Research the archive
Narrow 22,457 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 | 11 |
| 1859 | 5 |
| 1860 | 2 |
| 1861 | 8 |
| 1862 | 6 |
| 1863 | 19 |
| 1871 | 2 |
| 1872 | 4 |
| 1876 | 13 |
| 1877 | 9 |
| 1878 | 8 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1883 | 21 |
| 1884 | 6 |
| 1885 | 15 |
| 1886 | 22 |
| 1887 | 14 |
| 1888 | 12 |
| 1889 | 35 |
| 1890 | 6 |
| 1891 | 56 |
| 1892 | 70 |
| 1893 | 45 |
| 1894 | 49 |
| 1895 | 16 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1899 | 5 |
| 1900 | 2 |
| 1903 | 33 |
| 1904 | 15 |
| 1905 | 6 |
| 1908 | 2 |
| 1909 | 21 |
| 1910 | 3 |
| 1911 | 6 |
| 1912 | 3 |
| 1914 | 2 |
| 1915 | 10 |
| 1916 | 16 |
| 1917 | 7 |
| 1923 | 3 |
| 1924 | 5 |
| 1925 | 6 |
603 stories matching governor
- Seattle Lost the Ship Canal Fight in One Olympia Night
The 1892 Democratic state convention rejected the Lake Washington ship canal, humiliated King County's delegates and nominated Henry J. Snively for governor — setting off a political feud over Seattle's waterfront future.
- Roosevelt’s Secret Indorsement: The President vs. The Railroad Barons
At a private Tacoma banquet, Theodore Roosevelt publicly backed Governor McBride against the wishes of powerful Washington Senators Foster and Ankeny, igniting a fierce political war over railroad regulation.
- The Governor’s Gamble: McBride Pledges War on Corporate Corruption
In the wake of Teddy Roosevelt’s fiery Spokane address, Washington Governor Albert E. McBride declares his intent to uphold the law against wealthy corporations, signaling a shift in state politics.
- One Day Late: The Veto That May Hang a Man
A clerk's date stamp, a messenger who cannot recall which day he ran an errand, and a condemned Italian at Tacoma whose last chance at a new appeal may have expired in the paperwork.
- The Governor's 'Miraculous' Absence
Did Washington's Governor fake an illness to tilt a Senate election?
- The Railroad Lobby's Quiet Plan to Buy a Governor and Kill the Commission
A Walla Walla editor warns that railroad interests will avoid an open fight over regulation by nominating a friendly, colorless candidate—then using him to veto the commission bill.
- The Governor's Telegram: How the Militia Was Called Out to the King County Coal Fields
Colonel J. C. Haines lays out the paper trail behind the 1891 deployment of National Guard troops to the coal towns of Gilman and Franklin — and the labor war that nearly became a dawn battle.
- 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 Man Who Shook Hands with History
President Roosevelt’s visit to Walla Walla sparked a political firestorm and a rare moment of cross-cultural connection.
- The Governor’s Office Emptied
Acting Governor Laughton faces accusations of legal overreach and depletion of state funds, leading to a clash with Governor Ferry.
- The State’s Office is a ‘Sailor’s Boarding House’: Olympia’s Desperate Search for a Capitol
With state officers scattered across the city in “miserably-ventilated” rooms and valuable records stored in sheds, Representative Collins introduces a bill to erect a temporary building on business property.
- The Late-Night Fight That Killed Washington's First University Building
A governor's-office showdown between the state auditor and the university building commission halted construction, left laborers unpaid, and pushed Olympia toward a special legislative session.
- The Governor Who Stood Between Corporations and the Workingman
When railroads threatened to use militia to break a strike in 1873, Governor Elisha Ferry refused to deploy state power until the laborers were paid, carving out a legendary reputation for fairness.
- The Governor's White Elephant and a Newspaper Deal
A proposed $2,500 purchase of the Daily Olympian sets off talk of a King County power play, a governor's relief, and a political machine in the making.
- The Governor’s Unacknowledged Son
A condemned prisoner in the city jail delivers a final, shattering letter to the Governor, revealing a secret connection that exposes the cruel indifference of the ruling class.
- The Peril of the Newcastle Coal Mine
A coal miner appeals directly to the Territorial Governor after local officials ignore warnings of a persistent, dangerous fire at the Newcastle mines.
- The Political Trading Floor in Mission
A backroom bargain in Chelan County pits local ambition against the governor's power, revealing the high-stakes chess game behind early 20th-century endorsements.
- The Governor’s Hotel: A Scandal of Misplaced Charges
When an out-of-town politician accused Washington Territory Governor Watson C. Squire of war profiteering during the anti-Chinese riots, the business community and local Democrats rallied to defend his integrity.
- The Governor’s Power Grab
New executive bills give Governor Roland H. Hartley unprecedented control over state agencies, budgets, and tax assessments.
- The Governor Tells Olympia to Tighten Its Belt
In 1895, Governor McGraw used his message to demand retrenchment, railroad reform and a quick end to the U.S. Senate fight so lawmakers could get to the people's business.
- The Surprise Nomination of a Seattle Banker
John H. McGraw reluctantly accepts the Republican nomination for governor after King County delegates refuse to let him withdraw—selling a self-made banker as the antidote to ward politics.
- The Governor’s Secret Gift to Seattle’s Newsboys
A surprise act of philanthropy transformed the cold winter of 1887 for Seattle’s most vulnerable young workers.
- Forty Young Olympians Become Company A — and Veto the 'Governor's Guard'
A new National Guard company musters at the capital, elects its officers, and then debates what to call itself — until one young soldier warns that a governor might someday misbehave.
- A Territorial Governor’s Controversial Advice
Governor William A. Newell's 1883 message to the Territorial Legislature advocates for the forced assimilation of Indigenous people and a rigid, unadorned approach to public institutions.
- The Governor’s Dilemma: Can Washington Skip Congress to Become a State?
Territory’s top lawyers clash over whether the Governor can unilaterally call a constitutional convention to bypass federal delays in statehood.