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1964 Alaska earthquake collections

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Town of Seward Alaska, taken on Easter Sunday 1964. View of overturned railroad locomotive and railroad car at the railroad port facility in Seward. Frank C. Fox photographs, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage

Ruth Schmidt measuring a fissure. Ruth Schmidt is measuring a fissure caused by the 1964 Alaska Earthquake. Ruth A.M. Schmidt papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

View of damage and debris in downtown Anchorage after the 1964 earthquake. Bob Pendleton slides, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

Road in Alaska after the 1964 earthquake. Robert and Wilma Knox papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

1964 Alaska earthquake collections

Follow the links to collection descriptions and inventories for collections relating to the 1964 earthquake in Alaska. You can keyword search all of our collection descriptions and inventories by using the search box available at the top of each page.

Alaska earthquake materials; 1964.
EPH-0002. This ephemera collection contains cartoons about the earthquake by Louis Bardwell, press releases from the Alaska Reconstruction Commission, and publications such as the earthquake editions of the Girdwood Yak and the Chugach Current and the annual report of the Anchorage Independent School District, 1963-1964.
Alaska Methodist University earthquake archives; 1964.
HMC-0782-APU. This collection contains personal accounts, articles, newsletters, clippings, photographs, and other materials collected by the Alaska Methodist University library to document the earthquake.
Alaska Nurses' Association collection; 1887-1995.
HMC-1107. Approximately half of the material consists of administrative records, publications, and recollections. The collection does include field notes which document emergency health care provided to the victims of the 1964 earthquake.
Edna Aleshire papers; 1956-1974.
HMC-1271. Primarly travel journals of a woman who lived in Alaska, however the collection includes letters Aleshire wrote to family members about her experiences during and after the earthquake. The collection also includes a list of information and recollections later compiled by Aleshire.
Anchorage Chamber of Commerce records; 1946-1984.
HMC-0048. This collection contains a small file of clippings, photographs, and other information kept by the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce to document the earthquake.
Alfred and Mae Bakken slides and memorabilia; 1964-1977.
HMC-0589. Alfred and Mae Bakken's collection includes commercial slides of damage in Anchorage from the earthquake, especially in the Turnagain neighborhood.
Bernasconi family papers; 1917, 1961-1966.
HMC-1161. The bulk of the collection is slides which include some social events between 1961 and 1964 and then primarily images of earthquake damage to the Anchorage area in 1964.
David K. Brown photographs and papers; 1942-2002.
HMC-0658. David K. Brown (b. 1920) was an engineer who was working Anchorage at the time of the earthquake as Area Administrator of the U. S. Housing and Home Finance Agency's programs. His collection contains, among other items, an autobiography that describes his description of conditions in Anchorage following the earthquake.
Doyle and Gloria Bushman papers; 1964-2000.
HMC-0663. Doyle and Gloria Bushman were Anchorage residents at the time of earthquake. Their collection contains personal recordings of local radio broadcasts on the evening of the quake, slides of damage in Anchorage, on the Seward Highway, and in Seward, a videotape of an interview with them about earthquake preparedness by a Seattle television station in 2000, and a 1964 U.S. Geological Survey report on the quake.
John Cerutti slides; 1964.
HMC-1164. John Cerutti was an engineer who evaluated a number of buildings in the Anchorage area after the 1964 earthquake. Images of building damage in the Anchorage area after the 1964 earthquake.
Genie Chance papers; 1964-1977.
HMC-0084. Genie Chance (1927-1998) was a newscaster and editorialist at KENI radio and television and at KFQD radio from 1962-1964. She later served in the Alaska legislature as state representative from 1969-1975 and state senator from 1975-1979. The collection contains personal and professional papers, as well as audiotapes of broadcasts from March 1964 through 1965, concerning the earthquake and recovery efforts. The collection also includes several publications on the earthquake from the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the National Academy of Sciences.
Dorothy and Grenold Collins papers; 1900-2002.
HMC-0422. Gren Collins (1907-1992) bush pilot and outdoorsman whose collection contains, among many other items, a three-minute motion picture film that he made depicting buildings damaged in Anchorage by the earthquake.
Edwin B. Crittenden papers; 1938-2005.
HMC-0094. Edwin B. Crittenden was an Anchorage architect and community planner who served on the Panel of Geography for the Committee on the Alaska Earthquake, established by the Division of Earth Sciences, National Research Council. The collection contains, among other papers, reference files on earthquakes, including papers and publications of the National Research Council, the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the Army Corps of Engineers. The collection also includes photographs taken of building and damage after the Earthquake.
Russ Dow papers; 1917-1992.
HMC-0396. Russ Dow (1915-1992) was an amateur photographer who lived in Palmer at the time of the earthquake. The collection contains, among many other papers, a small number of photographs depicting earthquake damage and recovery efforts at Eklutna and Anchorage.
Robert Esterly photographs; 1964.
HMC-1264-AHS. Photographs taken of damage caused by the 1964 Earthquake. Subjects of the photographs include buildings along 4th Avenue and in Downtown Anchorage, the Anchorage International Airport tower, Government Hill High School, the Seward Highway, and the Chrysler Garage on 5th Avenue in Anchorage.
Edwin F. Finch scrapbook; 1964.
HMC-0653. Edwin F. Finch was an Anchorage resident and employee of the Federal Aviation Agency at the time of the earthquake. The collection consists of Finch's scrapbook documenting the earthquake, including account of his personal experience during the earthquake, photographs of damage in Anchorage, publications, and other papers.
Frank C. Fox photographs; 1946-1993.
HMC-0708. Frank C. Fox was an officer and helicopter pilot in the U.S. Air Force who was serving at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska at the time of the quake. The collection documents Fox's career as a military pilot and includes aerial photographs of damage from the earthquake.
Marion and Thomas Gregory photographs and sound recording; 1932-2002.
HMC-0809. Thomas William Gregory (1914-2005) worked for the Federal Aviation Administration in Anchorage at the time of the quake. He was married to Marion Faye Gregory (1921-2005). Their papers include slides documenting the earthquake in Anchorage and audio recordings of Thomas Gregory commenting on the slides and phonograph discs of original sounds of the earthquake and two earthquake songs by Blue Ervin.
Hans and Margaret Hafemeister papers; 1943-1995.
HMC-0126. Margaret Hafemeister (1894-1995) was the Welfare Director of the Salvation Army Service Unit Committee in Seward at the time of the 1964 earthquake. Included in her papers are earthquake bulletins, correspondence, reports concerning employment, industry, civil defense, and children's behavior during the earthquake, newspapers focusing on the quake, and a narrative of people's responses to the earthquake from the Disaster Research Center at Ohio State University.
Mark Hickok papers; 1955-1991.
HMC-0618. While a majority of the collection documents Hickock's involvement ith the Alaska Wilderness Council and the Alaska Chapter of the Sierra Club, the collection also contains her papers documenting the Alaska earthquake of 1964, including publications and reports, papers concerning damage to and restoration of the Turnagain neighborhood in Anchorage, and Hickok’s personal reminiscences and photographs.
Hilary J. Hilscher Alaska telecommunications history project records and research materials; 1939-2005.
HMC-0859. From 1999-2002, Hilary J. Hilcher led a project to produce a history of telecommunications in Alaska. The collection contains her research materials for the book and includes a small file of papers on the earthquake as it related to telecommunications in the state.
Kenneth J. Huseby photographs; 1964.
HMC-0427. This collection consists of photographs of earthquake damage in Anchorage, Portage, and Seward, mostly taken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and collected by Huseby.
Sharon Jessup 1964 Earthquake papers; 1964.
HMC-1102-AHS. Records, videos, and audio recordings of the 1964 Earthquake. The audio recordings contain radio station broadcasts with messages, instructions of survival, ongoing searches for missing people, and recorded aftershocks, as well as broadcaster's reactions.
Robert and Wilma Knox papers; 1949-2001.
HMC-0461. Robert and Wilma Knox were journalists who worked for a number of newspapers and magazines in Alaska and elsewhere. Among other papers, the collection contains over 300 photographs relating to the earthquake, as well as articles by Wilma Knox on the subject.
Alice "Dove" Montgomery Kull papers; 1915-1991.
HMC-0385. Dove Kull (1897-1991) was a social worker who worked in child welfare for the Department of Health and Welfare (1959-1967) in Anchorage from 1959-1967, among many other positions. Her collection contains color slides of the earthquake.
Edith and Edward Lindsay papers; 1964.
HMC-1135. The collection consists of photographs taken by Edward Lindsay and letters written by both Edith and Edward to their daughter, Laurie, in the aftermath of the 1964 Good Friday earthquake.
Kenneth D. Maynard papers; 1964-1967.
HMC-0172. Kenneth Maynard is an Anchorage architect who participated in a structural building survey following the earthquake in 1964. His firm also took part in a 1966 non-structural damage survey along with the firm of Ayres & Hayakawa. This collection contains papers relating to the 1964 survey, including lists of participants, buildings to be surveyed, and posted buildings. There is also correspondence between Maynard and the architectural firm Ayres & Hayakawa from 1966-1967 and papers relating to the 1966 survey.
Christine M. McClain papers; 1907-1992.
HMC-0370. Christine McClain (1915-1989) was an Alaska Communication System employee and freelance writer in Anchorage. Her collection contains many papers relating to the earthquake, articles, narratives, story drafts, publications, and photographs of earthquake damage in Anchorage.
Judith and Malcolm McDonald papers; 1960-1997.
HMC-0619. Judith and Malcolm W. McDonald were teachers in Anchorage at the time of the earthquake. Their collection contains a personal account of the McDonalds' experiences of the earthquake and publications documenting the quake.
Q.D. Norgaard earthquake and pipeline photographs; 1964, 1977.
HMC-1122-AHS. The collection consists of 20 photographs of 1964 Alaska earthquake damage, primarily in Anchorage.
Bob Pendleton slides; 1964.
HMC-1162. Photographs of damage following the 1964 Earthquake, primarily in the Anchorage area.
Earl Plumb family papers; 1927-1964.
HMC-1124. Most of the collection contains papers and photograph documenting the Plumb family in Denali National Park, Nenana, and Anchorage. However, the collection does include some photographs documenting damages to buildings following the Earthquake.
Ruth A.M. Schmidt papers; 1912-2015.
HMC-0792. The series includes maps, plats, photographs, Anchorage Engineering Geology Evaluation Group reports, as well as Ruth’s personal correspondence with family after the earthquake, and lectures she gave on the earthquake.
Jerome F. Sheldon papers; 1885-1994.
HMC-0220. Jerome F. Sheldon is a journalist and former news editor for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. His collection contains a subject file on the earthquake and on reconstruction efforts, including reports, magazine and newspaper articles and clippings, and copies of various Alaska, west coast, and national newspapers.
John Shipman scrapbook; 1964.
HMC-1018-AHS. This scrapbook documenting the earthquake was compiled by Anchorage resident John Shipman and contains letters written to Shipman and his family from concerned friends and relatives, photographs of damage around Anchorage, publications about the earthquake, and newspaper clippings relating to the military's role in the post-quake cleanup.
Ward T. Sims papers; 1964.
HMC-0222. Ward Sims was the Bureau Chief for the Associated Press in Juneau at the time of the eathquake. The collection consists of the original Associated Press wire copies covering the earthquake from Friday, March 27 to Tuesday, March 31 1964, as well as a booklet entitled "Earthquake in Alaska," describing the Associated Press coverage of the quake.
Benjamin B. Talley papers; 1925-2002.
HMC-0241. Benjamin B. Talley (1903-1998) was an engineer and officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who supervised military construction in Alaska from 1940-1943. His papers contain include earthquake testimony from residents of Anchorage, Army and federal reports on the impact of the earthquake, and other materials.
Lyman and Betsy "Betzi" Woodman papers; 1929-1999.
HMC-0353. Lyman L. Woodman (1913-1997) was a freelance writer and historian and his wife Betzi (1913-1990) was a newspaper writer. Their papers include materials on the earthquake, including correspondence, news releases from government agencies, newspaper clippings, publications, and copies of newspapers from Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Seattle.

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