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Happy Friday to all the students across Washington who have their noses back in the books! Need a real quick study break? Here, St. Martin’s students enjoy a break from all those books - back in 1965.

Let’s say you’re the governor of a brand-new U.S. territory created in the 1850s and you don’t have any printed business cards. What do you do? Why, you write them up yourself.

The Office of Secretary of State wishes you a wonderful holiday weekend celebrating our country. (Also remember that government offices like ours will be closed Friday, July 3, in observance of the holiday. The state also reminds folks that fireworks and wildlands don’t mix, and that fireworks are a no-go on state protected and public lands!)

The rap sheets of inmates who were admitted into the state’s first Reformatory in the early 1900s are now available on the Web for (drumroll, please) free. You can go to http://digitalarchives.wa.gov/, look under the institution record series, and sift through inmate files of those who were admitted into the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe, where they were taught skills and training like tailoring and barbering so that someday they could re-enter society. Pictured here is an example of what you can find: This blue-eyed,

Grays Harbor's put on quite the shindig during its Fourth of July parade in 1890. Check out the sign on the float that says “Our Infant State Washington," next to the girl with the crazy hat standing by the flag:

Seattle has always thrown a good Independence Day celebration - this flashback photo shows the 1888 Fourth of July Parade in Seattle. This is First Avenue from Cherry Street, near Pioneer Square: