Alaska State Library – Historical Collections

Taku Harbor Cannery, operations, pile driving, ca. 1930s.

The views in this collection include Fairbanks street scenes, mining activity, agricultural produce, the U.S. Agricultural Experimentation Station, Athapascan Indian portraits and culture, and the Catholic church and hospital in Fairbanks.

Three black and white photographs of Icy Strait fish traps, one with an off-loading boat, and one with fish trap watchman Hank Johnson.

Alaska Highway Construction, World War II. Images of Alaska Highway construction, bridges, bridge construction along the Alaska Highway, soldiers, tanks, military equipment, road building equipment, Quonset huts, Fort St. John Trading Co. (#281), Headquarters Alaska Highway, Dawson Creek, Whitehorse.

This collection contains 46 lantern slides from the 1890s, depicting mining and prospecting activities in Alaska.

Communities and Community activities in South Central and Southeastern Alaska ; Steamboat Inspection Service ; 1924 Flight around the World, ca. 1924-1929

The Roy Jones Manuscript Collection contains newspaper and magazine articles by and about Roy Jones’ air service activities from 1922 to 1923; two typed autobiographical stories written by Jones, one story about his experiences as a pilot titled An Air Epic of Alaska, and one story about fishing practices on an Alaskan halibut schooner in the early 1900’s titled Running the Square. Folder 2 contains 25 Black and white related photographs of Roy Jones and his flying boat.

The photographs and postcards include the Leona K, a fishing boat, the Falcon, a converted purse seiner, a portrait of N. E. "EJ” Jordan, fish drying, and a hunting party boarding a plane in Ward Cove. Jordan’s time in Alaska includes 1917-1972. The donor, Albert E. Helzner, describes “EJ” as a “colorful individual who possibly made a significant contribution to the history of the state of Alaska.”

The papers in this collection include letters to Jessica Suhm Jorgensen from family members (Tecla and Dr. Leslie White), four teaching contracts for teaching in Unalaska 1935-1939, three Alaska teacher’s certificates for years 1933-1936, 1936-1939, 1939-1942. Some of the personal letters are World War II correspondence.

Joseph relates the story of the Aukquon, the Auk tribe of Tlingit Indians, beginning at Stikine River in the Fifteenth Century. He mentions settlements at Auke Bay and Taku Inlet, seal hunting at Young's Bay and the river formed when the Taku Glacier dammed up the river. Joseph includes some family history and lineage.