From the desk of Judy Pitchford

Digital Collections has added 3 more titles to our Classics in Washington History.

Under Native Americans –

Indian myths of the Northwest by William Lyman.

This book attempts to cite original sources for Indian Myths. It also identifies the scholars and investigators of the myths that Mr. Lyman felt were reliable.

Under Natural History –

Some hydroids from Puget Sound by Gary Calkins

A paper from the Proceedings of the Boston society of natural history that examines approximately 30 species of hydroids found in Puget Sound around Port Townsend and Bremerton.

Under Exploration and Early travel / Pioneer Life –

Two studies in the history of the Pacific Northwest by Edmond Meany

A reprint originally published in the Annual report of the American Historical Association of 1909 containing :

1. The towns of the Pacific Northwest were not founded on the fur trade — 2. Morton Matthew McCarver, frontier city builder

Classics in Washington History is a digital collection of full-text books, bringing together rare, out of print titles for easy access by students, teachers, genealogists and historians. Visit Washington’s early years through the lives of the men and women who lived and worked in Washington Territory and State. All items are available in DjVu (Plugin required) and Pdf formats.

As National Poetry Month draws to a close, we stumbled upon a quaint obituary poem in our Digital Collections. Annals of old Angeline : “Mika Yahoos delate klosch!,” was written by Bertha Piper Venen in 1903 to honor a beloved icon of early Seattle.

Princess Angeline, originally named Kikisoblu, was the eldest daughter of Chief Seattle.  She was also one of the few natives who stayed in Seattle after most relocated to the Port Madison Reservation in the mid-1800s.  Angeline worked as a laundress and basket weaver, and she was a dear friend to many early pioneers, including Henry Yesler and Doc and Catherine Maynard.

Venen’s poem recounts Angeline’s days living on the Seattle waterfront, peddling her wares to passers-by. The rambling narrative contains anecdotes about several of her prominent friends, and describes her grand, well-attended funeral. The poem itself might be a bit sentimental and simplistic for modern sensibilities, but be sure to flip through the pages to view some stellar photographs of  Seattle and its mid-19th century inhabitants.

If you’d like to see more evidence of Angeline’s celebrity (she was photographed by many of the city’s prominent photographers), take a look at the University of Washington’s Princess Angeline Photograph and Postcard Collection.

A brief, factual biography of Angeline and Chief Seattle can also be found here in our Digital Collections.

Sketch of the mission

The Whitman Massacre of November 29, 1847 provides a painful window into a time of conflicting cultures, priorities and prejudices. Piecing together what happened from contemporary accounts can be both frustrating and fascinating. Were the Cayuse Indians misguided, evil, deceived, or somewhere in between all of those? Were the missionaries heroic martyrs or discouraged idealists? Did sectarian prejudice between Catholic and Protestant exacerbate a volatile situation?

You can explore a variety of theories, personalities and testimony surrounding this horrific event in the Library’s Digital Collections. There will be three posts on this subject to cover the variety of resources available on this event.

For an overview of the mission and its history, try Miles Cannon’s  Waiilatpu, its rise and fall, 1836-1847 . Cannon interviews many of the survivors and puts together a narrative of the whole of the Whitmans’ time in Oregon. The book is online in the Classics in Washington History under the heading of “Pioneer Life,” and is an excellent introduction to the principal individuals, organizations and series of events.

See also: The Whitman Tragedy – Part 2 | Part 3