Press Release: Two Historical Collections Obtained by Sealaska Heritage Institute

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has acquired two photographs documenting Southeast Alaska Native cultures from circa 1883 to the 1990s.

Longtime photojournalist Brian Wallace donated several hundred images, including photos of the founding fathers of the Alaska Native Brotherhood (circa 1912) and past Alaska Native Sisterhood presidents. He also donated several hundred images of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native Sisterhood taken from 1965 to 1995, with the majority taken by Wallace in the 1980s. He made the donation in memory of his late parents, Dorothy (Natstklaa) and Amos L. (Jeet Yaaw Dustaa) Wallace.

"Both my parents were lifetime members of the ANB and ANS respectively. They devoted most of their lives fighting for Alaska Native rights. By donating all the photos of the ANB and ANS to Sealaska Heritage Institute I wish to honor their memory and accomplishments, as well as the other ANB/ANS elders past and present," Wallace said.

SHI President Rosita Worl said it’s a privilege to have a collection given in honor of Dorothy and Amos. “Dorothy and Amos were active in the Native community and Amos was a well-known artist and mentor to young artists,” Worl said.

Wallace’s donation has helped the institute build a repository of materials that document the ANB-ANS, said SHI Archivist Zachary Jones.

“It’s important that we have the records of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood because it helps document the activities they’ve done presently and in the past, and it helps capture the importance of these organizations,” said Jones, adding the institute also in recent times received donations of materials documenting the ANB-ANS from other people, including ANB Grand President Emeritus Dr. Walter Soboleff.

“SHI Special Collections really wants to collect these types of materials because it gives voice to great achievements in Alaska Native history. And the more materials like this we have, the better our library is for researchers,” he said.

SHI also acquired twenty historical images dating between 1883 and 1941. One of the more unusual photos shows the interior of a house and a display of Tlingit regalia and American military uniforms. The photo, obtained from Alaskan Heritage Bookshop owner Dick Wood of Juneau, was taken circa 1900 by Frank La Roche and inscribed “Interior of Capt. Jakes house, Killisnoo.” Another shows a marriage of two Native people who are seen standing under cedar boughs. The images are rare glimpses into Southeast Alaska Native life a century ago.

“We have some photographs of village life, of early village scenes, of people gathering for certain events. All in all, these pictures are really great and give us insights into the way people lived and how life was over a hundred years ago,” Jones said.

Many of the images are posted online with links through www.sealaskaheritage.org. Direct links are as follows: Brian Wallace Collection and Richard Wood Collection.

The institute collects materials that document the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people and makes these materials available to the public for educational purposes. SHI employs an archivist to care for them. Sealaska Heritage Institute is a Native nonprofit established in 1980 to administer educational and cultural programs for Sealaska, a regional Native corporation formed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The institute’s mission is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures.

The Content of Rare Books

One objective of SHI’s Special Collections Research Center is to collect special and rare books that document the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian. We collect special publications because we seek to support both general and specialized research, and research often necessitates the need for unique materials. The more unique materials a library has, the stronger its research potential is at that library. We have published works dating as far back as 1798, and many of our rare books offer unique and one-of-a-kind insight into Southeast Alaska Native life. This post seeks to briefly touch upon just a couple of our many unique books, some recently obtained which were published in the 1880s and one published in Swedish during the 1920s.

During the late 1800s it was quite popular for travelers to visit places around the world, and then publish their travel accounts as a book. The adjacent scan shows the title page for the 1885 book A Trip to Alaska by George Warden. It discusses a trip Warden made to Alaska in 1879 and the places he visited. As the scan of the table of contents shows, Warden made stops in Wrangell, Sitka, and other villages in Southeast Alaska. He discussed the towns, the people, and local Native art. His book, and many books like this, offer insights into life in Alaska during the 1879 period. Other books, like the 1884 Life in Alaska by Mrs. E. S. Willard contains the published letters of a female missionary residing at Haines. Her published letters discuss life at Haines in great detail, mentioning names of people, events that transpired, and a host of other activities. Her book, like many others of the period, contains drawings of Native art items, clan houses, totems, and images concerning the Haines Presbyterian Mission. The adjacent scan is one of twenty-two sketches from the book, and this image shows Tlingit art. These are just a few books of this nature held by SHI Special Collections.

There are not only great and interesting books printed in the English language, but many in European languages since Europeans visited Alaska regularly before and after it became an American territory. Often these non-English language books go unstudied, but a careful observation shows that they can yield interesting information for those not fluent in European languages. One special book of interest is the 1924 Swedish language book Sjutton ar i Alaska by Albin Johnson. This book discusses Swedish missionary Albin Johnson’s missionary work and friendships made while serving as a missionary in Yakutat. The book contains numerous photos of people and places and discusses life in Yakutat. The adjacent scan shows one image from the book, with people dressed in traditional regalia.

Overall, SHI Special Collections aims to be a place were those interested in Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian studies can find resources that foster learning and educational studies on Native culture and life. SHI is proud to collect these materials and make them available to the public. If you have any questions about materials available at SHI Special Collections, contact the archivist and see our website at www.sealaska.heritage.org

New Historic Photographs of Cape Fox Village and Killisnoo, Alaska

We recently obtained two new historical photographs for inclusion in our archive; one of Cape Fox Village circa 1899 and another of a scene at Killisnoo circa 1900. We obtained these photographs from local collector of rare Alaskana, Richard Wood, who operates the Alaska Heritage Bookshop.

When we made contact with a person at the Cape Fox Village Special Collections about the first photo, they were quite excited about it (shown below). Our contact reported that this photo was likely from the Harriman Expedition in 1899. They reported that “if you look near the center where the house that does not have a front....where you see just the frame....well that house was the Xoots.hit (Brown Bear House) of the Teikweidí Clan Leader Thomas Johnson. If you look real close you can see the Teikweidí pole in front of it. You can see the bear cubs climbing down the pole.” Since the Brown Bear is one of the Teikweidí crests, it’s known to belong to the Teikweidí. Sadly the Harriman Expedition removed many items from Cape Fox Village, including totem poles, and the pieces later ended up in museums. Since then many of these items have been repatriated to Cape Fox under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and returned under the 2000 Harriman Expedition Retraced. This photo is important because it shows what the village looked like before the Harriman Expedition removed various totems and items.

The second photograph shows an interior view of “Capt. Jake’s” house at Killisnoo. Kitcheenault or Kichnaalx was Jake’s Tlingit name. He was from the Deisheetaan clan of Angoon, but he was also known as Saginaw Jake, Chief Jake, and Killisnoo Jake. Jake was a policeman at Killisnoo for a number of years and involved with the US Navy, and his uniforms are visible in this photo. Many photographs were taken of Jake by professional photographers around the turn of the 20^th century with images of Jake posing in his uniforms. To view some of these photos go to the Alaska’s Digital Archives and type in the keyword “Jake”, click search, and a numerous will appear. The photograph we obtained was taken by professional photographer Frank La Roche and is interesting because it shows how Jake displayed his traditional regalia alongside his American uniforms. There are many pictures in circulation of Jake wearing this regalia and uniforms, but this may be one of few ever taken of his regalia and uniforms displayed as a whole. A biographical and historical essay was published on Jake and is cited as Robert N. DeArmond, "Saginaw Jake: Navy Hostage, Indian Policeman, Celebrity" Alaska History 5, no. 1 (Spring 1990). Because the navy failed to pay a dept owed to the Deisheetaan, they adopted the naval uniform as a crest and Haa At.óowu (Clan Property). Overall, SHI Special Collections was pleased to obtain these unique photographs for inclusion in our archive. For more information about additional historic photos held by SHI Special Collections click here to see our digital displays.

New Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood Photographs

A few weeks ago local Tlingit photographer Brian Wallace donated a batch of historical photographs to SHI Special Collections. Wallace, a professional photographer by trade, has always had a great gift with photography, and the pictures in this donation show his talent. Although Wallace has donated to SHI Special Collections in the past, this donation contained around 200 great photographs concerning the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood from the 1980s. These photographs have since been arranged into our Brian Wallace Photograph Collection (PO032), and for additional information about the collection’s contents you can view our online finding aid by clicking here. Importantly, these photos were donated in the memory of Wallace’s late parents, Amos L. (Jeet Yaaw Dustaa) and Dorothy Wallace (Natstklaa). The below picture is one from the recent donation.

This image was taken by Wallace in 1983 and shows former and then current Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS) Camp 2 presidents. The label on the photo reads “Bessie Visaya, Alice Vavilas, Emma Olsen, President, Dorothy Thornton, and Dorothy Wallace.” Camp 2 is the Juneau camp of the Alaska Native Sisterhood.

SHI Special Collections collects materials that document the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people and makes these materials available to the public for educational purposes. If you would like to learn more about donating to SHI Special Collections click here.

Working on the Curry-Weissbrodt Papers

These past few months Special Collections staff have been working on the Curry-Weissbrodt Papers collection, and we’ve found some real treasures in this large collection. The Curry-Weissbrodt Papers were donated to Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) in 1981 by I. E. Weissbrodt and consist of approximately 50 transfer case-boxes of materials. These materials are comprised of records documenting the work of lawyers James E. Curry and I. E. Weissbrodt from the 1930s to the 1970s while their legal firms were employed by the Tlingit and Haida Indians to fight for fishing rights and regulations, timber development, and possessory rights of Alaska Natives. Overall, the collection contains thousands of documents, reports, publications, a few photographs, and thousands of letters between these lawyers, members of the Alaska Native Brotherhood, and various Tlingit and Haida individuals from villages across Southeast Alaska. The collection significantly documents an important era in twentieth century Tlingit and Haida history. For those interested in viewing a finding aid (a descriptive inventory) of the collection, click here, and a few years ago Special Collections staff and our webmaster created a small online statement and display about the collection, which can be viewed by clicking here.

Of interest, we recently looked at in more detail a few hundred historic photographs embedded in the collection. Since photographs often require special archival care, we recently separated the photos, placed them in new archival folders and sleeves, and created a Curry-Weissbrodt Photograph Collection. A finding aid for this growing collection’s contents can be viewed by clicking here. The photos shown below are from this collection.

This first photograph is a black and white photograph taken on Nov. 11, 1941 at Hydaburg, Alaska where representatives from Southeast Alaska villages and members of the Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indians of Alaska met to discuss a pending land suit. There are seven other images from this meeting.

This second photograph is one of 107 images taken by William L. Paul, Jr. in 1945 of “cannery housing conditions” in Southeast Alaska. Paul took these photos to document how poor conditions were for cannery workers and fishermen in Southeast Alaska, many of whom were Tlingit and Haida. Most of these photos are sized 8” x 12”. This image was labeled on the reverse, and Mr. Paul stated it was a housing unit of the Superior Packing Co. near Tenakee, Alaska. SHI also has produced a digital display of other photographs taken by Mr. Paul, which can be viewed by clicking here.

SHI is an Alaska Native nonprofit organization established in 1980 to administer educational and cultural programs for Sealaska, a regional Native corporation formed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The institute’s mission is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures. If you would like to donate materials to SHI, or conduct research at our Special Collections Research Center, click here to contact SHI’s archivist.