Research the archive
Narrow 27,002 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine1 on
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1872 | 6 |
| 1876 | 46 |
| 1877 | 28 |
| 1878 | 13 |
| 1879 | 3 |
| 1880 | 10 |
| 1882 | 9 |
| 1883 | 39 |
| 1884 | 16 |
| 1885 | 31 |
| 1886 | 19 |
| 1887 | 17 |
| 1888 | 16 |
| 1889 | 46 |
| 1890 | 12 |
| 1891 | 35 |
| 1892 | 109 |
| 1893 | 93 |
| 1894 | 110 |
| 1895 | 132 |
| 1897 | 3 |
| 1898 | 13 |
| 1899 | 23 |
| 1900 | 10 |
| 1902 | 5 |
| 1903 | 42 |
| 1904 | 41 |
| 1905 | 5 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 14 |
| 1909 | 59 |
| 1910 | 23 |
| 1911 | 7 |
| 1912 | 9 |
| 1914 | 23 |
| 1915 | 13 |
| 1916 | 29 |
| 1917 | 22 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1922 | 2 |
| 1923 | 10 |
| 1924 | 5 |
| 1925 | 1 |
| 1929 | 2 |
35 stories matching help
- The Professional Tailoress Wanted in 1891
A job advertisement from a ladies' intelligence bureau signals a high demand for skilled female labor in early Seattle.
- The Price of Progress: Yakima County Bids for the State College
In a special session, county commissioners authorize $15,000 in warrants to help secure the site for the newly forming state agricultural college.
- Assault in Old Town
An Italian peddler attempts to assault two young girls, sparking a neighborhood manhunt.
- The Major’s Act of Personal Charity
When two families near Lake Washington faced absolute destitution, a city official chose to bypass bureaucratic red tape to offer help from his own pocket.
- The Boom-Town Hustle of 1891
A manic snapshot of real estate fever and the desperate search for help in early Seattle.
- Tragic Drownings in the Humptulips and South Aberdeen
Two lives, including a young man and a six-year-old child, were claimed by the local waterways in separate accidents.
- The Price of Friendship in the Melon Patch
A local farmer laments the 'friends' who think helping themselves to his crop is all in good fun, pushing his farm toward financial ruin.
- The Invisible Laborers of 1891 Seattle
A glimpse into the daily domestic and service-based grind through the classified advertisements of a booming pioneer city.
- The Governor Who Filled Washington Returns, and Finds It Full
Sixteen years after leaving office, former territorial governor Edward Salomon walks back into an Olympia hotel and finds old friends grown wealthy — and a young state he helped populate now competing with Seattle and Tacoma for its own future.
- The Mail Starved North River
Citizens of the remote North River region are petitioning for a dedicated post office, citing their reliance on the charity of neighbors to ferry mail from distant towns.
- The Minister, the Miracle Cure, and Olympia's War on Drink
Rev. Napoleon Hoagland preached "salvation by science" at Tacoma Hall, touting Dr. Keeley's famous remedy for alcoholism and urging Olympia to raise money so the poor could be treated too.
- Aberdeen’s First Library Begins as a 'Nest Egg'
A modest collection of books and a donated office space mark the first steps toward a civic institution.
- They Robbed the Dead as the Surf Came In
A Pacific County newspaper condemned beach scavengers who stripped bodies and trunks after a shipwreck—and recalled the shame of the Grace Roberts disaster.
- The Great Railway Bribe Scandal of 1891
When the Northern Pacific Railway sent complimentary transit passes to Washington state legislators to influence a deadlocked U.S. Senate race, the blunder sparked a statewide scandal over corruption and corporate power.
- A 'Godsend' on Fourth Street: Olympia's Mothers Furnish a Room to Keep the Boys Out of the Saloons
In a hard-times autumn, the women's auxiliary of the new Young Men's Christian Association canvassed the town for chairs, papers and games — and promised the doors at 406 Fourth Street would open December 1.
- The Tragedy on the Quinault
A ranching partnership ends in a fatal, accidental shooting in the remote wilderness.
- A Sick Child, an Empty Cupboard, and $22 in the Collection Plate
A Unitarian minister in Tacoma argues that charity is only a bandage, and that a man who works hard and still cannot feed his family is the church's real problem to solve.
- Explosion Levels Drug Store on Ninth and Stewart
A pharmacy was reduced to ashes in a late-night fire, leaving local residents trapped in the apartments above.
- A Medical Board Member’s $100 Ghost Bill
Dr. Minkler told Thurston County he had paid two Centralia doctors for help. They said they never got the money — and a legal technicality kept the case alive only as a threat of removal.
- The Kitchen War in Little Rock
A domestic squabble in a Seattle kitchen erupts into a violent, farcical showdown between a scorned husband, a smooth-talking preacher, and a woman who refuses to be anyone's possession.
- The Domestic Help Crisis of 1891
As the Pacific Northwest boomed, the P-I warned that a 'growing distaste' for housework among the working class threatened to turn the domestic service shortage into a bigger issue than currency reform.
- A Comrade's Funeral: The G.A.R. Buries a Destitute Veteran
Thomas Endicott of Tumwater died leaving a wife and daughter's family in poverty. The old soldiers of the local G.A.R. post, who had quietly helped the family for months, paid for the funeral and turned out in force at Bush Prairie.
- The Sad Tale of the Professional Mourner
A gray-haired swindler working Seattle's Second Street cigar shops finds that his heart-wrenching sob story—and his prop bandana—only work once per merchant.
- The Jailbreak That Failed at Lake Union
A failed escape attempt by three young prisoners leaves a jailer with a gun, a missing saw, and a mystery about who was smuggling tools to the jailbirds.
- The Treasury Dept. Helps a Seattle Woman Recover Buried Riches
After her nephew buried $150 in greenbacks near Gilman five years ago, the money decayed into an unrecognizable mass. Local bankers and federal experts worked together to save her investment.