#western libraries

Women’s Recreation Association photographs. Hiking around Mt. Shuksan and Mt. Baker. Undated photographs from Western Washington University Archives.

 "State of Washington" a 175 foot, stern wheeler steamboat, sister ship to the “Fairhaven” which was destroyed by fire in 1918. Both ships were built in Tacoma in 1889.The State of Washington operated for a number of years between Seattle and Bellingham Bay, and then between Seattle and Everett. She was sold in 1913 to the Dalles-Columbia line for passenger and freight service on the Columbia. Eventually she was sold to become a towing vessel and on June 23, 1919, while towing Standard Oil Barge 93 from Astoria to Portland, she was completely demolished by a boiler explosion. South Hill is in the background behind the ship and Fairhaven and Southern Railroad cars are visible on the shore. Heavy wooden planks appear in the foreground. Galen Biery papers and photographs #2199 - Center for Pacific Northwest Studies

Second photo: Bellingham Bay as it appeared in 1889 looking east toward the town of Sehome. Percival R. Jeffcott photograph #180 - Center for Pacific Northwest Studies

The Old Sea Gull Coffee House. This coffee house is listed in the 1910 Polk’s Directory as 211 1/2 East Holly Street. It was located in the basement on the alley side of the Sunset Block on the northwest corner of Holly and Elk (now State) Streets. Next door to the coffee house is the W.D. McKenney Women’s Apparel and Furnishings store. The building also was home to the Commercial Hotel and other businesses.

Top two photos are from the Howard E. Buswell papers and photographs collection #1088.2 (middle photo is cropped and magnified from same)

Bottom photograph is from Galen Biery papers and photographs #3276.

Congratulations to all the graduates! Here are some photographs from the past. Enjoy your graduation and enjoy your reunions.

Western Washington University (then Washington State Normal School at Bellingham) campus looking south down 21st Street. This was know as Waldo Field. Just a reminder that winter isn’t over until it’s over!

Upper photograph: Taylor Street Dock, circa 1888. Now a favorite location for a stroll, a jog or a spot to watch the sunset. Howard E. Buswell papers and photographs collection #536.

In the late nineteenth century, Westerners developed a fascination with Japanese art, literature, history, and culture. Cultural exchange ran both ways, however, and in Japan, Western art exerted a strong influence on age-old traditions, resulting in a hybrid style that has a special appeal of its own.

Special Collections recently acquired three books that speak to the cultural mingling of that time period. They are part of the Japanese Fairy Tale Series issued by Tokyo publisher Hasegawa Takejirō, who began publishing books on Japanese subjects for Western audiences in 1885. Translated by foreign residents in Japan into all the major European languages, the series was still in print in the 1930s. Travelers would have purchased the stories as souvenirs or shipped them overseas as gifts; once their popularity had caught on, they were also exported for sale in the West.