George A. Parks Photograph Collection, ca. 1911-1933
Scope and Contents
The collection includes about 300 photos taken in interior and northwestern Alaska in 1911-1914 by Governor Parks when he worked for the U.S. Land Office. These include views of villages, mining operations, and vessels on the Yukon. The first 92 views (album) in the collection record a trip taken during May and June of 1928 by Governor Parks, Malcolm Elliott, President of the Alaska Road Commission and R.J. Sommers, Territorial highway engineer. A portion of the trip was in a one-engine airplane, piloted by A. A. Bennett. The trip of 2,500 miles to northern and interior Alaska was the first extensive trip that an Alaskan governor had made by airplane. There are some official photos of cabinet members; also formal and informal views of the 1929 U.S. Navy Alaska Aerial Survey Expedition.
Dates
- circa 1911-1933
EAD
PCA0240Conditions Governing Access
The photographs may be viewed, however, they may not be photocopied.
Conditions Governing Use
Requests for permission to publish material from the collection must be discussed with the Librarian. Photocopying does not constitute permission to publish.
Biographical / Historical
George A. Parks was born in Denver, Colorado, on May 29, 1883 and graduated from the Colorado School of Mining in 1906. He arrived in Alaska in 1907 to work as a mineral examiner for the U.S. General Land Office. Following his World War I military service, Parks returned to Alaska as chief of the field division of the General Land Office.
In 1924 he became Assistant Superintendent of Surveys and Public Lands and in 1925 was appointed governor of Alaska by President Calvin Coolidge. When his term expired in 1933, he rejoined the U.S. Dept. of Interior as a district engineer for Alaska. During World War II, he worked on military projects in Alaska as a partner in the R.J. Sommers Construction Co. Gov. Parks died on May 11, 1984 just a few weeks short of his 101st birthday.
Extent
1 Linear Feet (2 boxes) : 1 album (92 black and white photographs) ; 625 black and white photographs total ; some photographs located in PCA Oversize
Language of Materials
English
Existence and Location of Originals
INVENTORY OF ORIGINAL NEGATIVES
Negatives stored in freezer in Vault
2 Boxes
2 Eastman Negative Albums
▪ 100 sleeves; some sleeves have more than one negative, some sleeves are empty
▪ 4 x 6 negatives
▪ Negative descriptions on pages at the end of the negative albums, also include
photographer’s negative numbers which are at the end of each finding aid description.
Box 1
Negative Album 1: “Geo. A. Parks 3397 Boulevard “F.” Denver, Colo.” Negatives that correspond to #267 - 418 in finding aid. (Neg. List 1, copied from pages at end of the negative album, is located in Masterfile, Donation Records folder. This list describes negatives in album.)
Box 2
Negative Album 2: “Negatives Taken In Season 1914 In Alaska Geo. A. Parks.” Negatives that correspond to #419 – 584 in finding aid. (Neg. List 2, copied from pages at end of the negative album, is located in Masterfile, Donation Records folder. This list describes negatives in album.)
Existence and Location of Copies
Photographs digitized and available for viewing via Alaska's Digital Archives: 6, 8-9, 11, 14, 16-19, 23, 25, 27, 30-32, 35-36, 44, 46-54, 56-58, 64-70, 72-73, 75, 82, 93, 97-98, 100-101, 103-109, 112, 127, 128, 134-135, 148, 155-158; 164-165, 168, 190-191, 193, 195, 198, 206, 210-212, 214-215, 219, 224, 233, 235, 239, 241, 244-250, 254, 257-258, 266, 293, 296, 300, 306, 318, 321-322, 329, 338-339, 343, 359-360, 373, 377, 383, 389-390, 444-445, 456-457, 477-478, 487, 496, 499-500, 502, 525, 537, 546-547, 550, 564-565, 572, 577-578, 581-582, 584-587, 592, 594-597, 599, 601-602, 604-606, 608, 610, 613, 618, 624, Abum-Cover-A, AlaskaTour, Album-Map, Plates
General
In April, 2005, John Branson, Historian and park ranger, sent additional information describing some items in the inventory. The items Mr. Branson added descriptions to are noted with the following phrase: "per John Branson". Mr. Branson made additional changes in October of 2006.
Inventory Note
#161 through 171 are views of a fishing trip of U.S. Navy pilots and Gov. Parks at Hasselborg Lake (?) Aug 17, 1929
#267 – 418: Prints from negatives in Geo. A. Parks’ Eastman Negative Album #1 ; “Geo. A. Parks 3397 Boulevard “F.” Denver, Colo.”
#419 – 584: Prints from negatives in Geo. A. Parks’ Eastman Negative Album #2 ; “Negatives Taken In Season 1914 In Alaska Geo. A. Parks.”
Processing Information
The Alaska Historical Library made new safety film negatives and prints of the negatives. The photographs are sleeved in Mylar. Citations from list of negatives, or from researchers (identified.)
- Title
- Finding Aid for the George A. Parks Photograph Collection, ca. 1911-1933
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by: Staff ; Inventory revised: Apr. 2005; Revised by: Jacki Swearingen, Aug. 2014 ; ArchivesSpace Finding Aid by: Jacki Swearingen, May 2019 ; Inventory added by: Jacki Swearingen
- Date
- 2022 April
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Alaska State Library - Historical Collections Finding Aids Repository
PO Box 110571
Juneau AK 99811-0571 US
907-465-2920
907-465-2925
907-465-2151 (Fax)
asl.historical@alaska.gov