From the desk of Mary Paynton Schaff

Read Volume 1 here

From 1943 until 1951, the matter of designating an official Washington state bird languished.  Legislators seemed reluctant to bring the matter to a vote and interested outside groups appear to have lost hope in forcing their lawmakers to act.  Finally in 1951, another wave of interest in making the willow goldfinch official broke ashore, courtesy of a group of determined women from the Washington State Federation of Garden Clubs.

Enter Emma Otis, whose obituary caught the attention of our staff last October.  After Emma’s death, her granddaughter, Nancy Pugh, kindly shared with us some of Emma’s handwritten notes about her efforts to make the willow goldfinch Washington’s official state bird. Following some general observations about the goldfinch, its behavior and birdy character (“Responsibility seems to rest lightly upon the shoulders of the goldfinch”), Emma provided some context for these remarks:

This is the original script I used at a meeting of Capital District of Garden Clubs, when I was Bird Chairman for the District (Pierce & Thurston Counties). Concluded by saying that I hoped someday that this bird would be officially adopted as the State bird. The President asked if I would like to make a motion to that effect, which I did. Went something like this, “I move that the Capital District of Garden Clubs of WA go on record as favoring the adoption of the Willow Goldfinch as the official bird of the State of Washington and that it be presented to the State Federation of Garden Clubs for approval and an attempt be made to present it at the forthcoming meeting of the Legislature.”

The historical record is rather quiet on just when and how this was accomplished.  It is probable that Emma’s speech took place prior to the beginning of the 1951 Legislative Session, which convened January 8, 1951.  We consulted our collection of Olympia Garden Club manuscript materials, and unfortunately evidence to support Emma’s story was missing from the Olympia club’s 1950/1951 meeting minutes – probably because she spoke at a district meeting and not an Olympia club meeting.  The minutes do indicate there was some sort of state bird billboard campaign (no specifics provided) and it’s quite likely that the Federation of Garden Clubs encouraged its members to write letters petitioning their legislators.  Schoolchildren may again have been involved; a March 1963 Seattle Times article indicates that their vote in 1951 determined the fate of the state bird.  Again, evidence is not forthcoming regarding this claim.

The only other clear documentation of the leadership provided by the Federation of Garden Clubs on the matter of the state bird was a blurb that appeared in the March 1951 Olympia Garden Club newsletter, The Garden Gate.  Blanche Andreus and Gwen Hofer are specifically mentioned for their hard work in getting the “Bird Bill” passed.  As one might now expect, additional research into the background of these ladies and the work they did on behalf of the willow goldfinch was also unfruitful.

However they accomplished it, the women of the Washington State Federation of Garden Clubs put enough pressure on the Legislature that lawmakers were finally ready to act once they convened in 1951.  Senate Bill 318 was introduced by Senator Carlton Sears of Thurston County on February 15, 1951.  The stage was now set to get the willow goldfinch on the books as the official state bird.

Stay tuned for Volume 3 to see just how the Legislature responded to their call to action.

From the desk of Mary Paynton Schaff

Every school child knows that the willow goldfinch is the official State Bird of Washington.  But less well known is the fact that the willow goldfinch had a long and controversial road to approval – 23 years of bickering and grandstanding, all of which culminated in a dramatic and highly amusing floor debate in the state’s House of Representatives.

But first, let’s go back to 1928 when Washington’s school children were given the task of selecting a state bird.  According to this website, the children selected the western meadowlark, a lovely bird with a problem.  The meadowlark was already state bird of Nebraska, Wyoming, and Oregon (selected in 1927 also by a poll of Oregon school children and made official with their governor’s proclamation).  It would go on to become the state bird of Montana, Kansas, and North Dakota as well, making it the second most popular state bird in the United States.  Clearly, school children across the country were partial to the meadowlark, but Washington needed a bird that was more unique.

In 1931, the Washington Federation of Women’s Clubs took up the issue, polling their membership over which bird should have the honor.  The ladies returned a different result: the willow goldfinch.  But rather than deciding the question, popular opinion had it that Washington now had two unofficial state birds.

And no one seemed in a hurry to decide the matter.  A full 12 years passed before the Senate passed Senate Bill 134 making the willow goldfinch the official state bird and the rhododendron the official state flower. The February 9, 1943 Seattle Times then described a prophetic exchange between Senator Barney Jackson of Pierce County and Senator Paul G. Thomas of King County during the floor debate regarding the state bird:

Jackson: What is the difference between a goldfinch and a mugwump?

Thomas: A goldfinch is a bird, but a mugwump is something that just sits on a fence with his mug on one side and his wump on the other.

But despite the senators’ self-aware debate of the goldfinch, the House of Representatives never took action on SB 134, and the official authorization languished in committee no man’s land.  Washington was now going on 15 years with no official state bird.  Just how long could the Legislature ignore the unofficial dual bird situation?  Tune in for our next installment to find out.