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.

Thomas Taylor, 1862

From the Desks of the Central Library Staff

Although no oath of office record exists today, Taylor was apparently Librarian in 1862. The March 29, 1862 issue of the Washington Standard includes this Library Notice: “All persons having books belonging to the Territorial Library will please return at once, or the by-laws will be put in force. Thos. Taylor, Ter. Librarian.” He quite probably was the same aged Thomas Taylor who was born Oct. 17, 1793 (some sources say 1791) in Frederick County, Va. and came out to Oregon in the early 1850s from Morgan County, Illinois. In 1861 he served as a member of the House in the 9th Session. For a while he lived in the Grand Mound area and then in Elma. He was a long-time and active preacher, remaining in amazingly good health during his senior years. Taylor died in Elma, Wash., May 14, 1886.

John Paul Judson, 1864

John Paul Judson

Born May 6, 1840 in Cologne, Prussia, J.P. Judson’s family came to Illinois in 1845. In Oct. 1853 they made their way to Pierce County. According to Bancroft, “He earned the money in mining on the Fraser River with which he paid for two years’ schooling in Vancouver.” The young Judson was appointed Territorial Librarian while still a law student and literally lived in the Library “to have more ready access to the law books then at his command,” so wrote John Miller Murphy. He also worked as Chief Clerk in the House in 1864. For a brief time he was a school teacher until he earned his law degree in 1867 and went into private practice.

After living in Port Townsend, he returned to Olympia in order to assume the office of Territorial Superintendent of Public Instruction, a post he held from 1873 to 1880. His legacy was overhauling Washington’s educational system. As Dryden explains:

The School Law of 1877 was an important milestone because it marked the end of the pioneer period in education. Responsibility for it can be attributed to John P. Judson, Washington Territory’s … superintendent of public instruction. This law created a Territorial Board of Education with specified duties, and it also provided for county boards of education. One section dealt with certification of teachers, qualifications, and examinations.

Writer Angie Burt Bowden echoes, “His term was one of the most important in territorial history, because of its length– he served six years– because of the growth in professional spirit and usefulness through the county and territorial institutes; and because of the initiation of the Board of Education.” In 1876 he was the Democratic candidate for Territorial Delegate to Congress and lost by a mere 73 votes. In 1877 he also held the office of Olympia Mayor. After his Superintendent term was completed, Judson moved to Tacoma and became a Regent for the University of Washington. His final years were spent in Spokane and then Colville, where he died in April, 1910.

[The Territorial Librarian profiles were compiled by Sean Lanksbury, Mary Schaff, Kim Smeenk, and Steve Willis]

Lyla Brekke awards Anna Nash with Employee of the Year 2010

The youngest and most energetic member of ILS was awarded with Employee of the year for 2010.  Anna has grown up in the library with a family that loves libraries and books.  Anna continues to look towards her future with her entrance to library school at the University of Washington this fall.  In the last year Anna spear-headed the ILS Library Snapshot Day (the first in Washington), inspiring her coworkers to join her in her advocacy of libraries.  She has brought a breath of fresh air to her co-workers, giving them a chance to see new perspectives on a job they all love.

What: Ref22: “Using Screencasts in Virtual Reference”
When: Tuesday, October 13th, 8:30 – 9:30 am PST
Where: Wimba WA_TrainingRoom1

Tuesday, October 13th, we will host our very first webinar in what will be a monthly series called Ref22 (it’s “22” because it’s the 2nd Tuesday of every month). Ref22 is meant for reference and virtual reference librarians in particular, and will cover a variety of interesting and practical topics.

This month we are happy to feature Lauren Ray, Educational Outreach Services Librarian at the University of Washington Libraries, who will present on “Using Screencasts in Virtual Reference”.

The webinar will begin at 8:30am, and will last approximately one hour (including time for questions). It will take place via Wimba, and an archived version will be available if you can’t make the live session.

Instructions for Wimba are here: http://www.secstate.wa.gov/library/libraries/training/wimba.aspx.

If you have speakers or topics you’d like covered in future sessions, please get in touch. In the meantime, hope to see you there!