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.
Refine
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 4 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 2 |
| 1885 | 4 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1887 | 5 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1893 | 5 |
| 1894 | 5 |
| 1895 | 9 |
| 1899 | 2 |
| 1909 | 5 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1911 | 2 |
71 stories matching slave
- The Ferryman of the Dark River
An encounter on the waterfront reveals the quiet, lingering melancholy of a man reflecting on the 'old timey days' and the hard reality of post-slavery life.
- The Seattle Correspondent’s Gaze on China
A disorienting, 1877 report from a Seattle newspaper explores the rigid social hierarchies and gender dynamics of the Qing Dynasty through a lens of Victorian fascination.
- The Unsung Genius of the Barrel
A deep dive into the history of an everyday object that the 1880s public took for granted, tracing its utility from Egyptian antiquity to modern Seattle.
- The Sage of Aberdeen Returns from the Islands
After an excursion to Hawaii, the local political commentator reflects on the confusion of switching party allegiances.
- The Death Rate Was Up. The Health Officer Blamed the Syringe.
In 1891 Olympia's health officer reported an unprecedented mortality spike—and pointed to morphine and cocaine injections, with young women said to be using them 'just for fun.'
- A Sharp Critique of Christian Patriarchy
A biting anonymous editorial lampoons the hypocrisy of Seattle’s clergy regarding women’s rights.
- Sold to the Highest Captain: Seattle’s Sailor Boarding-House Scandal
An editorial demands an investigation into Seattle’s sailor boarding houses, where men were allegedly lured into debt, beaten, and effectively sold to ship captains—and warns union organizers against using the same coercion.
- The Price of a Performance
Traveling theatrical manager Mattie Boyd pays a hefty $1,700 penalty to the Northern Pacific Railroad after a new interstate commerce law threatens to ruin her season.
- Shakespeare, Sold Out: Warde and James Bid Seattle Farewell
A full house packs the Seattle Theatre for Richard III, then the Elks turn the stage into an elaborate after-party of speeches, music and backstage storytelling.
- The Confederate Major Who Set Type in Seattle
A German-born printer who saw Fort Sumter bombarded and later joined Seattle's typographical union died at Providence Hospital, taking an improbable Civil War past with him.
- Seattle Packs a Theater to Mourn Frederick Douglass
A month after the great abolitionist's death, the city's Black community fills the Seattle Theater with music, prayer and eulogy — and hears him compared to Washington and Lincoln.
- Who Should Judge? Washington’s New Jury Law Under Fire
A Seattle paper defends a legislative overhaul that ended the professional juror and required jurors to be householders, as critics charged it handed the courtroom to property owners.
- Fifteen Minutes to Confess: The Morphine Trial of Port Townsend's Captain De Lion
A former mayor, Chilean consul and dry-dock promoter worth half a million dollars sits in superior court while his emaciated wife describes a year of morphine, delusion and a pocket watch set on the table between them.
- The Pony Express Ends: Lincoln Wins, But the South Sees War
As the Pony Express delivers the shocking news of Abraham Lincoln’s election to a nervous Sacramento, Olympia residents mark local weddings and watch their market prices hold steady.
- Seattle’s Post Office Was a Public Nuisance
Letters sat for a day, stamps ran short, and clerks were worked to exhaustion while the postmaster earned about $85 a month. In 1883, Seattle’s mail service was barely functioning.
- From Vera Cruz to Seattle: The Improbable Life of Levi F. Compton
A Mexican War veteran, gold rusher, bridge builder and Odd Fellows patriarch died at his Spring Street home, leaving a civic record that stretched from Virginia slavery to a Chehalis reform school.
- A Freethinker Takes On the Pulpit in Olympia
At Liberal Hall, P. D. Moore answers a minister’s sermon on law with a call for a religion of nature, reason, and good conduct rather than wrath and dogma.
- A Railroad Manager in Seattle Pities the Men Who Paid to Hear Debs
John M. Egan slips into the Rainier-Grand Hotel to denounce Eugene Debs as a well-fed agitator—and to explain why the railroads are broke.
- The Keeley Cure Comes to Olympia
Olympia's Keeley Institute promises release from drink, and the Tribune opens a discreet charity fund for patients who cannot pay.
- The Gospel of the Cow: A Governor Tells Washington Dairymen How to Get Rich
At the state dairymen's convention, Wisconsin's Gov. W. D. Hoard preaches cleanliness, cold wells and the Chicago market — and spins the tale of Carl the German farmer who turned stinking butter into $50,000.
- The Logger’s Dilemma: Why Cheap Labor Is Killing Washington's Future
In a fierce editorial from January 1877, the Puget Sound Dispatch argues that low wages for loggers don't just hurt workers—they stunt the growth of the entire territory, creating a class of 'mental and physical wrecks' instead of future statesmen.