We remain very proud of what we accomplished with our blog, which the Communications folks at WSDOT say was the first government blog for the State of Washington!  Our efforts were also profiled in a number of library publications and training seminars, including 5 Weeks to a Social Library.  In the three years since we started our “little blog that could”, the technology and culture surrounding government blogging has changed tremendously, and we like to think we maybe had a little something to do with that. 

Our staff will make “guest appearances” on the other Washington State Library blogs currently available, and as always we are available for your questions about Washington State history, government, culture, and genealogy at askalibrarian@secstate.wa.gov.

Thanks for your readership over the years.  It’s been a heck of a ride.

1) 1912: Miss Beatrice Kearney hosted her own St. Patrick’s Day affair for several of her young friends. She apparently did a wonderful job, since the party was reported in the Olympia Record. Pretty impressive considering that, according to census records, Miss Beatrice would have been about 9 years old at the time.

2) 1909: It may have been meant as a joke, but Senator Hans H. Fatland of Pierce County nevertheless went along with a resolution in his name declaring St. Patrick’s Day a legal holiday. His good humor is notable since he was Norwegian by birth.

3) 1922: Accused liquor seller, and possible “jointist,” Pat Kelly suggested to the court that he should get a more lenient sentence since he had spent his St. Patrick’s Day in jail and was unable to celebrate as befitted his Irish heritage. The court was seemingly not impressed with this argument, fining him $250 and sentencing him to 60 more days of jail.

In case you’re wondering, a “jointist” was a term used during Prohibition to describe a keeper of an illegal drinking saloon, or “joint.”

Sam Green is a native of Washington and currently resides on Waldron Island. He has authored numerous poetry collections, has been a visiting poet and instructor for several Washington and northwest universities and colleges, and has been the editor of Brooding Heron Press for the past 30 years. Mr. Green’s poetry collection The Grace of Necessity won the 2008 Washington State Book Award in Poetry.

Please join us for this celebration of poetry in the main reading room on the second floor of the library. Doors open at 6:00 pm, and seating is limited and available on a first come basis.

For more information about this upcoming program, please contact Library Events at (360) 704-5269 or wslevents@secstate.wa.gov

For starters, we have an outstanding collection of Washington historical and current newspapers on microfilm and online, including several African-American newspapers. You can see a list of the African-American newspapers here, as well as other titles that may help you learn more about African-American family history.  [ed. note: see also Laura's comment on our previous post.]

And keep in mind you can always search our catalog to check for resources on African-American genealogy or anything else related to Washington family history, local and state government questions.

Beyond our walls, there are some really great free online resources about African-Americans in the Pacific Northwest. Here are some websites that we find especially interesting:

Through Open Eyes: 95 Years of Roslyn’s Black Mining History by the Ellensburg Public Library
The page includes a history of the Roslyn community and its mining industry, a pictorial database, and historical newspaper excerpts that describe mining accidents.

National Parks Service: African Americans at Fort Vancouver
 The page has links to articles such as “African-Americans and the Hudson Bay Company” and “Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Vancouver.”

BlackPast: An Online reference guide to African American history by Quintard Taylor (Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Professor of American History, University of Washington Seattle)
From Quintard Taylor’s introduction to the website: “This 3,000 page site is dedicated to providing reference materials to the general public on African American history in the United States and on the history of people of African ancestry around the world.” Of particular interest is the “African-Americans in the West” page.

African American Coal Miner Information Center by Tim Pinnick
The page includes a database of African-American miners, lists of coal mining camps and towns by state, and lists of suggested reading for further research.

Questions?  Comments?  Suggestions?  Let us know!

Letters About Literature
Competition Level (indicate level 1, 2, or 3)
PO Box 609
Dallas, PA 18612

Participation Guidelines and additional information about this contest can be found on the Washington State Library’s website.  Last year, Washington student McKenzie Dent won one of the national prizes - let’s see if Washington can do it again!

Questions about this program?  Contact Shirley at letters@secstate.wa.gov.

Doors will open at 6:00 PM and the event will take place in the 2nd floor reading room. Seating is limited and is on a first-come basis. For more information about this or any event at the state library, please contact WSL Events at 360-704-5269 or wslevents@secstate.wa.gov.

Especially of interest?  One article highlighted the use of brand new voting machines in New York, noting that “the [election] result will be known almost as soon as the polls close.” 

And we were fascinated by “Walla Walla Bets Heavily on Election,” which claims that $35,000 in bets had been placed mostly on the outcomes of the various state and local Walla Walla elections.  That’s over $798,000 in today’s money according one inflation calculator!  Of course, a Taft victory was so expected that betting odds had to be raised 3-1 before there were any takers in the crowd for the presidential election.  Taft went on to win in a landslide victory for the Republicans, winning Washington State with 105,000 votes to Bryan’s 58,000.

Read highlights from the Walla Walla Evening Bulletin here.  (Note: part of the microfilm is difficult to read, especially on the right side)

Further reading:

United States Presidential Election, 1908.  Wikipedia

William Howard Taft and Republicans win general elections in Washington on November 3, 1908.  Historylink Essay 5578.  (See also Historylink essays on the visits of President Taft and William Jennings Bryan to the Alaska Yukon Exposition in 1909)

The Gear and Lever Voting Machine from Vote: the Machinery of Democracy, an online exhibit from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Historical Presidential Betting Markets by Paul W. Rhode and Koleman S. Strumpf. October 2008. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper #14377.

Fans Demanding Scalp of Seattle Manager

Hm, the wording doesn’t sound too far off from some disgruntled bloggers we know.  In 2008, the hometown Mariners went 61-101, becoming the first team to lose over 100 games despite a $100+ million dollar payroll.  It’s easy to imagine a particularly bitter writer taking out his frustrations in this way.

But this headline doesn’t come from a modern day blog or newspaper.  Any guesses before we proceed?

The headline “Fans Demanding Scalp of Seattle Manager” appeared in the May 25, 1919 Seattle Post-Intelligencer.  The previous year, Daniel Dugdale’s 1918 Seattle team won the Northwestern League pennant.  But the lean times following World War I saw the Pacific Coast League look to expand, and Seattle rejoined the PCL in 1919 after a thirteen year hiatus with a new team and new management.  The season did not begin well.  The stories that appeared in the P-I on May 25 give a small indication of how matters stood:

One left Washington Park today under the impression that a hostile aviator had dropped a large bomb loaded with mixed high explosives and spaghetti in the center of the diamond, but it went down in the records as a ball game.

Suffering its fifth fearful slaughter of the week, Seattle went from bad to worse, losing 11-1, and it was the general concensus of opinion that the Angels could have won with their hands in their pockets.

Only a superhuman team could assimilate as much punishment as has been the portion dealt out to Seattle this week.

Yikes.  Read the rest of the story here.  Seattle finished the 1919 baseball season with a record of 62-108, with just 1 more win and 7 additional losses compared to the 2008 Mariners.  The good news? Seattle finished second in Pacific Coast League play the following season.  Bad news? It would take them another five years to regain the pennant.

Further reading:

Dugdale, Daniel E. (1864-1934), Baseball Pioneer.  Historylink Essay 3431 (see also additional Historylink essays on Torchy Terrance, and the Seattle Indians, the Seattle Giants, and Seattle Rainiers baseball teams)

“Runs, Hits, and an Era: The Pacific Coast League, 1903-1958″ by Paul J. Zingg and Mark D. Medeiros, 1994