Beschreibung:

Title: Archive of photographs and other items on Alaska and its native inhabitants, artifacts, seal hunting, etc. Author: Place: Alaska Publisher: Date: late 19th-early 20th centuries Description: Includes: Album containing approximately 30 original albumen or silver photographs and 8 prints or engravings of Eskimos, artifacts, etc., including harvesting of fur seals. There is extensive holograph descriptive text accompanying the mounted and tipped-in photographs. Album compiled to record a cruise to Alaska c.1902, with photographs and other material gathered from various, often earlier sources, including approximately 68 original albumen or silver photographs; approx. 55 halftone or other reproductions of photographs; 7 small maps; plus a few ephemeral items and some newspaper clippings. Many with inked captions. Rare, original unmounted albumen photograph of Ounalaska, 1889, pencil caption on verso. Approximately 50 unmounted albumen or silver photographs, most of Native American and Eskimo artifacts, basketry, etc. Most about 14x8.5 cm. (5x3”) or reverse. Three mounted albumen photographs of a seal hunt on St. Paul’s Island, Behring Sea, showing the baby seals massed together, being clubbed to death by men with sticks, and skinning the fur from their dead bodies. Ink captions on versos. 12x19.5 cm. (4x7”) on larger mounts. (Fading to images). Seven original albumen photographs of Native American or Eskimo artifacts. Approx. 10.5x18.2 cm. (4x7”), on larger paper mounts. Fourteen original albumen photographs of Alaska scenes, glaciers, villages (with numerous totem poles), etc. Images approx. 15.5x22 cm. (6x8¾”), on larger paper mounts. Five original pen & ink or watercolor drawings with multiple images of Native American or Alaska artifacts. Various manuscripts and fragments relating to Alaska natives, artifacts, etc. Important collection of original photographs and other items on Alaska at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, with emphasis on Alaska natives and their artifacts. Among the photographs of significance is a photograph of Oonalaska in 1889. showing a small settlement on the shore with a church, sailboats docked, etc. There are also early views of Wrangel, Ketchikan, Juneau, Stika, Kasaan (dated 1885), White Pass and Yukon Railway, and other locales. Equally important are the many photographs of native artifacts, including knives, spears, carved pipes, bowls, bracelets, and more. Also, the photographs of Eskimos are revealing, and the several views of seal hunting appropriately disturbing. A very significant and important photographic archive. Lot Amendments Condition: Some wear, overall very good, many images fine. Item number: 239761