northwest Research, available at the Washington State Library is available to you for download here.

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

When you visit the local history museums, do you find yourself wishing you knew more about those mysterious chipped points under the glass? Perhaps you are a collector, but are not entirely sure where or who certain parts of your collection came from. If so, then the State Library has added a new reference that will pique your interest.

Stone Projectile Points Of The Pacific Northwest: An Arrowhead Collector’s Guide To Type Identification. By E. Scott Crawford (Carrollton, Tex.: Black Rock Publishing, ©2010. 130 p.)

This work is the lifelong achievement of the author, an expert collector who began his journey in 1962.  It identifies 62 different arrowhead, dart, and lance points, with full descriptions and illustrations to help you learn more about these historic indigenous hunting tools.  It covers the geographic regions now occupied by the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, with northern portions of California and Nevada, and western portions of Montana and Wyoming.

This book contains an introduction to identifying points and a glossary of terms.  It then proceeds to a discussion of the geographic features and the lithic (stone or rock) resources for each of the four Pacific Northwest regions named in the book.  The chronological and temporal location of the point types are wonderfully illustrated in the following section, and then an entire section is dedicated to describing the manufacture of projectile points. The index of projectile points are organized by general shape, then by primary characteristics.  This is an essential guide to both the hobbyist and the casual collector, and a fascinating read for those curious.

ISBN-10: 1453798471

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 979 CRAWFOR 2010
Available as an eReader edition.
Not available in Braille or Audiobook editions

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

49 years ago, Seattle’s Lower Queen Anne district was abuzz with excitement.  Many locals were curious to what the futurist wonder of the Century 21 World Exposition – still in construction – would hold for them when it opened.  Others were skeptical of the prospects for success and debated the costs involved.  Seattle now prepares for the 5oth Anniversary of the Fair, and it feels like a good time to give a brief overview of its history and impact on the city, and to highlight a few things that might assist researchers preparing histories of the event.

The World’s Fair began as the desire and vision of one man in particular, city council member Al Rochester (1895-1989).  As a young boy he attended Seattle’s Alaska-Yukon–Pacific Exposition (AYPE) held in 1909 on the nascent University of Washington campus.  Recalling the civic pride and recognizing vast commercial potential in such a grand event, Al wanted to commemorate its 50^th anniversary with another Seattle exposition.

Though Al’s idea was slow to excite the imagination of potential boosters, it eventually caught hold.  The Washington State Legislature was approached with the concept.  On November 20, 1955 the legislature resolved that a World’s Fair Commission would be created and given $5000.  Then the City Council submitted a bond proposal of $7,500,000 was issued to the people of Seattle. The voting majority approved it 187,053 yea to 63,752 nay.  The State of Washington matched that bond with an additional $7,500,000 bond, funded by an increase in Corporations fees.  The fees were adjusted by the legislature after realizing that they were significantly below all other western states and had been left unadjusted since statehood in 1889!

Construction began on a 74-acre plot at the base of Queen Anne Hill that prior to white settlement was known to natives as Baba’kwob, a prairie used for tribal gatherings.  In the 1860’s the land was homesteaded by early pioneers David Denny and Louisa Boren Denny, but retained the nickname common amongst white settlers: “Potlatch Meadows.”  This swale between Queen Anne and Denny Hill was the site of many pioneer social events such as circuses and tent revivalist meetings.  Denny Hill is no longer a part of the landscape, having been obliterated in the regrade of 1910.  The site was also significant as the location where a shaman named Chaoosh came to warn Denny, and the other whites of Seattle, of a coming attack by Natives outraged at the increasing arrogance of the government and settlers towards the tribes of the region.  This attack is remembered as the original “Battle of Seattle”.

At the time of construction, the land contained homes, schools and churches that were razed to the ground; all except the school playfield, the enormous National Guard Armory and a Civic Auditorium that was notorious for its terrible acoustics.  Soon the playfield became the site of the Exposition Stadium and International Fountain, the armory became the Food Circus – now known as the Center House – and the auditorium transformed into an acoustically improved Opera House – renovated again in 2003 and reopened as McCaw Hall.

The Commission hired Paul Thiry, a renowned Pacific Northwest architect who also designed the Pritchard Library Building, as the chief architect of the site.  He designed the new Washington State Coliseum, known currently as Key Center.  Seattle born architect Minoru Yamasaki designed the United States Science Pavilion (currently the Pacific Science Center).  UW Professor, Architect and chronicler of Pike Place Market life Victor Steinbrueck, UW engineering professor Al Miller, artist Earle Duff, designer John Ridley, and design partner Nate Wilkinson made hotelier and commission member Edward E. Carlson’s dream of a floating restaurant that highlighted the beautiful vistas of the state a reality.  The tallest building west of the Mississippi River when it was built, the Space Needle is a testament to high concept and daring made reality and since April 21, 1999, a national landmark.

The fair opened at 11 a.m. on April 21, 1962.  The planners knew that they would not be able to open on the 50^th anniversary of the A-Y-P, but to be fair, that 1909 event was supposed to commemorate the 10^th anniversary of the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush to the Yukon, so it was oddly appropriate.  Another interesting connection is that this new center in a way realized a portion of civil engineer Virgil Bogue’s 1909 vision of a bustling civic center (albeit one more political than cultural) on almost the exact same spot.*

The forward-looking campus greeted nearly 10 million visitors who were treated to a broad array of diversions:

• Northwest quarter was the International Mall, representing select countries from across the globe, the Washington State Coliseum and its famous Bubbleator, a hydraulic elevator whose orb shaped transport refracted light prismatically and featured “space-age” music and narration.  Parts of the Bubbleator are now serving as exhibit pieces at MOHAI and another part at one point was the greenhouse of a Burien man who helped to build it.  A bit south of the coliseum was a dedicated NASA exhibition showing progress in the still furious race to space with the Soviet Union, the beautiful International Fountain that is still enjoyed today and the Fine Arts Pavillion that exhibited eight fantastic exhibitions – regional and international in scope – of upcoming and renowned artists.
• To the South of the Pavilion and Fountain were the Space Needle and the Friendship Mall that contained exhibits on the co-existence of faith and science and showcases for American industrial giants such as Ford Motor Company, Bell Systems, International Business Machines (IBM), General Electric and Standard Oil.
• In the Northeast quarter, was the Opera House and Stadium, Food Circus, plus amusements and rides in the carnival-like section known as The Gayway.  In the furthest northeast corner, there was Show Street.  Show Street was an adult themed entertainment district with Vegas showgirls, an adult puppet show put on by Sid and Marty Kroft and a famously shut down show of galactic-themed nude female models.  Despite the raised eyebrows and concerns that these risqué attractions would corrupt all adult attendees, the Fine Art Pavilion drew far more people and interest.

The World’s Fair was a badly needed boost to a city struggling since the growth experienced during World War Two, but it changed the city in so many ways.  The Space Needle redefined Seattle’s skyline, and the monorail transit system that the fair added still shuttles people between Downtown and Queen Anne to this day.

It Happened at the World’s Fair also paired Seattle with the Elvis the “Pelvis from Memphis” Presley.  Financially, the fair ended in the black, unlike many other World’s Fairs.  It is also interesting to note that other World’s Fair sites have failed to stick as landmarks within their host city.   Its power as a gathering place undiminished for centuries and the site, known as the Seattle Center since 1962,  is well-loved amongst the city’s people and continues to be developed in new ways to a meet the social needs of Seattleites and visitors worldwide.  The native peoples of this region have also found contemporary use for the space.  Local tribes returned to the Seattle Center in 1966 and 1986 to hold two major 20th Century Powwows.

The State Library has quite a few items of interest to Century 21 historians and enthusiasts.  Among those:

• 13 boxes of  World Fair Commission’s records and correspondence (MS 178), and collected by Mr. Ray Olsen, State Representative and Chairman of the Historical Committee for the State World’s Fair Commission.  This manuscript collection spans the years 1957-1963 and includes correspondence, minutes, the Commission’s organization, photographs, reports and committee assignments.  There’s lots of other fun stuff in this collection like the official souvenir program, magazines and newspaper clippings that cover the fair from construction to closing, stickers, and flyers.  Lastly it has a recording of a musical panorama for symphony orchestra titled, “The World of Century Twenty First” music by Alexander Laszlo; words by Wesley La Violette; narrated by Vincent Price and pressed as a vinyl record.  Hey, how hip is that?  Let’s hear it for vinyl records!
• A map of Seattle showing off the newly designated exposition grounds that, naturally, highlights some local spending opportunities (RARE MAP-1 912.7977 KING 1962?)
• A flyer for the gala opening concert, April 21, 1962, honoring famed Russian composer Igor Stravinsky on his 80th year and featuring the guest of honor as one of the evening’s conductors  (State Documents; WA 606 C33ga)
• Washington State Federation of Music Clubs’ brochure on Washington State composers, with a salute to the Seattle World’s Fair–Century 21 Exposition (RARE 780.9797 WASHING 1963)

Not mention Seattle Center and Century 21 Exposition clippings and pamphlet files and the ever-fabulous Washington Newspapers and Journals collections that cover this critical era of Puget Sound history.  Feel free to contact our staff via “Ask-a-Librarian” and ask about what else at the Washington State Library might be helpful or interesting to you.

Did you attend the Seattle World’s Fair?  Care to reminisce about your experience?  Please share your comments, we love a good story!

*Come to think of it, Bogue and his audacious plan could use a separate blog post.  Perhaps a bit more on that later.

Washington State Library releases never-before-microfilmed newspapers from the Snoqualmie Valley!

Washington State Library microfilms Washington newspapers to preserve and provide access to Washington’s history.  Lent by Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum, the newspapers include issues from 1913 through 1925. These newspapers provide a fascinating look at life in Snoqualmie Valley communities almost 100 years ago.

To see what papers and what time periods are covered, visit http://www.sos.wa.gov/library/SnoqualmieValleyMicrofilm.aspx

More information about newspapers on microfilm at Washington State Library including how to purchase copies.

Information about Newspapers at Washington State Library.