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Alaska fish hatchery records and related material, 1903-1982

 Collection
Identifier: MS 79

Scope and Contents

The federal government operated hatcheries at Yes Bay, this collection includes eleven logbooks of the station operation from 1906-1934. Three logbooks related to the Quadra Hatchery, which was a mandatory hatchery, are included in this collection. The logbooks cover the years 1908 - 1935. Also included is a logbook of the Hetta Hatchery on Prince of Wales Island, a voluntary enterprise, which closed in 1918. Copies of correspondence and a history of the government operated Afognak Hatchery are also a part of this collection. Also included are copies of some correspondence and reports on the Karluk Hatchery which closed in 1930.

Other materials in this collection are the FEDERAL FISH HATCHERY MEMOIRS compiled by William M. Morton and BIOGRAPHIES OF PACIFIC FISHERY BIOLOGISTS by W.M. Morton and Ralph P. Silliman. These works include helpful information on people who worked in Alaska such as Lillie M. Anderson, Frederick A. Davidson, Clarence E. Rowland (Yes Bay), Eric O. Kuehl (Yes Bay), Blendon H. Cook (Yes Bay), Harry D. Baer (Afognak Hatchery), Frederick W. Bitle (Kodiak), Marcus W. Meyer (Quadra and Kodiak) and others.

Dates

  • 1903-1982

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is unrestricted.

Conditions Governing Use

Request for permission to publish or reproduce material from the collection should be discussed with the Librarian.

HISTORICAL NOTE

Control of Alaska's fisheries, including regulation and hatcheries has been under various federal agencies. In the collection are photocopies of records from the U.S. Commission of Fisheries under the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor. Within this Commission was the Bureau of Scientific Inquiry and the Bureau of Fisheries including the Alaska Fisheries Service. In 1910 the two bureaus merged to form the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Department of Commerce.

Alaska's fish hatcheries were operated by private companies on a voluntary or mandatory basis; also by the federal and territorial government. The first hatchery at Karluk, Kodiak Island in 1891, was built on a voluntary basis by several cannery -operators. It spawned a limited number of sockeye salmon. In 1900, the U.S. Congress amended the 1889 Fisheries Act requiring any person, company or corporation taking salmon in Alaskan waters must establish a hatchery producing at least four times the number of mature salmon taken each year. There are some logbooks and records of the Quadra Hatchery established pursuant to this law.

Extent

3 boxes ; 1.9 linear feet

Language of Materials

English

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was donated by Patricia Roppel in April 1984. The records and material were gathered during a research project for the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service. Her work ALASKA'S SALMON HATCHERIES, 1891-1959 (Portland, Oregon, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1982) was published as Alaska Historical Commission Studies in History, No. 20.

Related Materials

While this collection has no records of the Fortman Hatchery, which was the largest mandatory hatchery, the Historical Library holdings include the Alaska Packers Association Records (Microfilm Manuscript 30 and MS 9). The APA Journals series includes data on both the Fortman and Karluk Hatcheries. There are also some details on the hatchery operations of the Territorial Fish Commission in the Urban C. Nelson Collection (MS 65) which includes papers of A.J. Sprague, first superintendent of the Territorial Fish Hatcheries.

Processing Information

The majority of this collection has been described at the item. Folders 5 and 6 in Box 3 have been described at the folder level. Original order maintained. Some items have been placed into pH-neutral folders. All items have been housed in archival boxes.

Title
Finding Aid for the Alaska fish hatchery records and related material, 1903-1982
Status
In Progress
Author
Finding aid prepared by staff ; revised by Jacki Swearingen
Date
2014 June
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Alaska State Library - Historical Collections Finding Aids Repository

Contact:
PO Box 110571
Juneau AK 99811-0571 US
907-465-2920
907-465-2925
907-465-2151 (Fax)