Alaska before 1900 archival collections

HMC-0059. Clarence Leroy Andrews came to Alaska in 1892. This collection includes some photographs pre-dating 1900 from Pt. Barrow, Nome, and Sitka. Most of the photographs from this collection have been digitized and placed on the Alaska's Digital Archives. A link to the images is available within the guide to the collection.

HMC-0069. Thomas W. Benham was an officer in the United States Revenue Service. In the 1880s, he served on several cutters operating in the North Pacific along the coast of Alaska and in the Bering Sea. This collection consists of seventy-three photographs primarily relating to Alaska and to the United States Revenue Cutter Service. Individuals depicted include officers who served on the Corwin, Rush, and Bear; passengers on the Corwin in 1885; and Alaska natives. Ships and boats pictured include the Revenue Cutters Corwin, Rush, and Bear, and Native kayaks and umiaks. Places in the photographs include Bogoslov Island, Icy Cape, King Island, Point Barrow, Point Hope, Port Clarence, St. Michael, St. Paul Island, Siberia, Unalaska, and Wrangell. Some of the photographs from this collection have been digitized and placed on the Alaska's Digital Archives. A link to the images is available within the guide to the collection.

HMC-0819. Robert Bush was a surveyor from Seattle, Washington who was involved in gold mining at Sunrise on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska in 1898. The collection consists of a single letter written by Robert Bush in Sunrise to his mother, Mrs. C. F. Young, in Berkeley, California on 1898 August 17. The letter describes his mining activities at Sunrise and political issues in the area. The collection also contains an envelope postmarked from Tyoonek (now Tyonek), Alaska on 1898 August 24 and a newspaper clipping dated 1898 September 7 that describes the poor mining season on the Cook Inlet, among other news.

HMC-0515. This collection contains a contemporary transcription of a letter sent from Calderon Carlisle, an attorney in Washington DC who served as counsel to the Spanish embassy, to Sir Julian Pauncefote, the British ambassador to the United States, regarding the case of the “Layward” and the territorial rights of the United States in the Bering Sea. The letter is addressed to Washington, DC, and dated October 29, 1890.

HMC-0379. Fred Date moved from Elkhart, Indiana, to the Valdez area in Alaska in 1898. He was a prospector and served on the exploratory expedition under Captain W.R. Abercombie in 1899 as an ax man and guide.The photograph albums in the collection may include images from 1899. The albums have been digitized and are available on the Alaska's Digital Archives. A link to the images is available within the guide to the collection.

HMC-0395. Floyd Dement was born in Oregon in 1877. He moved to Alaska in the late 1890s, where he operated a hardware store in Fairbanks. This collection contains photographs taken by Floyd Dement while he lived in Alaska and the Yukon Territory circa 1898-1910.

HMC-0108. Fred Fickett came to Alaska in 1882, stationed in Sitka with the U. S. Army Signal Corps. During his time in Alaska, he accompanied Lt. Henry Allen and others on an expedition through Alaska via the Copper, Tanana, Yukon, and Koyukuk Rivers. He left Alaska in 1886. The collection includes his letters to family and friends, photographs, and his diaries of his time in Alaska, including the Allen expedition. Many of the photographs and the diaries have been digitized and are available on the Alaska's Digital Archives. A link to the online images and diaries is available within the guide to the collection.

HMC-0116. Captain Glenn commanded U.S. Army exploratory expeditions to the Cook Inlet area of Alaska in 1898 and 1899. The collection includes Glenn’s journal (June 29 – October 23) kept during the 1898 Cook Inlet expedition; an original typed copy of Glenn’s “Report on Exploration in Alaska 1899” (annotated); photographs taken by Glenn, Walter Curran Mendenhall, and others relating to the 1898 Cook Inlet expedition; and a published report of the 1898 expedition. The photographs and the diary (including a transcript) are available on the Alaska's Digital Archives. A link to the online images and diary is available within the guide to the collection.

HMC-0131. In 1880, working under contract for Hall and Pilz, Kawa.ée, Richard Harris, and Joseph Juneau discovered gold on the Silver Bow Basin in the vicinity of present day Juneau. Claims were staked and Harris operated his mines until 1885 when he lost most of them in a law suit. During this period, he married Kitty, an Alaska Native from Hoonah. They had two sons: William John Harris and Richard T. Harris, Jr. Their only daughter died at about one year of age. Richard Harris died in 1907. The two sons attended Chemawa Indian School in Oregon.The collection includes legal records relating to Harris's mining work, correspondence with family and friends, and a few photographs. Some of the photographs and letters between Richard Harris and his sons while they were at Chemawa are available on the Alaska's Digital Archives. A link to the online images and letters is available within the guide to the collection.

HMC-0513. This collection includes photos published by Eric A. Hegg. The photographs include images of the Klondike gold rush taken during the gold rush period of 1998 through 1900.

HMC-1132. H. H. Hildreth was a resident of Seward who served as a Commissioner for the District Court at least until 1906.The collection includes mining claims, primarily coal claims, most from 1898, and are from many individuals. Mr. Hildreth may have been filing or keeping them on behalf of the claimants.

HMC-0141. In 1897, Charles Hubbard came to prospect in Alaska. He made his way up the Copper River to Bremner where he met his future partner, Harry Elliot. Together, Hubbard and Elliot located and staked out 120 copper claims along the Kotsina River, thirty-two of which they later patented, and formed the Hubbard-Elliot Copper Mining Development Company of Alaska.The collection includes letters written by Charles to his wife, Bertha.

HMC-0107. This collection consists of two letters written by J.K. Laing to his daughter, Miss L.F. Laing of Portland, Oregon. He wrote while traveling aboard the steamboats Linda and Seattle. In the letters, Laing writes about the weather, food aboard the boat, and some of his future travel plans. The first letter, dated September 2, 1898, was written from Circle City. The second letter, dated June 2, 1899, is on letterhead from a Custom House, Deputy Collector’s Office, from an unspecified port.

HMC-1278. Martha McGlashan was born in Akutan in 1890. The collection contains photographs taken or collected by Martha McGlashan Monsen. Some photographs may pre-date 1900. Many of the photographs in the collection have been digitized and placed online in the Alaska's Digital Archives. A link to the online images is available within the guide to the collection.

HMC-1292. The collection consists of the contents of two turn of the twentieth century photograph albums of C.H. McLeod. The first album contains unlabeled photographs of Alaskan life and scenery from the era. Subjects of the photographs include: men in log cabins and involved in logging; log houses and buildings; railroads with and without train cars; horses and buggies; cows; and a dog. The photographs in the second album show towns in Alaska such as Valdez, Juneau, Douglas, Homer, Sitka, Seward, Wrangell, Snettisham, St. Michael, Circle. Other locations include: Sheep Camp on the Chilkoot Trail and Bennett, British Columbia. Subjects of the photographs include: buildings in towns with waterfront and mountains visible in the background; men, women, and children; bears in captivity; mining camps; rapids and canyons; and ships, including the S.S. Topeka and S.S. Excelsior and its crew.

HMC-1315-AHS. Charles Parson was a New Hampshire resident who came to Alaska to find gold. He and the other men in his company prospected for gold along the Koyukuk River. He returned to New Hampshire in 1899.

George Rockwell Putnam worked for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. He traveled to the Pribilof Islands in 1897 as part of a group researching seal harvests, and served on Yukon Delta surveying expeditions in 1898-1899. The collection consists of digitized copies of G. R. Putnam’s photographs from 1897-1898. Most of the photographs are available digitally on the Alaska's Digital Archives. A link to the online images is available within the guide to the collection.

HMC-1192. The collection consists of letters written by Elmer Smith, who went to Alaska and Canada in hopes of finding gold during the Gold Rush. The letters, dated between March and November of 1898, were written primarily from various locations along the Stikine River in British Columbia, Canada. In the letters written from British Columbia, Smith writes primarily about the weather, the traveling conditions the health of the men in the party. The letters also mention the communities of Wrangell, Alaska, and Glenora and Telegraph Creek in British Columbia.

HMC-0518. This collection consists of a photograph album containing 48 black and white prints belonging to Mr. and Mrs. William P. Smith. The images were taken during a cruise through Southeast Alaska in 1891. Subjects include: Glacier Bay; Wrangell Narrows; Muir, Taku and Patterson glaciers; the towns of Wrangell, Juneau, Douglas and Sitka; Treadwell Mine; Baranof Castle; Alaska Native traders; the Russian Orthodox Church at Sitka; and waterfalls and other scenery. Many of the photographs in the collection have been digitized and placed online in the Alaska's Digital Archives. A link to the images is available within the guide to the collection.

HMC-0689. The first of two Swineford collections in the Archives. Swineford was territorial governor of Alaska (1885-1889) and inspector general of the U.S. Land Office (1893-1898). One of the letters in the collection was written from Washington, D. C., on April 15, 1888, concerning his meeting with President Grover Cleveland. Cleveland consulted Swineford about serious charges that had been filed against Judge Dawson, the judge’s removal from office, as well as other matters pertaining to Alaska.

HMC-1015-AHS. The second of two Swineford collections in the Archives. Swineford was territorial governor of Alaska (1885-1889) and inspector general of the U.S. Land Office (1893-1898). The early correspondence (1885-1889) concerns Alaskan matters. Other items include a draft of an article concerning his trip on the Revenue Cutter Thetis (1888), a proclamation on the treatment of the Chinese (1886), and several Winter and Pond photographs.

HMC-1016-AHS. Archie Templeton was a resident of Milbank, South Dakota. He traveled to Alaska in 1898 with a group of men from that city. The collection consists of photocopies of letters primarily written by Templeton to his wife and daughter while he was traveling to and in Alaska from February through June 1898. They were written from St. Paul, Seattle, Valdez, Tasnina Lake, and the Klutina River.

HMC-0243. The collection consists of two letters written by Joe Thome, a miner and prospector, to his family and friends. The letters describe his prospecting attempts, his plans for future prospecting, and his work for the Treadwell Mining Company.

HMC-0344.

HMC-1030-AHS. The collection consists of English translations of two documents describing the shipwreck of the Neva in 1812. The first document was written by Vasili N. Berkh of St. Petersburg, in 1817. The second document was written by Alexei Markov of St. Petersburg, in 1850.

HMC-0979. The collection consists of a letter written by schoolteacher H.C. Wilson in Klawock, to his daughter. In the letter, Wilson acknowledges receiving his daughter’s last letter and accompanying packages, discusses family matters, and comments on conditions in Klawock. Concerning Klawock, he writes about the weather, problems with attendance at the school, relations with the superintendent of the local salmon cannery, expected visitors, current Hyde visitors from Howkan, continuing improvement being made to his house, and the recent start of operations at the cannery. His expected visitors for the Fourth of July were the Gould Family and Mr. and Mrs. McCleod. Wilson also provides an answer to an inquiry about the location of Howkan, and that the post office there is called Jackson.