Northwest History

  • New and Notable Northwest Nonfiction

      Would you like to “read local” this fall? From history to art to the great outdoors, there’s something for anyone interested in exploring the Pacific Northwest through 20 nonfiction books coming out this late summer and fall. History buffs. In Abandoned North Cascades, Debra Huron uncovers deserted buildings taken over by nature. Brad Holden… Continue reading

  • Explore Pacific Northwest History with Newly Digitized Photographs

    More than 500 new historic photographs from our Northwest Photograph Collection are now available through our digital collections. These photographs feature images of Washington, Oregon and Alaska spanning from the late 1800s to the 1970s and include shots from prominent local photographers such as Asahel Curtis, Webster & Stevens and Frank Jacobs. We’ve rounded up… Continue reading

  • Never Again: Japanese American WWII History and American Muslim Rights Today

    Seventy-five years ago, approximately 7,000 Seattleites were ordered by the U.S. military to leave their homes and sent to incarceration camps. Most ended up at desolate Minidoka in southern Idaho. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, signed on February 19, 1942, two months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, forcibly evacuated 120,000 Japanese Americans… Continue reading

  • Wonderful Old Guidebooks

    Who would take along a 1930s guidebook on a cross-country road trip across the United States? John Steinbeck, for one! Steinbeck makes reference to a set of depression-era guidebooks in his well-known travelogue Travels with Charley: In Search of America, which is about his 1960 road trip around the U.S. with his French standard poodle… Continue reading

  • Library Book Leads to “Antiques Roadshow” Moment!

    About 15 years ago I bought a motorcycle jacket from a local thrift shop. I was intrigued by its padded elbows and shoulders, which sported a marvelous scuffed-and-buffed patina. I figured the jacket had seen better days, but I never gave a second thought to its age—or value. Until recently, that is, when I chanced… Continue reading