Its date, geographic scope, and breadth of subject matter make the Leslie Melvin Photograph Collection a significant addition to holdings available within the state. The 464 photographs duplicated were taken between 1928 and 1941, a period for which little photo documentation is presently on hand in public collections. Five of the state's geographic regions are represented among the images: the Interior, the Arctic, Southeastern Alaska, the Alaska Peninsula, and the Aleutian Islands. Major population centers such as Fairbanks and Nome are included, as are smaller, more isolated settlements such as Kotzebue and Perryville (see maps). The range of subject matter is equally broad. There are portrayals of Native peoples, depictions of their artifacts, scenes of daily life, landscape views, and images of vessels, landmarks, public buildings, and activities such as mining. Thus, as an entity, the Leslie Melvin Photograph Collection substantially enriches pictorial access to Alaska in the 1930s. Leslie Edgar Melvin was born on May 18, 1910, in Tampa Bay, Florida, the third of five children. His parents were Jay Roy Melvin (1882-1926) of Maryland, and Sadie Hohenstein Melvin (1887-1955), who had emigrated to this country from Poland during her childhood. In 1915, when Melvin was 5, the family moved to Alaska, spending the next 3 years in Seward, Lake Kenai, Kodiak, and Seward again before moving south to settle permanently in West Seattle. Melvin graduated from Highline High School in 1930. Melvin’s fascination with Alaska grew out of memories of his early years spent there. Between 1928 and 1941 he made five trips to the state. During these sojourns he kept meticulous diaries and took countless photographs. In 1941, as World War II worsened, the Melvins, who were then living on the Alaska Peninsula, returned to West Seattle, where they have been ever since. Their daughter, Maria, was born there in 1943. From that time until his retirement Melvin had a number of different jobs. He spent most winters bartending in various establishments around Seattle, and in the summers the family ran their resort on Lake Goodwin, near Everett. Since his retirement in 1972, Melvin has devoted himself full time to caring for his collection of memorabilia of the Far North and to antique collecting, his two greatest avocations. Today, at 73, his memories of his trips to Alaska are as vivid as they were half a century ago.

Trip 1: 1928 - San Juan Melvin's first trip to Alaska, a summer spent working at San Juan Cannery on Prince William Sound is represented by only three photographs in the present collection. Trip 2: 1930 - Nome In May 1930, after graduating from high school, Melvin sailed for Nome on the SILVER WAVE, a passenger and freight boat owned by the Lomen Commercial Company. His interest in history already deeply entrenched, he put out a weekly newspaper during the voyage for the amusement of his fellow passengers. After stops at Ketchikan, Port Althorp, King Cove, False Pass, and Nunivak Island, the SILVER WAVE arrived at Nome. Shortly thereafter, Melvin found work as a night cook at a nearby mining camp of the Hammon Consolidated Company. In October of the same year, Melvin returned to Seattle. He again traveled on the Silver Wave, which had been disabled and was undertow by the ARTHUR J. BALDWIN. He began the trip as a stowaway, and after his presence was discovered, did menial chores to work off his passage. The voyage was a rough one; at one point, the ships encountered a storm so severe that the lives of all aboard were in great peril. Trip 3: 1931-32 - Fairbanks and Arctic In March 1931, Melvin again went north. He was lured back by the promise of a prospecting venture to the Arctic coast with August (Gus) Masik, a longtime trader and gold miner he had met in Nome the previous summer. Fairbanks (1931) He sailed from Seattle to Seward on the S. S. YUKON, making stops in Cordova and Valdez en route. In Seward, Melvin concealed himself aboard a train bound for Fairbanks, where he arrived after 2 days, most of the time spent standing up in an airless closet. Eventually Melvin was hired by the Fairbanks Engineering Co. as a cook, and worked at several different mining camps. In May, learning that Masik intended to leave shortly for the prospecting venture, Melvin left his job and talked his way onto a mail plane bound for Nome. Arctic (1931-32) In August 1931, Masik, Melvin, and Harry Knudson left Nome aboard the Hazel. Stopping at Kotzebue, Wainwright, Barrow, Beechey Point, and Barter Island, they made their way east to Martin Point, where Masik had heard of a gold strike on a nearby river. Arriving there in September, the three set about making a winter camp. Soon, however, Masik's infamous surly disposition got the best of Melvin. At the end of October, unable to tolerate him further, Melvin bartered with some local Eskimos for a sled, dogs, and provisions. With no previous experience in mushing or arctic survival, he set out alone to make his way back to Nome, some 1,500 miles distant. He was 21 years old at the time. One hundred and twenty-eight days later, in March 1932, Melvin reached his destination. He encountered unbelievable hardships en route. Lost and traveling in circles on several occasions, he mushed almost 3,000 miles during the journey. With a Graflex and an Eastman, Melvin photodocumented the trip from the day of his Nome departure until his arrival back in Barrow in December 1931. There, reasoning that he would have little further use for the cameras in the cold and dark, he traded them for much-needed provisions. In the fall of 1932, Melvin returned to Seattle where, word of his arctic journey having preceded him, he received a hero's welcome. Note: For a comprehensive account of Melvin's arctic trip see, I Beat the Arctic, (Alaska Northwest Publishing Company: Anchorage, 1982).

Trip 4: 1934 - Kodiak and Atka Islands

After 2 years spent in Seattle and San Francisco doing odd jobs, Melvin signed on the MV Westdahl for a year's tour of duty with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Kodiak Island The trip took him first to Kodiak, where he visited his brother Walter, stationed there with the Alaska Communications System (U.S. Signal Corps). Atka Island Thereafter, the Westdahl sailed for Atka Island, in the Aleutians, where Melvin and the surveying crew spent the next 8 months. The team established a base line across the island, mapped Nazan Bay, and investigated the volcanic possibilities of the highest peak on the island. After returning briefly to Kodiak and making a stop at Juneau, the Westdahl proceeded to Seattle, where Melvin received his discharge.

Trip 5: 1937-41 - Southeast and Alaska Peninsula

Juneau (1937-39) Melvin's final sojourn in Alaska was his longest. For the first 2 years he worked in the Alaska-Juneau Gold Mine at Juneau. In August of 1937, at Juneau, he married Esther Mahne of Seattle. Hoonah (1938-39) A school teacher by training, Esther Melvin was hired to teach for the academic year at the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs school in Hoonah. Every 6 weeks, Melvin was given a Saturday off from the mine and, weather permitting, would fly from Juneau to Hoonah to visit his wife. Among photographs made during these visits are some of the Hoonah community houses destroyed 5 years later in the fire of June 14, 1944. Perryville (1939-41) In 1939, the Melvins were hired by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to run the Perryville station, on the Alaska Peninsula. Esther Melvin was to be the only teacher and Leslie Melvin was to run the store and post office. En route to Seattle where they were to catch the boat to Perryville, the couple stopped briefly at Alert Bay, British Columbia. In Seattle they boarded the Boxer, the Bureau's supply ship, for the trip to Perryville. Chignik (1940, 1941) During both summers they were at Perryville, the Melvins accompanied other members of the community to Chignik, a fishing village some 60 miles distant, where seasonal cannery work was available. There, Leslie Melvin crewed on a fishing boat and his wife ran the summer school.