presidents

  • Seattle’s Presidential Visits of the Past

    -posted by Jade D. In honor of Presidents’ Day, we took a look through our digital collections to find mentions of some of Seattle’s earliest presidential visits. We’ve highlighted the first five below – take a look! October 11, 1880 marked the date of the first president to visit Seattle with the arrival of Rutherford… Continue reading

  • Presidential Lives (and Deaths)

    -posted by Carl K. “Who is buried in Grant’s tomb?” was a question famously and frequently asked by Groucho Marx of contestants who would otherwise be leaving without a prize on You Bet Your Life, his witty 1950s game show. And it was a trick question. The answer to this question and the path to… Continue reading

  • Crime: Presidential Thrills

    As if this election season wasn’t thrilling enough, we’ve compiled a little list of Presidential Thrillers for your reading delight. Can fiction possibly be stranger than truth? Continue reading

  • A presidential playlist

    by Linda J. I celebrate Presidents’ Day with gusto ever since I heard Dina Martina sing “The Presidents’ Day Song” during one of her December holiday shows in Seattle. It seemed like an excellent idea for a party and a playlist, so a few years ago I brought cherry pies (to perpetuate the wrongheaded notion… Continue reading

  • Inaugural Buzz

    Transitions of power have always had the capacity to fascinate us, and today’s inauguration is no exception.  Washington D.C. is expecting an influx of 4 to 5 million people trying to get close to the action, and many more of us (including in the Central Library’s own Microsoft Auditorium) will be watching the ceremony on… Continue reading

  • A president in the family

    During this presidential election, I am reminded of our family’s dearly held connection to another president, in another time. Our family has always been proud to be able to claim a connection (although distant) to Franklin Pierce.  My mother and grandmother took our family history very seriously. Stories and White House artifacts we own were… Continue reading

  • His time has (finally) come?

    There’s something in the air this President’s Day. Call it Millard Fillmania. You’ve probably all seen the recent car commercial offering a soap-on-a-rope effigy of the forgotten statesman touted to be the first to take a bath in the White House. (This oft-repeated “fact” was actually a sly hoax perpetrated by H.L. Mencken, by the way). Then there’s John Blumenthal’s… Continue reading