The first 1,086 images were taken by Edward Keithahn while living and/or teaching in Shishmaref, Kake, Hydaburg, Wrangell and Juneau, from 1923-th 1940’s. They include Tlingit and Hyda artifacts from the Alaska Territorial Museum, Alaska Natives and traditional activities, fishing, steamers, canneries, the Wrangell Institute. The collection also includes photos of Edward Keithahn.

The Shishmaref photographs (#714 – 936*), taken in 1923, were documented by the National Park Service (NPS) in their “Shared Beringen Heritage Program” in 1993-1994, during which Susie Fair interviewed Shishmaref residents who identified locations, activities and people. These interpretations were copied for the Historical Library in 2002. A little more than a dozen of the photographs were reproduced in the NPS publication, Ublasaun=First Light: Inupiaq Hunters And Herders In The Early Twentieth Century, Northern Seward Peninsula, Alaska (E99.E7 U24 1996). The National Park Service file is at the library. The NPS numbers have been matched with the Library numbers in the book and the Interpretations and are noted on the back of each photograph.

Richard Keithahn and Loretta (Keithahn) Penrod, children of E.L. Keithahn, donated 17 photographs of E.L. Keithahn to the Alaska State Museum for the 100-year anniversary celebration in 2000. Copies of the photographs were added to this collection in February 2001.