Showing 1 - 20 of 378 results

"Good Things Grow From Horse Manure": a Speech to the Seattle Rotary Club by Sam Mitsui

Sam Mitsui gave this speech to the Rotary Club of Seattle at the 5th Avenue Theatre on November 9, 2005. Mitsui is a member of the Nisei Veterans Committee of Seattle, Washington. His speech begins, "My name is Sam Mitsui and I am a Nisei, a second generation Japanese American, and my parents were called Issei, the first generation of immigrants from Japan."
File 7552: Full Text >

"Waiting For the Big One" by Walt Crowley

A condensed edition of this essay was published in The Seattle Times Sunday Opinion Section on October 30, 2005. This version offers a fuller tour of Washington’s “tectonic” political shifts and elections.
File 7537: Full Text >

25 Years Later: Veteran Idealist Frank Ruano Speaks Out about the Kingdome

Before Frank Ruano (1920-2005) came to Seattle and became one of the city's most outspoken citizens, particularly with regard to the Kingdome, he lived in New York and worked for American Express. When asked if he would relocate to another U.S. city, he consulted his girlfriend Sophie first. She didn't want to live in a cold place. Frank eventually agreed to Seattle, despite its rainy reputation. Frank and Sophie departed together after she agreed to marry him (after a little bit of arbitration) on Labor Day, 1949. "I didn't know a single soul," Frank recalls. Some Seattle and King County politicians no doubt wished he'd stayed in New York.
File 2184: Full Text >

7424 East Greenlake Way: A Seattle Reminiscence

This reminiscence of a beloved childhood house in Seattle's Green Lake neighborhood of the 1920s was written by Dorothea Nordstrand (b. 1916), who has lived in the vicinity for much of her life. In 2009 Dorothea Nordstrand was awarded AKCHO's (Association of King County Historical Organizations) Willard Jue Memorial Award for a Volunteer, in part for contributing these vivid reminiscences to HistoryLink.org's People's History library.
File 7329: Full Text >

A Brief History of Primary Election Rules in Washington State

The method of nominating partisan candidates for public office and the structure of the primary in Washington state have been subjects of controversy and legislation throughout the past 100 years. The current dispute about the blanket primary is related to these past changes in the nominating process. Secretary of State Sam Reed and his staff wrote this history of primary election rules, which is reprinted from the Washington Secretary of State Website.
File 5738: Full Text >

A Coal Miner's Story -- Mike Babcanik's Week Trapped Underground (1914)

This is an account of a coal mine accident that occurred on February 16, 1914, in the Cannon coal mine, near Franklin, about two miles southeast of Black Diamond, located in east King County. Coal miner Andrew Chernick died in the accident. His partner, Mike Babcanik (1876-1942), was believed dead but survived for seven days trapped underground. The account was written by Frank Hammock, a Maple Valley journalist; researched by JoAnne Matsumura from her private collection and from the archives of the Black Diamond Historical Society; and compiled by Bill Kombol, Manager of Palmer Coking Coal Co. This piece first appeared in Life on the Cedar magazine, Vol. 2, No. 5 (July 2008) and is here reprinted with kind permission.
File 8698: Full Text >

A History of the Seattle Mayor's Desk

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels shares an undated "history" of his official desk, which dates back to 1928. The anonymous typescript was found in the desk by Mayor Nickels and is an artifact in its own right.
File 3959: Full Text >

A Letter Written from a 1900 Railroad Trip from Spokane to Athena, Oregon

This people's history, contributed by Richard Hall, consists of an eight-page letter written by his great grandmother, Annie Hall (1869-1921) in late November 1900. She boarded a Spokane-bound Northern Pacific train in Edwall, Lincoln County, and recorded her trip in a letter addressed to "My Dear Joe and Children." Joe is Joseph Banyon Hall (1857-1947), her husband. In Spokane, Annie changed to a Union Pacific train that took her to Athena, Oregon. The writing commenced at Tekoa and the letter was mailed, on December 2, 1900, several days after her arrival in Athena. Following the letter is a brief history of the Hall family by Richard Hall.
File 5445: Full Text >

A Librarian's Lamentation (Green Lake Branch, The Seattle Public Library, June 30, 1928)

This is a quarterly branch report written by Green Lake Branch librarian Ruth A. Dennis. In the report reprinted here, Dennis explains that the circulation numbers at her branch are down, particularly the juvenile numbers, and attributes this situation to the recent opening of the Greenwood-Phinney Branch. Dennis begins her report with a quote from the biblical book Lamentations, a collection of songs lamenting the fall of the city of Jerusalem, and continues in suit.
File 8943: Full Text >

A Matter of Pride: A Seattle Reminiscence About Hard Times by Dorothea Nordstrand

Dorothea (Pfister) Nordstrand (b. 1916) wrote this reminiscence about a mother's courage and industrious good cheer during hard times. The mother was Mary Annie (Gierhofer) Pfister (1888-1962). In 2009 Dorothea Nordstrand was awarded AKCHO's (Association of King County Historical Organizations) Willard Jue Memorial Award for a Volunteer, in part for contributing these vivid reminiscences to HistoryLink.org's People's History library.
File 7805: Full Text >

A Proud Day by Vern Nordstrand

This is the story of a proud day in the life of Boeing mechanic (later Superintendent of Tooling) Vern Nordstrand (1918-2009). Nordstrand lived in the Green Lake neighborhood of Seattle with his wife, Dorothea Nordstrand.
File 8027: Full Text >

A Remembrance of Patsy Collins by her brother Stimson Bullitt

Stimson Bullitt (1919-2009) gave this remembrance of his sister Priscilla "Patsy" (Bullitt) Collins (1920-2003) at her Memorial Service at Seattle's Town Hall on July 8, 2003.
File 4218: Full Text >

A Seattle City Light employee describes the early days.

This file contains an undated, unsigned letter describing what it was like working at Seattle City Light in the early years, around 1910. The letter is held in the Seattle Municipal Archives. It describes a time when employees took a personal interest in developing the publicly owned City Light, much as if it was their own business.
File 2885: Full Text >

A second-hand account of one family's triumph over poverty, war, and the Great Depression by Gary Graupner

Gary Graupner grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, but tales of the hardships that his close family endured as they struggled with poverty, disease, war, and the Great Depression were passed down to him in vivid detail. This People's History begins with the arrival of his paternal grandfather in Newport, Pend Oreille County, at the start of the twentieth century. From there it traces one family's story as it faced the daunting challenges of its time, including the 1918 flu pandemic, World War II, and the Great Depression. It is above all a story of persistence, generosity, and success, both in war and in life: Gary Graupner's grandfather builds a business as a butcher and grocer and during the Depression helps to feed needy friends, neighbors, and even strangers; his father, Roy, learns the value of hard work at an early age, serves in the Pacific during World War II, and comes home to raise a family; two generations of Graupners persevere through challenges that later generations have not faced, at least not yet. This reminiscence is filled with charming anecdotes of daily life in an earlier age, and reflects on what we as a nation have learned, or perhaps failed to learn, from the lessons of the past.This is reprinted with kind permission from Nostalgia Magazine, Vol. 11, No. 4 (April 2009).
File 9060: Full Text >

A Story of Pioneering by Nicholas V. Sheffer (1825-1910), Part 1: Oregon Trail

In 1909, Nicholas Sheffer (1825-1910) was Whatcom County’s oldest pioneer. He prepared his reminiscences for The Lynden Tribune, which ran them in three parts in August of that year as “A Story of Pioneering: Being a Personal Narrative of Early Days in Northwest Washington, told to the Tribune by N. V. Sheffer, of 1854.” HistoryLink.org was made aware of this account by Whatcom County family historian Susan Nahas who connected Sheffer’s information with the HistoryLink.org story of Julia Benson Intermela (1855-1907), the half-Duwamish daughter of Seattle pioneer Henry Yesler (1810-1892). In Part 1 Sheffer treks from Indiana to California to Puget Sound.
File 7975: Full Text >

A Story of Pioneering by Nicholas V. Sheffer (1825-1910), Part 2: Indian Wars

In 1909, Nicholas Sheffer (1825-1910) was Whatcom County’s oldest pioneer. He prepared his reminiscences for The Lynden Tribune, which ran them in three parts in August of that year as “A Story of Pioneering: Being a Personal Narrative of Early Days in Northwest Washington, told to the Tribune by N. V. Sheffer, of 1854.” HistoryLink.org was made aware of this account by Whatcom County family historian Susan Nahas who connected Sheffer’s information with the HistoryLink.org story of Julia Benson Intermelia (1855-1907), the half-Duwamish daughter of Seattle pioneer Henry Yesler (1810-1892). In Part 2 Sheffer serves in the Territorial militia and meets a number of Seattle pioneers.
File 7976: Full Text >

A Story of Pioneering by Nicholas V. Sheffer (1825-1910), Part 3: Gold Rush

In 1909, Nicholas Sheffer (1825-1910) was Whatcom County’s oldest pioneer. He prepared his reminiscences for The Lynden Tribune, which ran them in three parts in August of that year as "A Story of Pioneering: Being a Personal Narrative of Early Days in Northwest Washington, told to the Tribune by N. V. Sheffer, of 1854." HistoryLink.org was made aware of this account by Whatcom County family historian Susan Nahas, who connected Sheffer’s information with the HistoryLink.org story of Julia Benson Intermela (1855-1907) the half-Duwamish daughter of Seattle pioneer Henry Yesler (1810-1892). In Part 3, Sheffer settles his family in Whatcom County near Lynden, but is quickly drawn to look for gold in Canada.
File 7977: Full Text >

A Story of Pioneering by Nicholas V. Sheffer (1825-1910), Part 4: Settlement

In 1909, Nicholas Sheffer (1825-1910) was Whatcom County’s oldest pioneer. He prepared his reminiscences for The Lynden Tribune, which ran them in three parts in August of that year as “A Story of Pioneering: Being a Personal Narrative of Early Days in Northwest Washington, told to the Tribune by N. V. Sheffer, of 1854.” HistoryLink.org was made aware of this account by Whatcom County family historian Susan Nahas, who connected Sheffer’s information with the HistoryLink.org story of Julia Benson Intermela (1855-1907), the half-Duwamish daughter of Seattle pioneer Henry Yesler (1810-1892). In Part 4, Sheffer works his trade as carpenter all over the Puget Sound region and Washington Territory.
File 7978: Full Text >

A Trip to Point Roberts, Summer 1909

This essay presents a description of a trip to Point Roberts (Whatcom County) on a summer day near the end of the first decade of the twentieth century. Point Roberts is a five-square-mile peninsula that is part of the United States, but that is not connected by land to the mainland of the United States. It extends from British Columbia, Canada, into the Pacific Ocean. Written by an unknown author, the article is reprinted from "Northwest Corner of the U.S.," The Blaine Journal, Homeseeker's Edition, April 1909, p. 8.
File 9124: Full Text >

Agnes Johnson Remembers Three Years At Firland Sanatorium

Agnes "Aggie" Guttormsen Johnson (b. 1928), is an Everett native. After graduating from Providence Everett School of Nursing in 1949 Agnes was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis and admitted to Firland Sanatorium in Seattle. She remained a patient at Firland for three years. On June 24, 2007, Aggie Johnson met with HistoryLink.org Deputy Director David Wilma and staff historian Paula Becker at Cedars Bay restaurant at Tulalip Casino, Marysville, Washington (Snohomish County) to recount her experiences at Firland.
File 8204: Full Text >

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