Research the archive
Narrow 25,688 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 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 11 |
| 1877 | 10 |
| 1878 | 5 |
| 1880 | 4 |
| 1882 | 4 |
| 1883 | 6 |
| 1884 | 3 |
| 1885 | 7 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1887 | 5 |
| 1888 | 3 |
| 1889 | 16 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 10 |
| 1892 | 19 |
| 1893 | 13 |
| 1894 | 14 |
| 1895 | 15 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 2 |
| 1899 | 3 |
| 1903 | 10 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 5 |
| 1909 | 15 |
| 1910 | 2 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1914 | 1 |
| 1915 | 2 |
| 1916 | 3 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
205 stories matching dear
- The Orphan’s Plea: A Poem That Moved Seattle to Tears on Decoration Day
As the city honored Civil War dead with solemn processions and speeches, a young girl’s grief over her father’s unmarked grave brought the Grand Marshal to tears.
- The Widow’s Last Ledger
On her deathbed, a thrifty farm wife attempts one final audit of the neighborhood’s debts, only to find her husband’s memory suddenly failing when it comes to money she owes others.
- 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 Aristocratic Goose of Seattle
A satirical fable from the 1880 Seattle Daily Intelligencer offers a sharp critique of status-seeking and the folly of high-society marriages.
- A Printing Office Blunder
A romantic visit to a printing office turns disastrous for a typographer when his fiancée accidentally destroys his hours of labor.
- The 'Dodo' in the Account Book
A wife catches her husband in a suspicious expense record, leading to a domestic misunderstanding over slang.
- A Mountain of Coffins: Franklin Buries Its Miners
After a mine fire killed 37 men, the coal town of Franklin held a day of funerals—five graves at Black Diamond, three Italian miners on a hillside, and widows whose grief doctors feared would kill them.
- The Trial of Judge Wickersham: A Tacoma Scandal Over Land, Lies, and 'Delirium'
In February 1889, the trial of a powerful federal judge in Tacoma exposed a web of political corruption, land fraud, and sexual scandal involving a young woman named Sadie Brantner.
- The Shadow in Pioneer Square
A young woman takes a stand against her husband’s gambling habit on the streets of late-19th-century Seattle.
- The Knights of Labor Demand Action on the Border
A fiery 1885 exchange reveals deep tension between Seattle's labor unions and federal officials over the lax enforcement of Chinese immigration restrictions.
- The Ghost Farm on the Big Bend
A pioneer spends his life building a homestead for his family, only to lose them in a catastrophic train wreck on the day they were to join him.
- Vigilante Threat Forces Ocosta Resident Out of Town
A 'White Cap' warning left on a door successfully intimidated a local man into leaving town within 24 hours.
- The Battle for the Homecoming: Tacoma vs. Seattle Over the First Washington
As Secretary of War Alger hints that troops may bypass Seattle to land in Tacoma, a civic war erupts over who gets to welcome the returning volunteers from Manila.
- The Terminal Standoff: How Seattle’s Business Elite Forced a Railroad Compromise
In January 1899, the city’s Board of Trade and leading merchants intervened in a bitter dispute between the Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad and the Puget Sound Shore Railroad, demanding the construction of vital terminal warehouses to save freight from the elements.
- Labor Unions Demand Action on Border Enforcement in 1886
An exchange of letters between the Seattle Knights of Labor and the Collector of Customs highlights early local anxieties over immigration policy.
- The Parents Said Tacoma's Schools Were Failing. The Typesetter Who Set Their Letter Answered Back.
A frustrated parent writes in to say the city schools teach paper-folding instead of arithmetic; a linotype operator at the same paper — and a Tacoma graduate himself — replies that the trouble may lie closer to home.
- The Music-Hall Queen and Her Contract Husband
A Port Townsend performer known as "Shiner" says she will sue Frederick Macondray for divorce, brandishing love letters signed "My Dear Little Kid" and a marriage contract struck on Puget Sound.
- The Boat Builder and the Missing Cornerstone
Courtland Ethridge arrived in Olympia in 1851, built some of its earliest landmarks, and left behind a Masonic hall with a mystery buried under it.
- The Blue Glass Delusion
A local man's obsession with the 'blue glass' health craze leads to a domestic disaster involving laundry bluing and a very angry wife.
- The Church Fair Grind: A Young Man’s Ordeal with Charity and Cake
In a tale of social pressure and predatory fundraising, one Seattleite recounts his harrowing escape from a church bazaar where 'charity' meant forced purchases, fake fortunes, and extortionate flower prices.
- A Farmer's Prayer Amidst Economic Ruin
A poem penned in Seattle during the difficult economic climate of 1891, reflecting on the loss of a farm and the indignity of a wealthy neighbor's hollow piety.
- An Etiquette Dispute Over a Business Letter
A Walla Walla man takes deep offense at the formal address used in a professional letter to his wife, revealing the rigid social anxieties of the era.
- The Drunken Leap at the Tacoma Rooming House
A furniture salesman, searching for a companion named 'Alice,' broke into the wrong residence and was forced to jump from a second-story window to escape the homeowner's wrath.
- A Soaking and a Saving at the Seattle Waterfront
A porter on the City of Topeka fell overboard while inebriated and had to be prodded with a pike pole to save his life.
- The Underground Economy of Club Love Letters
A century before texting, Seattle's gentlemen of leisure found ways to bypass the stuffy, anti-romance rules of private social clubs.
Also about this, in other words
- A Mother’s Tragic Descent
A young woman’s mental health crisis in the Harvard House leads to a desperate, late-night intervention.
- A Compassionate Life Cut Short by Smallpox
A dedicated social worker dies after contracting the disease while visiting a local house of charity.
- The Song Outside the Door
A young child’s funeral in 1877 Seattle was interrupted by an act of profound community empathy.
- A Father’s Hardship and the Telegram That Changed Everything
An overworked, weary business man contemplates his supposed failures until a birthday message from his daughter provides a new perspective on success.
- A Letter to a Lost Candidate
A ten-year-old girl writes to Hon. H. J. Snively following his election defeat, offering support and expressing the political allegiances of a young Democrat.
- A Courageous Rescue from Assault
A young domestic worker was saved from a violent assault in the University grounds after a bystander intervened.
- A Child's Plea for Help
A three-year-old girl leads an officer to a locked room to rescue her mother from an abusive husband.
- The Case for Naming an Olympia Street After Judge Hewitt
A memorial sermon for a territorial judge becomes a plea to carve his name into Olympia's street map—and a meditation on what makes a public life worth remembering.