Alaska Native archival collections : People and families

HMC-0039. Nikefor Alexan was born in Tyonek, Alaska in 1900. He was one of the leaders of the village and served as a lay priest in the Russian Orthodox Church. Alexan was an accomplished story teller. The collection contains thirteen typed stories by Nikefor Alexan on the history and folklore of the Native peoples of the village of Tyonek and the Cook Inlet/Knik Region of Alaska. The stories contain information on marriage, relations with the Russians, child raising, Tyonek chiefs, gathering and preparation of native foods, religion, hunting, warfare, trade, and other subjects. There is also a black and white photograph of Simeon Chickalusian, Sixth Chief and Governor of Tyonek, with his wife, dated 1938.

HMC-0870. Albert Brown was an Alaska Native and member of the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) from Juneau, Alaska. He held the positions of Assistant Grand Secretary of the ANB and Recording Secretary of his local ANB Camp. In 1938, he was hired as an interpreter for the federal court in Juneau. The collection consists of a letter by Albert Brown in Juneau, Alaska, to friend and classmate Ginger Lotto at the Sheldon Jackson School in Sitka, Alaska, in 1938. In the letter, dated November 9th, Brown writes about the following subjects: not having received a return letter from Lotto recently; his failure to attend college in September and his plan to attend next spring semester; his position as Assistant Grand Secretary of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and his unlikely attendance at the upcoming ANB convention in Sitka with delegate April Rebuff; his search for a job and his acceptance of an offer to be an interpreter for the federal court in Juneau; a job offer to drive a dump truck for a local breakwater project; and his re-election as the Recording Secretary of his local ANB Camp. He also mentions that he had been recommended for the court interpreter position by U.S. Commissioner Felix Gray and Claude Hirst.

HMC-1060. Alice Elissa Brown was born on May 11, 1912 in Kenai, Alaska and was a Kenaitze tribal member. She was heavily involved in defending the rights of Alaska Natives and disenfranchised groups in Alaska. Examples of her involvement include her position on the Alaska Federation of Natives’ (AFN) Board of Directors and as chairman of the Alaska Native Political Education Committee. In addition to being active in the AFN, she was also a representative for the Kenaitze Indian Association and a member of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), Cook Inlet Native Association, the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indians, and Anchorage Democratic Club. Her public service also included Anchorage and state committees such as the Rural Affairs Commission, Greater Anchorage Area Borough Advisory Health Board, Alaska state sponsored Land Claims Taskforce and more. Alice E. Brown worked diligently on behalf of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) that preserved Alaska Native land rights. ANCSA was signed into law December 18, 1971. Alice Brown passed away in 1973. A majority of her collection pertains to the organizations of which she was a member and her work to protect Alaska Native land rights. The collection has three series: organization and committee records, correspondence, and Alaska Native land rights legislation and research files. The organization and committee records series contains materials such as meeting notes, convention materials, articles of incorporation, resolutions, and publications produced by the organization or committee. The correspondence series contain correspondence related to her work on Alaska Native land rights. A majority of the letters are addressed to or forwarded to Alice Brown or the AFN Board of Directors. In addition, there are letters from organizations and committees sent out to their membership. Alaska Native Land Rights legislation and research files contain materials Alice Brown collected in her research, such as newspaper clippings, reports, and drafts of ANCSA federal and state legislation.

HMC-0086. The Charles Menadelook Project was developed in order to collect and preserve the photographs of Alaskan photographer, Charles Menadelook. The project was funded by a grant from the Alaska Historical Commission and was supported by the Eskimo Heritage Program of Kawerak, Inc. It was conducted by Eileen Norbert in 1982. The collection consists of copied black and white photographs of native villages, people, and activities in Alaska. Activities shown include hunting, food preservation, whaling, and fishing. Villages shown include Diomede, Gambell, Wales, Nome, Shaktoolik, King Island, and Shishmaref. There are also photographs of missionaries, and various Bureau of Indian Affairs’ teachers and school houses.

HMC-1328. Peter Gordon Gould, born in 1900, was an Unangax from Unga, Alaska. When he was six years old, Gould moved to the Jesse Lee Home in Unalaska, where he stayed until 1913. He then traveled to Ohio, where he began work on an apple orchard with his sister, Anna. While in Ohio, Gould decided he would become a minister. In 1916, he and his sister moved to Claysville, PA. The following year, Gould enrolled in Williamsport Dickinson Seminary, graduating in June 1923. That fall, he enrolled at University of Syracuse, graduating in 1930, and was ordained an Elder in the Methodist Church. In 1925, Gould married Ethel Claire Guinter and the couple had four children, Ardell, Edward, Robert, and Mae Evelyn. In 1932, Gould was appointed to the Bellevue Heights Methodist Church, and in 1942, he was appointed to the Ontario Street Methodist Church of Buffalo. In 1948, Gould then accepted a position with the Division of Home Missions and Church taking on the responsibility of its Alaska Mission. By 1950, he was the Director of Methodist Works in Alaska. While in Alaska, Gould helped build a parsonage in Nome, and was pivotal in fundraising for the establishment of Alaska Methodist University (renamed Alaska Pacific University in 1978), which was the first private liberal arts college in Alaska. Gould is known as the “Father of the Alaska Methodist University.” He was also the first Alaska Native minister in the United Methodist Church. P. Gordon Gould, who also went by Gordon Gould, died in 1988. The collection contains papers and photographs relating to P. Gordon Gould and his family. The collection includes photographs of the Gould family and the building of a parsonage in Nome, information regarding a stained glass window that portrays Gould, and VHS tapes of an interview with Gould.

HMC-0131. The Harris family papers includes papers of William J. Harris, Jr. and Richard Tighe Harris, Jr., children of Richard Tighe Harris and Kitty Harris, a Tlingit woman from Hoonah. The two Harris boys attended the native school in Juneau and in the mid-1890’s, they began to study at the Indian School at Chemawa, Oregon. As adults, they lived in the Juneau area. William John Harris worked as a guide and as a sign painter there for many years. Richard Harris, Jr., became a musician and carpenter and also lived in Juneau for most of his life. The collection contains many letters between the two men and their father, and photographs of William John Harris and his family.

HMC-0384. Billy Blackjack Johnson was born in Nome, Alaska on September 13, 1924. He lived in the Jesse Lee Home in Seward for ten years, from 1927 to 1937 while his mother, Ada Blackjack Johnson, was recovering from tuberculosis. He served in the Army from 1945 to 1948, and was stationed in Germany, where he met his future wife, Gisela Sperber. After returning from the Army, they moved to Seattle. Johnson was active in Alaska Native organizations and was involved in the formation of the 13th Regional Corporation, which represents Alaska Natives living outside of Alaska. He served on the 13th Regional Corporation’s board of directors from 1976 to 1985. Other organizations in which he was an officer include the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) Washington Chapter, the AFN International, the Alaska World Equity Corporation, Outside Region for Alaska Natives (ORFAN), and United Concerned Alaska Natives (UCAN). He was also a registered lobbyist and made many trips to Washington D.C. to lobby for the formation of a 13th regional corporation and later for a grant of land in Alaska to the 13th Regional Corporation. Mr. Johnson died in 2003. The collection consists of files relating to the various Alaska Native organizations in which Billy B. Johnson was involved as well as papers related to his personal life, his mother Ada Blackjack Johnson, and the Jesse Lee Home. Included in organization files are articles of incorporation and bylaws, correspondence from Billy B. Johnson in his official capacities, and meeting minutes.

HMC-1148. Henry Kaiser was born in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1932. Born with a heart defect, he contracted tuberculosis in his late teens and spent three years in the Seward Sanatorium, from 1950 to 1953. After his discharge from the sanitorium in 1953, he spent a semester at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, and then hitchhiked to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota where he underwent surgery that corrected his heart defect. He graduated from the University of Alaska in 1960 with a degree in education, and later worked as an educator and for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Kaiser also taught elementary school in Nenana and Ft. Richardson, and was an avid photographer. He died in Anchorage in 2011. The collection mostly consists of photographs taken by Henry S. Kaiser Jr., however the collection also contains photographs taken by his father, Henry S. Kaiser Sr. The subjects of the photographs include people and buildings at the Seward Sanatorium, Fur Rendezvous, fishing, Kaiser’s family, Charles Burnell statue unveiling, an Alaska Airlines celebration in Anchorage, Russian Orthodox churches, Alaska Native artifacts, buildings and construction in Anchorage, Shageluk cemetery, schools, Golden Days celebration and parade, AFN (Alaska Federation of Natives) 1968, a Pioneers of Alaska event, Reverend Andrew Eordogh, AVEC (Alaska Village Electric Cooperative) training, Native Cultural Exhibit building, Alaskan politicians, Alaskan plants, and a Fourth of July parade. Places the photographs were taken include Nenana, Fairbanks Shishmaref, Beaver, Noorvik, Emmonak, Fort Yukon, Chena Hot Springs, Sitka, Nunapitchuk, Louden, Anchorage, as well as Rochester, Minnesota and Washington D.C. The collection also includes a short memoir written by Mr. Kaiser about his health struggles, the 1925 Serum Run, letter regarding Bob Bartlett’s Congressional Record mailing list, and articles some of his photographs were published in.

HMC-0158. Roger Lang was born in 1929 on the Annette Island Indian Reservation in Alaska. In 1947, he began work as a federal employee for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Public Health Service, and the Forest Service. In 1969, he resigned from Federal employment to become more active in Alaska Native affairs. Since 1968, Roger Lang has held a number of key positions within the native organizations of Southeast Alaska. These include: serving as a member of the Executive Committee of the Central Council of the Tlingit-Haida Indians, 1968-1975; a member of the Board of Directors of the Sealaska Corporation, 1972-1978; Vice President of Alaska Brick Company (a Sealaska subsidiary), 1977-1978; Executive Vice President and President of the Alaska Native Foundation, 1972-1973; President of the Alaska Federation of Natives, 1974-1975; and legislative consultant for the Alaska Federation of Natives, RuralCAP and the Bristol Bay Native Corporation, 1976-1977. In addition to his activities with native organizations, Roger Lang also served on a number of state boards and agencies including: the Rural Development Agency, State of Alaska, 1969-1971; the Governor’s Commission on the Importance of Youth, 1972-1974; the Center for Northern Educational Research, 1974-1975; and the Alaska Plan Policy Board, 1973. The collection consists primarily of records relating to Roger Lang’s involvement in various native organizations in Alaska. Included are: records relating to lobbying and to various organizations including the Alaska Federation of Natives, the Alaska Native Foundation, Sealaska Corporation, the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indians, as well as various state boards and commissions. Types of records include: personal correspondence; speeches by Roger Lang and by others; drafts of speeches and articles; correspondence; copies of financial, legal, and administrative records of the various native organizations.

HMC-1147. Janie Leask is Haida-Tsimshian and Irish-German and was raised in both Metlakatla and Anchorage. Ms. Leask spent fifteen years with the Alaska Federation of Natives starting in 1974, as the President of AFN from 1983 to 1989. The collection contains Janie Leask’s files subject files regarding the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), clippings of her regular column in the Anchorage Times, subject files on the Alaska Federation of Natives, and the texts of speeches she delivered.

HMC-1278. Martha McGlashan was born in Akutan in 1890. She married Martin Monsen in 1912 and the couple moved to Naknek. Martha was a postmistress and midwife in Naknek for many years, before moving to the Palmer Pioneer Home in 1979. Martin Monsen was born in Stavanger, Norway in 1873, and came to Bristol Bay in 1898. He was a winter watchman at the Naknek Packing Company cannery. Martin died in 1950, and Martha died in 1981. The collection contains photographs taken or collected by Martha McGlashan Monsen. Subjects of photographs include Naknek, Akutan, St. Paul, St. George, Unalaska, Red Salmon Cannery, Graveyard Cannery, Naknek Packing, Pacific American Fisheries, Nakeen Cannery, the Monsen and McGlashan families, reindeer herding, fishing, hunting, caches, camps, and sailboats on the Naknek River.

HMC-0399. The materials in this collection are related to a series of lawsuits related to several village corporations in the Kodiak region (including Afognak, Leisnoi, Old Harbor and others) and Koniag Inc. regarding a merger in 1980. The collection consists of court case materials including filings, exhibits, depositions, and attorneys’ research files. Those materials include extensive financial and other information regarding the assets and structure of the corporations involved.

HMC-0210. Howard Rock was born in Point Hope, Alaska in 1911. He attended high school at White Mountain Vocational School, and studied at the University of Washington for three years. After college, he worked as an artist, carving in ivory until he was drafted during World War II; after the war he returned to his art work. He became involved in Native affairs in 1961 when he returned to Point Hope and served as village spokesman in a dispute between the villagers and the Atomic Energy Commission over a proposed plan to build an underwater harbor by exploding five atomic bombs. That same year he was approached by the Arctic Slope Native Association to form a newspaper and in October, 1962, the Tundra Times was started with Rock as editor and publisher, a position he held until his death in 1976. Under his direction the paper grew to a circulation of over 3,500. In 1975, it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for meritorious public service. During his career Rock received many awards including being named “Alaskan of the Year,” in 1974, and “49er of the Year,” in 1975. Howard Rock died on April 20, 1976. The collection consists of a tape and transcript of an interview of Howard Rock by Robert M. Fox in March, 1976. The interview was one of a series done for Leadership Programs and Alaska Native Perspectives: A Study to Promote University Awareness by Kathryn A. Hecht and Robert M. Fox. In the interview Rock discusses his education, employment history, a planned Alaska Native Leadership program, and Rock’s views on leadership.

HMC-1272. Irene Sparks Rowan, a Tlingit Indian from Klukwan, served as president and board member of Klukwan, Inc. for several years. The collection contains copies of materials related to the functioning of Klukwan, Inc. Records include board meeting minutes and agendas, correspondence, reports, and records related to subsidiaries such as the Long Island Development Corp. and Klukwan Investments, Inc.