Jeanice Welsh, Alaska cannerywoman

(The following is taken from “Mrs. Jeanice Welsh Killed in Yakutat Earthquake,” Pacific Fisherman (August 1958): 47.  The earthquake in which Jeanice Welsh perished also triggered a landslide and the subsequent giant wave at Lituya Bay. Thanks goes to James Mackovjac for sharing this.)

Mrs. Jeanice Welsh Killed in Yakutat Earthquake. Mrs. Jeanice Welsh Walton, who was generally known in the salmon industry as Jeanice Welsh, and as the only woman who ever owned and personally operated a salmon canning business, died in the disappearance of a portion of Khantaak Island in the Alaska earthquake of July 9.

With two friends, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Tibbles of the Civil Aeronautics Administration station at Yakutat, she had gone to the island on a picnic and to pick wild strawberries. In the earthquake the portion of the island on which they had been last seen was thrust high in the air, only to disappear utterly in the deep waters. The island was about a mile offshore in Yakutat Bay, where the Bellingham Canning Co., of which Mrs. Welsh was president, had a cannery. She was also president of the Icy Straits Salmon Co., which had a cannery at Hoonah.

Mrs. Welsh was 54, the daughter-in-law of the late R.A. Welsh, Puget Sound canneryman who founded the Bellingham Canning Co., and widow of his son, Robin A. Welsh. Following her husband’s death, Mrs. Welsh took active charge of the family’s salmon canning business and, with her three sons, Warren, William and Robert, operated and expanded it. She later married the late J.L. Walton.

She specialized in conducting her business in Alaska Native communities, and in cultivating the confidence, friendship and cooperation of the Indian people. In this she was markedly successful.

Men in the salmon business have her full respect and regard as a woman of high character, a competent salmon canner and businesswoman, and a resourceful competitor. 

Can You Identify This Cannery?

Does this cannery or the surrounding landscape look familiar to you? It could be Southeast Alaska, or perhaps Prince William Sound. Please leave your suggestions!

History in a Can

By: Steve Henrikson, Curator of Collections at the Alaska State Museum

(Note: This article was republished from the Alaska State Museum's Bulletin 41 with the permission of the author.)

Though famous for our isolation and uniqueness, the scattering of Alaskan material culture around the globe shows the extent of our engagement in the world economy.  Years ago I was in Manhattan, on the “museum crawl,” and took a few minutes to browse an antique mall in the Garment District.  The bottom floor was reserved for the glitziest of furnishings and decorative arts, and there, amidst the Deco and the Louis XIV, I glimpsed something so incongruous I thought I must be hallucinating. In the middle of a fashionably lit kiosk of fine porcelain and crystal was a century-old Alaskan salmon tin.  I couldn’t have been happier.

Salmon can “Red Brand,” Arctic Packing Company, San Francisco. The Arctic Packing Company established the first cannery in western Alaska at Kanulik, 3 miles east of Nushagak. ASM 96-4-1

The label read “Red Brand Spring Salmon, Arctic Packing Company, Alaska,” and the can itself looked early.  It was hand-soldered, with a small vent hole that was plugged with solder after the cooking process. The label appeared to be an 1890s chromolithograph, an expensive process by which master printers hand stippled designs on stone plates to produce complex designs with naturalistic shading in over a dozen colors—each color requiring its own stone plate.  The Arctic Packing Company operated canneries at Larsen Bay, Olga Bay and Nushagak Bay in the 1880s and 90s.  However, the latter site was in operation beginning in 1878. One of only three canneries that began operations that year, listed as Alaska’s first.

I later heard that when my procurement documents hit the street in Juneau, my recommendation to spend $70 on an old can—empty no less—met with surprise and consternation. Such unusual requests from the museum have long ago entered state procurement lore, and today generate little controversy.

Though the can was (happily) empty of its original contents, it was full of potential for the interpretation of Alaska history in the museum. When we consider objects for acquisition by the museum, we always think about the end use—can it become a primary source for future research, or something useful in educational programming, or in exhibitions? And what interpretive subjects are suggested by the object?  Sometimes the lowliest object turns out to be most useful in making a variety of interpretive points.

Salmon cans are incredibly versatile artifacts that support the telling of many Alaskan stories.  Early industry, industrial revolution, labor history, and racial strife; Alaska as America’s colony, and as part of the global food chain;  environmental degradation;  the history of advertising, marketing and branding; and even printing technology are all themes supported by salmon tins. The subject matter printed on the labels, such as “Seward Brand” (Seward’s role in the Alaska Purchase Treaty), and “Wigwam Brand” (depiction of Alaska Natives in advertising), may be subjects worthy of exploration in our museums.

A group of Salmon tins in the collection of the Alaska State Museum. Photo by Sara Boesser.

The canning of salmon in Alaska was only possible due to advances in science and technology that allowed for processing on an industrial scale.  Canning in crocks, glass, and tinned iron, was developed in Europe during the 18th century, primarily for military consumption. In New York, salmon packed in glass jars were among the first vacuum packed foods available in the United States.  After the Civil War, with improvements in the production of tinned iron, and the invention of new canning equipment, canned food became increasingly available to civilians in the United States.   In Alaska, the invention of canning line machinery and processes conveniently coincided with efforts to develop its vast fishery resources, early in the American period.

By the early 20th century, much of the canning process became mechanized, but tin can construction in Alaska remained a hand operation due in part to the cost of shipping:  it was cheaper to ship the tin sheets to Alaska flat.  The tin itself was expensive, and a large quantity was required. In 1882, for example, the tin plate used by Alaska canneries in 1892 amounted to 49,239 boxes—each 108 pounds, with each box containing 112 14×20 inch sheets, which made 448 cans.  To ship the packed cans south, crates were constructed from lumber supplied by Alaskan mills.  These early cannery contracts came about at a critical time for Alaska’s fledgling lumber industry.

Bay Cannery, Alaska”  Photograph by Winter and Pond, after 1907.  Alaska State Library Historical Collection P87-0190″]Bay Cannery, Alaska” Photograph by Winter and Pond, after 1907. Alaska State Library Historical Collection P87-0190″]

A rare image of an Alaskan Native woman pasting labels on cans. "The Labeler, Silkof [Sitkoh

Once the cut salmon pieces were inserted in the can, the top was soldered on, but a small vent hole was left open. The food was cooked in the cans, and the vent hole was soldered closed when the food was steaming, creating a vacuum. Between 1908 and 1910, the American can company invented the sanitary can, featuring pre-soldered can bodies that were flattened for shipping, and once in Alaska, they were reconstituted and fitted with crimped ends.  This eventually brought an end to hand manufacturing of cans in Alaska.

Prior to crating, the full cans were varnished (to inhibit rust) and a colorful paper label glued around the circumference. Early on, salmon cans in northern California were painted red, and consumers became so accustomed to the color that they reportedly refused to purchase anything painted another color.  Habits die hard, and later paper labels in Alaska usually had bright red backgrounds—which also helped conceal spots of rust bleeding through the paper.

The labels’ designs themselves chart the birth of modern marketing techniques and branding.  Competition was fierce, and consumer impressions of quality and cleanliness where based in part on the outward appearance of the can.  Companies spared no expense designing their labels with colorful brand names and interesting graphics to make them stand out when displayed on shelves behind the counter of old-fashioned general stores. Consumers were loyal to brands that experience showed met their expectations of quality and purity.  Over time, some brands lasted decades and became valuable assets, surviving as the company changed ownership.

“Wigwam Brand” salmon tin, packed by the Baranoff Packing Company at “Redutsky Lake” Alaska. The company operated at Redoubt Lake, near Sitka, from 1889 until 1891, when it moved to Redfish Bay (on southern Baranoff Island). The company ceased operations in 1898, when it was dismantled by the Alaska Packers Association. This can was uncovered with construction debris under the floorboards of an 1892 house in Jamestown, New York. Photograph by Sara Boesser. ASM 2000-9-1

Salmon cans symbolize the development of Alaska and its participation in the world economy.

In 1883, Alaskan canneries shipped 36,000 cases of 48 one pound cans.  Just eight years later, the annual pack had increased to 789,347 cases—a rate of growth that some at the time considered alarming. Special Agent Paul S. Luttrell, Special Agent for the Salmon Fisheries in Alaska in 1895, reported that

“the salmon-packing industry… has attained the limit beyond which it is dangerous to pass; and that, if we would perpetuate the salmon industry and keep it up to its present grand proportions, measures of protection must be taken…. it should never be forgotten that there is a limit beyond which it is not safe to go, and that if we would reap an annual golden harvest we must also guard the source of supply, and see that nothing is done to either fish or stream that will change the natural order under which the fish have grown to such numbers and by which they may be perpetuated without abatement forever. Paradoxical though it may appear, it is nevertheless true, that none are more anxious to save and perpetuate the salmon than the canners themselves, and yet their methods are such as, if continued, will very soon destroy them.”

In 1936, production in Alaska had increased astronomically to eight million cases to meet the global demand (one salmon tin recently acquired by the Alaska State Museum, a “Meteor Brand” can from the early 1900s, was recently excavated from an old garbage dump in Chile).

In terms of significance, canned salmon played a key role in Alaska’s development;  between 1880 and 1937, the value of canned salmon produced in Alaska exceeded the value of minerals extracted from Alaska during the same period.  Luttrell contined:

“Let it be borne in mind that all the canning factories in Alaska are owned by three or four corporations in San Francisco, who have millions invested in the salmon-canning industry, but who have no interest in the development of Alaska, and who, as a matter of fact, do not add one dollar to the wealth of the young Territory from which they take millions of dollars annually.  These corporations are rivals in the salmon-canning business, and their rivalry is carried to such extremes betimes that bloodshed at any moment will not surprise those who know the real conditions existing there. Now, this bitter rivalry of great and rich corporations, if allowed to continue, will eventually destroy the salmon…”

The role of museums is not necessarily to celebrate history.  Resource development remains a mainstay of life in Alaska and makes available to society many important and positive things.  Yet we may not overlook the suffering and ruin that resulted.  Such production levels were possible in Alaska, where civil government and resource regulation was virtually nonexistent. The harvest exploited a vast biomass that had evolved in place for thousands of years.  That abundance, the lifeblood of the rainforest and of Alaska Native cultures, was the target of canning companies as they expanded up the Northwest Coast, moving northward as California, Oregon, and Washington were overfished.  The vastness of Alaska’s runs, and its relatively high operating costs and isolation, spared it the decimation seen in areas south.  The lessons of overharvest and colonization were learned late. Fish traps—the device that led to such rapid increase in productivity—were eventually outlawed, and Alaska’s constitution became unique with its mention of the sustained yield principal.

Too, we must not overlook the human cost of the industry—Alaskans overlooked poor and dangerous working conditions in order to have a chance to make a cash income, which enabled them to participate in the introduced economy where some cash was a necessity.  Cultures clashed when cannery management played one group against the other to lower labor costs, or to circumvent strikes (a technique that one writer noted had been taught “by the more irresponsible European laborers”). In Klawock, Tlingit and Haida cannery workers fought each other for access to employment.  In Sitka, clans staged an organized protest when Chinese workers were imported.  Violence was averted when officials explained that the Chinese were there only to make cans, and if the Natives would learn to make them, the Chinese would be sent away.  That explanation, and a threat of calling the “man-of-war” for “a little gunnery practice,” helped quell the dispute.  Canneries heavily reliant on Native labor worked in cahoots with the government to ensure that strikes and ceremonial activities would not interfere with production.

Collecting Salmon Tins:

Alaska cans may appear at any time for sale the internet auction sites, or through antique dealers, usually from outside Alaska, where the vast majority of the cans were originally sold. Many cans sell for under $75, and dozens are offered annually.  Currently, a rare and early “Zenith Brand” can, packed by the Yakutat and Southern Railway Company of Yakutat, is offered for $1,500—the most I’ve even seen for an Alaskan can. It is from a small cannery, with an early type label, and in nearly perfect shape.  Labels are more common still, and rare examples may sell for several hundred dollars.  These are mostly leftovers that were never affixed to cans, found by the bundle in old canneries and printing plants.

“Klawack Brand” salmon tin, from the one of the first salmon canneries in Alaska, opened at Klawock in 1878 by the North Pacific Trading and Packing Company. The cannery was built on the site of Hamilton's Fishery, an early Alaskan salmon saltery. Photo by Sara Boesser. ASM 2000-39-1

Condition can be an issue, given that most of them spent at least part of their existence in the garbage.  Luckily, some cans survive a half century or more in the trash in a remarkably good state of preservation.  One can we collected had been found in the wall of a house in upstate New York, having been deposited there by lunching carpenters—it was in great shape, and was opened from the bottom, which is nice for display purposes.  Early cans were generally opened with a knife, which often chewed up the metal and sometimes even part of the label.

Online Resources:

Canneries, Canning Technology, History of Canned Salmon Industry:

Cobb, John N.

1917    Pacific Salmon Fisheries.  Appendix II to the report of U.S. Commissioner of Fisheries for 1916.  Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 839.  Washington DC:  Government Printing Office.

http://books.google.com/books?id=Ri4wAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA7&dq=John+n.+cobb&hl=en&ei=b1H-TZ2dNsnUiAKczqDoBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Friday, Chris

1999    “Competing Communities at Work:
Asian Americans, European Americans, and Native Alaskans in the Pacific Northwest, 1938-1947. Over the Edge: Remapping the American West.  Edited by
Valerie J. Matsumoto and Blake Allmendinger.  Berkeley:  University of California Press.

http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft8g5008gq;brand=ucpress

Jordan, David Starr

1898    Reports on Seal and Salmon Fisheries by Officers of the Treasury Department, and Correspondence Between the State and Treasury Departments on the Bering Sea Question From January 1, 1895, to June 20, 1986, with Comments on that Portion Thereof Which Relates to Pelagic Sealing (four volumes). Washington DC:  Government Printing Office.

http://books.google.com/books?id=R9cqAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=seal+and+salmon+fisheries&hl=en&ei=K9P7TfWzD6XOiAKIspyEBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Moser, Jefferson F.

1902    “Salmon Investigations of the Steamer Albatross in the Summer of 1901.” Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission, Vol. XXI, 1901, 57th Cong. 1st sess., Ho. Doc. No. 706. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 374-376.

http://books.google.com/books?id=bvA_AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=jefferson+moser&hl=en&ei=qqr9TaurA4bViAKus6T-Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Label History:

The History of Fruit Crate Labels and Can Labels

http://www.thelabelman.com/history_label.php?osCsid=d6b39e31d618220d4e071d000d91d5b1

http://www.antiquetrader.com/article/can_labels_brought_art_to_the_aisles/

Label Collecting Tips (including identification of printing techniques and dating)

http://www.thelabelman.com/collect_label_tip.php?osCsid=b394b0fa66206fdc658adb876d43c0fb

Label Collecting:

http://acn.liveauctioneers.com/index.php/component/content/article/60-style-century-magazine/1121-salmon-labels-are-a-prize-catch-from-the-great-northwest-

Schmidt Label and Lithography Company (the printer of many salmon can labels):

http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/schmidt.html

Finding Aid, Schmidt Lithography Company Papers, Bancroft Library:

http://cdn.calisphere.org/data/13030/j1/tf9t1nb4j1/files/tf9t1nb4j1.pdf

The Schmidt Lithography Company:  Oral History Transcripts, 1967-69

http://www.archive.org/stream/schmidtlithographco01teisrich/schmidtlithographco01teisrich_djvu.txt

Finding Aids:

Alaska Packers Association

Alaska State Library:

http://www.eed.state.ak.us/temp_lam_pages/library/historical/collections01.cfm

Western Washington University:

http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/findaid/ark:/80444/xv77299

Pacific American Fisheries

http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/findaid/ark:/80444/xv45835

Southwestern Alaska Cannery Logbooks:

http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/findaid/ark:/80444/xv99198

Cannery Workers and Farm Laborers Union Local 7 Records 1915-1985

http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/findaids/docs/papersrecords/CanneryWorkersandFarmLaborersUnionLocal7SeattleWash3927.xml

North Pacific Cannery National Historical Site Finding Aids

http://memorybc.ca/north-pacific-cannery-village-and-museum;isdiah

Books:

Boettcher, Graham C.

1997    Canned Culture:  Pacific Salmon Fisheries and the Image of the American Indian.  Unpublished Manuscript in the Alaska State Museum files.

Clark, Hyla M.

1977    The Tin Can:  The Can as Collectible Art, Advertising Art & High Art.  New York:  New American Library

Dunbar, Kurt, and Chris Friday

1994    “Salmon, Seals, and Science: The Albatross and Conservation in Alaska, 1888-1914.” Journal of the West 33 (October 1994): 6-13.

Edwards, Jack

2006    How Old Is That Label:  A Celebration of Pacific Northwest Salmon Labels & Dating Guide.  Long Beach, Washington:  Chinook Observer Publications.

Friday, Chris

1994    Organizing Asian American Labor:  The Pacific Coast Canned-Salmon Industry, 1870-1942.

Freeburn, Laurence

1976    “The Silver Years of the Alaska Canned Salmon Industry.”  Alaska Geographic3(4).  Anchorge:  Alaska Geographic Society.

Lorenz, Claudia, Kathryn McKay, et al

2002    Trademarks and Salmon Art:  A Brand New Perspective.  Vancouver BC:  Gulf Of Georgia Cannery Society.

Canned Salmon: Alaska's Superfood

By: James Mackovjak

          The late Bob Thorstenson, one of the founders of Icicle Seafoods, once told me his favorite seafood was canned pink salmon. Bob had good taste.

Canned salmon, which has been produced in Alaska since 1878, is the most nutritious and consumer-friendly of all of Alaska’s seafood. While the product is often considered poor cousin to skinless, boneless salmon fillets, canned salmon is by far the more nutritious of the two. Yes, both canned salmon and salmon fillets are very rich in protein, but canned salmon—because it contains salmon flesh, skin, and bones—provides additional nutritional benefits. First, there is fish oil. With fillets, the healthy oil may be cooked out of the product during preparation. With canned salmon, the fish is cooked in the can, so all of the oil is retained. Second, canned salmon includes the fish’s bones, a valuable source of calcium. And then there is the skin, which contains a variety of important nutrients. Add to this the fact that canned salmon is easily digestible.

          Regarding consumer friendliness, canned salmon, unlike frozen or fresh salmon fillets, requires no refrigeration and has a shelf life of five years. A meal of canned salmon can be as simple as opening can and eating the fish with a fork. For those who desire something more elaborate, canned salmon can be poured over a salad, or noodles, or rice. The options are endless.

Stikine River Cannery, 1888-1889

(Note: This article was first published in the Capital City Weekly in Juneau)

By: Pat Roppel

Astoria, Oregon salmon processors built the first cannery in 1888 near today’s Wrangell at the mouth of the Stikine River.  The cannery’s location was described as about eight miles above the river’s mouth. It is difficult today to determine where this might have been because the river mouth continues to change bringing more and more silt to build sand bars and make the “mouth” shallower. Today’s mouth isn’t yesteryear’s mouth!

In those days, the mainland east of Wrangell was wild country and a few men passed through it navigating the river. Who interested B.A. Seaborg in the area? Perhaps some of the prospectors, who participated in the early Stikine and Cassair gold rushes, came back to Astoria and mentioned in passing that salmon were seen progressing upstream. Maybe some of the steamboat captains spent winters on the Columbia River and mentioned sockeye and king salmon.

Astorians were already canning fish in Southeast Alaska in Boca de Quadra, Ketchikan, Burroughs Bay at the mouth of the Unuk River, and Pyramid Harbor off Lynn Canal.  B.A. Seaborg & Company’s president, B.A. Seaborg, decided to try his luck in Alaska under another of his company’s names, the Aberdeen Packing Company, This company owned a cannery at Ilwaco on the Washington side of the Columbia River and one at Bay Center, Washington (on Highway 101, south of Raymond).

In early April 1888, the company’s steamer EUREKA was refitted and set in sailing trim, She awaited an opportunity to cross the Columbia River Bar with a man named Wilson as captain. After she sailed, a few weeks later the GEO W. ELDER left with supplies not only for the Stikine River cannery, but for the D.L. Beck & Sons cannery at Pyramid Harbor. Twenty-two Astorians were aboard with fifty Chinese. How many of those men were bound for the Aberdeen cannery is unknown.

The crews built the cannery on what was described as “reasonably level ground.” The building was 24-feet wide with the inshore side resting on the rocky shore and the water side on posts 14 feet in length.

The Stikine River, despite its size and navigability, proved not to provide great quantities of sockeye salmon. Aberdeen Packing’s original intent was to make the entire pack from catches in the river. The fish were taken by gillnets, the method used on the Columbia River.

The Daily Morning Astorian newspaper received a few news items about the first year’s activities at the Stikine River cannery. The first was when the GEO W. ELDER brought down 1,200 cases of salmon in early July. The next shipment came in early October when the IDAHO, a coastal steamer, brought cases from both Aberdeen Packing and a cannery owned by Astorians at Burrough Bay. The first year only 3,400 cases were packed, but the following year, the pack consisted of 14,000 cases.

In November 1888, William Graham returned to Astoria and told a reporter that he liked Fort Wrangel where there was lots of work to do, “but found it mighty lonesome for an idler.” Robert Bell, the foreman, returned to Astoria with him.

No news came from the cannery to Astoria in 1889. This is unfortunate became after that season the operations were moved to the east side of Wrangell Island and renamed Glacier Packing Company. So far I have not been able to discover if Seaborg ceased his interest at that time.

It is a puzzle why the cannery was constructed on the river in the first place. Robert Bell, listed of Astoria, recorded a land claim for 35 acres in “Lamshier Bay” on the opposite side of the island from Fort Wrangel on October 20, 1887, the year before the Stikine River cannery was built. In the land records the claim was made “for the purpose of erecting and establishing a cannery.” Bell used the original Hudson’s Bay Company name for Labouchere Cove. This is the site that Bell and the Astorians moved the cannery in 1890.  Crews tore down the old cannery and salvaged the equipment and lumber to build the new cannery.  

After 123 years, people who cruise the Stikine River, mostly in jet boats, can not tell where this cannery was constructed. The timber and underbrush have reclaimed the area.

Alaska Canneries Resource Guide from the Anchorage Museum

By Sara Piasecki

Earlier this year, when the Alaska Association for Historic Preservation announced the state’s Ten Most Endangered Historic Properties for 2013, they included “Historic Canneries (Statewide)” as location number 10. Responding to this call, the Bob and Evangeline Atwood Alaska Resource Center of the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center tasked its summer interns with creating a guide to historic photographs of Alaskan canneries held in the Museum’s archives. The resulting 16-page document has already been updated three times since September, with new collections recently deposited by donors. While the list is not comprehensive (both new and older archival collections are being described all the time), it is a great place for researchers to start when looking for historic images of canneries. The most recent version of the guide is available on the Museum’s website or via email by contacting Photo Archivist Sara Piasecki at spiasecki@anchoragemuseum.org.

The complete text of the Alaskan Canneries Resource Guide (updated 12/11/13) is included below:

Alaska Engineering Commission Collection, AEC

This sub-series from the Alaska Railroad Collection (B1979.002) has over 1000 images, dating from 1924-1979. There is one photograph of men processing and packing salmon and halibut for Alaska Engineering Commission stores near Anchorage, Alaska on July 30, 1918.

• .h78

Crary-Henderson Collection, B1962.001

The Crary-Henderson Collection consists of over 3000 photographs and negatives which are primarily of Valdez, the Copper River Valley, and surrounding mining and railroad operations dating from the early 1900s through the 1930s. This collection contains six images pertaining to canneries. Four of the pictures are unidentified, though one is probably from Valdez due to the collection scope. Two photographs have been identified to be from Cordova.

• .230 (Cordova), .707, .920, .994, .1093, .2791 (Cordova, below)

Crary-Henderson Collection, B1962.001A

This addition to the Crary-Henderson collection contains two cannery photographs taken in Eyak. Both photographs are of the same view, just with different angles.

• .127, .128

John Urban Collection, B1964.001

The John Urban Collection consists of 842 photographs and postcards primarily of Anchorage and the Copper River & Northwestern Railroads, but also of communities around the state and date from the early to mid 1900s. This collection holds two indentified photographs of canneries. One shows [W.] J. Imlach Packing Co. in Port Benny, and the other shows Carlisle Packing Co., in Cordova.

• .316 ([W.] J. Imlach Packing Co.), .320 (Carlisle Packing Co.)

Whittington Photographs, B1965.004

The Whittington collection consists primarily of photos of a snow slide in 1920,

and of a train stalled and packed-in as a result of that snow slide. Of the 67 photographs, there are two of canneries. One has been identified as the McKonehey Cannery in Kodiak, while the second photograph does not contain any information.

• .47 (McKonehey Cannery), .67

CIHS Sundberg, B1967.013

The Sundberg collection consists of scenic photographs of many different Alaskan towns. The towns depicted in the collection include Juneau, Cape Prince of Wales, Dawson, Flat City, Katalla, Kasaan, Ketchikan, Nome, Sitka, and Valdez. This collection contains only one photograph of a cannery that has not been officially identified. Written on the photograph is: “Crab Bay Prince William Sound? Port Ashton?”

• .17

Eide Collection , B1970.028

The Eide Collection consists of 378 photographs. The photographs are black and white

and include images of Alaska between the 1910s and 1940s. There is one photograph in this collection that features a cannery. The photograph was taken sometime in the 1940s and depicts a low-tide in Anchorage with a cannery in the distance.

• .65

Minnesota Historical, B1970.073

The Minnesota Historical Collection consists of 144 black and white photographs and 24 negatives. The images are primarily of Southeast Alaska and the Nome area between 1899 and 1901.This collection includes one photograph of the cannery in Metlakatla (Southeast Alaska).

• .34

Alice Butler Photograph Collection, B1971.071

This collection holds 94 photographs from various locations in Alaska. The date ranges for the photographs are 1905-1940. There is one undated photograph of the Kasaan Cannery in this collection.

• .75

Dorothy L. Surgenor Collection, B1972.032

The Dorothy L. Surgenor Collection consists of 317 photographs and approximately 100 negatives of Kennicott, Alaska during the years of 1923 to 1925. The majority of the images show the town and people of Kennicott, as well as, other towns in Alaska, including McCarthy, Valdez, and Juneau. This collection holds one photograph of a cannery on Latouche Island.

• .307

Reid Collection, B1973.054

The Reid Collection contains 30 photographs, mostly of Ketchikan. There are three photographs of canneries in the collection. One shows a wharf in Ketchikan, with perhaps a cannery. The second photograph shows the Ward Cove Cannery. The third photograph depicts the Deep Sea Salmon Co. cannery in Port Althorp.

• .4 (Ketchikan), .20 (Ward Cove), .25 (Port Althorp)

Charles Weller Collection, B1974.040

This collection consists of 149 photographs of Alaska. There are five photographs relating to canneries. The first photograph shows Emard, Sonnecke, and General Fish Co. in Anchorage, in the distance, dated 1937. The second photograph depicts boats tied up at the Emard Cannery dock in 1938. The third photograph shows Emard Cannery boats waiting to go out and fish in 1938. The fourth photograph’s caption states the building shown in the picture is the Sonnecke Cannery, though the sign in the pictures says “General Fish Co., Inc.,” dated 1937. The fifth photograph shows a small, abandoned cannery south of Seward in 1937.

• .32 (Anchorage), .33 (Emard Cannery dock), .39 (Emard Cannery boats), .46 (Sonnecke Cannery/Genreal Fish Co. Inc.), .117 (south of Seward)

Ickes Collection, B1975.175

Harold LeClair Ickes was the Secretary of the Interior between 1933 and 1946, under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration. The Ickes Collection consists of approximately 686 images and several hundred negatives. The photographs cover Ickes’ trip to Alaska in 1938. This large collection holds eighteen photographs of canneries. Locations include: Klawock, Annette Island and Kasaan. Canneries identified include: Libby’s Cannery, Annette Islands Canning Company, and Kasaan Cannery.

• .624 (Klawock), .625 (Libby’s Cannery), .652(Annette Islands Canning Company), .653 (Annette Islands Canning Company), .655 (Annette Islands Canning Company), .656 (Annette Islands Canning Company), .657 (Annette Islands Canning Company), .658 (Annette Islands Canning Company), .659 (Annette Islands Canning Company), .660 (Annette Islands Canning Company), .661 (Annette Islands Canning Company), .662 (Annette Islands Canning Company), .663 (Annette Islands Canning Company), .664 (Annette Islands Canning Company), .665 (Annette Islands Canning Company, below), .675 (Kasaan Cannery), .676 (Kasaan Cannery) 

Sidney Hamilton Photograph Collection, B1976.082

The majority of the photographs contained in the Sidney Hamilton Collection depict the city of Anchorage and the Cook Inlet area from the mid 1940s to the mid 1950s. Also included are images of various lodges and recreation areas and other towns such as Juneau, Seward, Curry, and Fairbanks. There is one photograph in this collection of a cannery and harbor area in Juneau.

• .246x

B. Leonard Collection, B1977.002

The B. Leonard collection holds 58 photographs, mostly of King Cove, Alaska, which is located in the Aleutian Islands. This collection features photographs of the cannery in King Cove and Excursion Inlet, which is located in Southeast Alaska.

• .1 (King Cove), .22 (King Cove), .44 (Excursion Inlet), .45 (King Cove)

Lawver Collection, B1978.125

This collection consists of 19 photographs taken from an album collected by Harry Leypoldt, a member of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey crew in lower Cook Inlet and the Southeast, 1912-1914. There is one unidentified and undated black and white photograph in this collection.

• .5

FIC Photos, B1979.001

This collection of photographs was found in the museum archives. There is no paperwork for the collection. This collection contains three possible photographs of canneries. The first and third photographs are bird’s-eye views of Seldovia, possibly featuring a cannery. The second photograph (and a 4x5 negative) shows a cannery in Uyak, Kodiak.

• .5b (Seldovia), .34 (Uyak), .55 (Seldovia)

Collyer Photograph Collection, B1980.028

The Collyer Photograph Collection consists of 23 black and white photographs taken in 1916. There are two photographs in this collection of a salmon cannery in Yakutat.

• .005, .006

Latouche Collection, B1980.029

This collection consists of 400 photographs and 30 negatives of Latouche Island, Alaska, taken sometime between 1910-1920. The photo album contains seven photographs related to canneries. Most of the images are unidentified canneries, as well as a few images of fishing boats docked at a cannery dock, and one of a pallet of canned salmon with a porcupine sitting on top.

• .6, .48, .53, .153, .167, .174, .285

Dorothy Stauter Collection, B1980.041

In the Dorothy Stauter Collection there are 152 photographs. Within those photographs, there is one undated photograph of the Drier Bay Salmon Packing House. Other photographs in the collection have been dated 1905-1933.

• .40

Ladic Photograph Collection, B1980.057

This collection contains 33 black and white photographs of the Inside Passage, dated circa 1916. The photographs were taken while the photographer was aboard the S.S. Jefferson traveling from Seattle to Anchorage. This collection holds one photograph of the Taku Cannery.

• .05

Dane Photograph Collection, B1980.062

The Dane Photograph Collection consists of 23 photographs and postcards mostly of Wrangell, Unalaska, St. Paul and the White Pass and Yukon Railroad. There are two photographs of the inside of an indentified cannery. The first photograph shows “feeding fish into an iron chink.” The second photograph shows tables full of cans inside a cannery. 

• .3, .4

Bridgeman Postcard Collection, B1980.81

This collection was donated in 1980 and contains 29 historical postcards and photographs, mostly of the Southeast, some of Cook Inlet and two of Canadian scenes. There is one photograph of cannery ships amid ice in Bristol Bay.

• .17

Alex Family Photograph Collection, B1980.098

This collection was donated in 1980 and contains photographs of the Alex Family of Eklutna Village. There is one photograph of what appears to be a cannery with boats tied up to a dock. No other information appears on the photograph.

• .44

Hotchkiss, B1981.020

The Hotchkiss Collection consists of 164 photographs and 23 negatives of mostly Southeast Alaska, but also of Fairbanks, Anchorage, the White Pass and Yukon Railroad, Prince Rupert, B.C. and Kennewick, Washington. There are two photographs of canneries in this collection; one in Wrangell and one in Sitka.

• .23 (Wrangell), .96 (Sitka)

Robert Wheatley Collection, B1982.052

This collection consists of 442 photographs and 112 negatives from around Alaska, taken from 1906 to 1910. There are four small photographs of canneries in this collection. The first two show boats and a cannery near Petersburg. The third photograph is of a cannery in Uyak. The fourth photograph shows the Chignik Alaska Salmon Cannery, which was taken from the water.

• .23 & .24 (Petersburg), .333(Uyak), .339 (Chignik)

Elsner Collection, B1982.135

This collection consists of 28 photographs, mostly taken in the Copper River Valley area, most likely from 1900-1920. There are two photographs of different unidentified canneries. Neither photo is dated, nor has a location listed.

            .20, .21

Howard Hansen Collection, B1982.181

This collection was donated in 2010 and contains duplicate photographs from another collection. In this collection there is one undated photo of the cannery in Portlock, Alaska; one of a bird’s-eye view of Wrangell; and another with a caption that reads “Red and King Salmon at New England Packing Co. Dock.” The salmon are still in the boat as it is tied to the dock.

• .42 (Portlock), .52 (Wrangell), .57 (Red and King Salmon)

Ward Wells Collection, 1983.091

The Stock Series in the robust Ward Wells Collection contains 33,600 black and white images. The photographs were taken from 1946-1982, with those after 1947 dealing mainly with Anchorage. There are five photographs of canneries: one of salmon being packaged in Bristol Bay, one possibly of Libby’s Cannery, two of salmon being unloaded off a boat into a cannery in Bristol Bay, and a cannery assembly line in Bristol Bay.

• 156.R08 (packaging), 156.R09 (Libby’s Cannery), 156.R11 (unloading salmon), 156.R22 (Bristol Bay), 156.R23 (unloading salmon, below)

Pyatt-Laurence Collection, B1983.146

This collection consists of 342 photographic prints, including some postcards, and 187 nitrate negatives depicting Alaskan scenes, primarily in and around Anchorage, in 1915 and 1916. There are four photographs of canneries in this collection. The first has not been identified, but is possibly from Ship Creek due to nearby photographs. The second photograph is also unidentified, but is possibly from the Southeast. The third has been identified as Cordova, and the fourth has been identified as Seldovia.

• .122 (Ship Creek?), .156 (Southeast), .197 (Cordova), .209 (Seldovia)

Robert Culver Collection, B1984.081

The Robert Culver Collection contains 104 photographs from 1917-1920, with most of the photographs being of Anchorage or the Alaska Railroad. There is one photograph that shows a portion of the cannery at Port Althorp, with barrels and nets on the dock.

• .57

Wien Collection, B1985.027

There are thirty cannery-related photographs in this very large collection. Locations and canneries identified include: Eyak, Naknek, Bristol Bay, Wards Cove Packing Co., and Columbia Rivers’ Packers’ Association. The photographs are dated 1954.

• .987 (Eyak), .990 (Naknek), .991 (Naknek), .995 (C.R.P.A., Naknek), .998 (Naknek), .999 (Bristol Bay), .1000 (Bristol Bay), .1001 (Naknek), .1002 (Naknek), .1003 (Naknek), .1004 (Wards Cove Packing Co., Naknek), .1006 (Naknek), .1007 (Naknek), .1008 (Naknek), .1009 (Naknek), .1010 (Naknek), .1011 (Naknek), .1012 (C.R.P.A., Naknek), .1013 (C.R.P.A., Naknek), .1014 (C.R.P.A., Naknek), .1015 (C.R.P.A., Naknek), .1016 (C.R.P.A., Naknek), .1017 (C.R.P.A., Naknek), .1018 (C.R.P.A., Naknek), .1019 (C.R.P.A., Naknek), .1020 (Naknek), .1021 (C.R.P.A., Naknek), .1022 (C.R.P.A., Naknek), .1023 (C.R.P.A., Naknek), .1026 (C.R.P.A., Naknek)

Will Streeter Collection, B1985.061

In this collection, there are about 80-100 black and white photographs of the Inside Passage and Fairbanks from 1916-1918. There is one photograph of an unidentified cannery with a surrounding town.

• .7

Romig Collection, B1985.063

Dr. Joseph Herman Romig moved to Bethel in the 1890s to serve as a missionary doctor after medical school. Throughout the decades, Dr. Romig lived in various parts of the state and became known as the “Dog Team Doctor.” At one point, Dr. Romig worked as a physician for a cannery in Nushagak, Bristrol Bay. In Album 3 of this collection there is a photograph of the cannery in Seldovia. There is no date on the photo, but other photos nearby read the late 1920s.

• .362

W.T. Roberts Album, B1987.056

This album contains 472 photographs, most likely taken from 1920-1929, and there are eight photographs of Alaskan canneries. Locations identified include: Douglas, Cordova, Valdez and Latouche Island. There is also a photograph of a floating cannery.

• .130 (Douglas), .200 (Cordova), .202 (Cordova), .203 (Cordova), .205 (floating cannery), .214 (Cordova), .284 (Valdez), .303 (Latouche Island)

Arnold Nelsen Collection, B1987.071

This collection consists of 49 photographs, mostly of the Alaska Railroad and of canneries. In the collection, there are nine photographs and three canned salmon labels that were used to write a letter on, dated 1944. Locations and canneries identified are: Port Althorp, Koggiung, Carlisle Packing Co., and Libby’s Cannery. The photographs show the canneries, fishing boats filled with fish, a cannery conveyor belt in action, and a bin with men standing in salmon up to their knees.

• .9 (Port Althorp), .10 (Port Althorp), .13 (conveyor belt), .14 (Carlisle Packing Co.), .15 (Port Althorp), .16 (Libby’s Cannery), .17 (Libby’s Cannery), .18 (Libby’s Cannery), .19 (no information), .55abc (salmon can letter) 

Evelyn Lessel Postcard Collection, B1987.086

This small collection consists of 23 postcards dated 1908-1911. There are seven photographs of related to canneries. The first three photographs show the cannery in Chignik, Alaska. The photographs are undated and each shows a different angle of the cannery. Three photographs are of the shipwreck of the cannery ship Jabez Howes in Chignik. And the last photograph shows a cannery ship loading cans in Chignik.

• .2-.4 (Chignik), .5-.7 (Jabez Howes), .8 (cannery ship)

Ingalls Collection, B1988.003

The Ingalls collection contains 250 postcards of various locations in Alaska and Canada. Two photographs of the cannery in Sitkoh Bay, Alaska can be found in this collection. There is also a photograph of stacks of cans that say Tklinket Packing Co., Funter Bay, Alaska. The photograph is dated August, 1907.

• .209 (Sitkoh Bay), .219 (Sitkoh Bay), .223 (Tklinket Packing Co.)

A.R. Sessions Collection, B1988.052

The A.R. Sessions Collection consists of 161 photographs, mostly of the Alaska Railroad, as Arthur Richard Sessions worked for them for almost 50 years. The photographs are dated 1920s-1960s. There is one photograph of the San Wan Fish Company in Seward in this collection.

• .108

Lu Liston Collection, B1989.016

This large collection is comprised of approximately 6500 negatives, 650 prints and miscellaneous slides, dating 1930-1965. The collection mostly documents the business and daily life in Anchorage, and features photographers Sydney Laurence, Robert Bragaw, Denny Hewitt, and Sidney Hamilton. There are dozens of photographs of canneries around Alaska in this collection.

• .362 (cannery and dock, Anchorage or Tenakee?), .404.1-.3 (Emard’s Cannery), .537.1 – (Anchorage), .537.2 - No. 2. (Salmon Cannery, Anchorage), .537.3 (Anchorage Dock & Cannery) .634 (Port O’Brien Cannery), .635 (Port Althorp Cannery) .708.1-15 (Cannery operations and workers), 791.5 (Alaska Packers’ Association boats, Bristol Bay), .1292.1-2 (Emard’s Cannery), .1292.3 (salmon cannery, Anchorage), 1292.5 (salmon cannery, Anchorage), 1391.1 (Bristol Bay), .1410 (Diamond N.N. Cannery, Bristol Bay), .1544.1-2 (Northwestern Fisheries Co. cannery), .1663, .1882.1-27 (probably Libby, McNeill, & Libby cannery)

Steve McCutcheon Collection, B1990.014.5

This incredibly large collection contains 181,532 various types of images, taken between 1946 and 1990. The collection holds twenty cannery-related photographs. Locations and canneries identified include: Petersburg, Dillingham, Haines, Mud Bay, Kasaan, Kenai, Ketchikan, Pacific American Fisheries Cannery, Scandinavian Slough, and Halibut & Fish Biz.

• AKNative.031.002 (Petersburg), TV.046.008 (Dillingham), TV.046.029 (PAF Cannery, Dillingham), TV.046.032 (Scandinavian Slough), TV.046.034 (PAF Cannery, Dillingham), TV.046.37 (Dillingham), TV.046.038 (Dillingham), TV.046.40 (Dillingham, below), TV.046.41 (PAF Cannery, Dillingham), TV.046.042 (Dillingham), TV.046.046 (Dillingham), TV.068.022 (Haines), TV.068.023 (Mud Bay), TV.068.034 (Mud Bay), TV.068.084 (Haines), TV.086.001 (Kasaan), TV.089.074 (Kenai), TV.089.119.1A (Kenai), TV.094.327.01A (Halibut & Fish Biz, Ketchikan), TV.094.327.038 (Halibut & Fish Biz, Ketchikan)

Simonson, B1991.009

The Simonson Collection is comprised mostly of black and white photographs of the Cook Inlet region, dated 1900-1920. There are eleven photographs of multiple locations and canneries. Two of the photographs show the shipwreck of the cannery ship Jabez Howes. Three photographs show the cannery in Chignik, dated 1910. Two photographs show the canneries Northwestern Fisheries Company, dated 1913, and Lebbep Cannery, dated 1909, in Kenai. Two photographs show Ketchikan. There is one photograph of Nushaguk, Alaska, and the final photograph is of Tim Odale at steering wheel of the cannery boat (The North Cape), dated 1920.

• B1991.009.32ab (shipwreck), .47 (Chignik), .48 (Chignik), .50 (Chignik), .94 (Northwestern Fisheries Company), .96 (Lebbep Cannery), .103 (Ketchikan), .104 (Ketichikan), 113 (Nushaguk), .117 (Tim Odale)

Martin Collection, B1992.024

Taken while aboard the S.S. Admiral Farragut during a voyage in 1927, this photo album contains 93 photographs of Alaska. There is one photograph of a salmon cannery in Petersburg, dated 1927. In the photograph, pallets of cans can be seen on the dock.

• .23

John D. (Jack) Urban Collection, B1995.019

This collection consists of 772 photographs all taken around 1925 while Mr. Urban worked as a tourist agent for the Alaska Railroad. In this collection there are two photographs of fish being unloaded at an unidentified cannery in 1925.

• .740, .753

Quimby, B1996.014

This photo album consists of 383 black and white photographs of Southeast Alaska, from 1923-1924. The collection has two photographs of a cannery in Sitka. The second photograph shows a building with a sign that says “Booth.”

• .357, .363

Trip to Alaska, B1997.008

This photo album contains 260 photographs that were taken in 1926 during a trip to Alaska. There are four photographs of canneries in this collection. The first was taken in Cordova, the second and third photographs were taken in Shearwater Bay, and the fourth was taken in Kodiak.

• .32 (Cordova), .71 (Shearwater Bay), .72 (Shearwater Bay), .98 (Kodiak)

Christian Rohlfing Collection, B1997.012

There are 38 photographs in this collection, taken from 1885-1888. One photograph in this collection shows the Naha Bay Salmon Cannery, dated 1885.

• .12

Adolphus Greely, B1998.003

General Adolphus W. Greely served in the Civil War from 1961-1965. After the war he served in the Canadian Arctic as part of the International Polar Expedition in Barrow, from 1881-1883, and as Chief Signal Officer made five trips between 1900 and 1910 to Alaska to inspect Wamcats under construction by the Army Signal Corps. The collection has a total of 33 photographs, and two of those are of canneries. The first photograph shows the Petersburg Cannery and the second shows the Touke Salmon Cannery in Hoggart Bay.

• .23 (Petersburg), .32 (Touke Salmon Cannery)

Carl C. (Dick) Tousley, B1998.017

In this collection there are six photo albums containing 1113 photographs of Alaska, Wyoming, Montana and Washington, from about 1915-1925. This collection holds six photographs of canneries. Locations and canneries identified include: Chignik, Cordova, Kodiak, Afognak, Ouzinkie Cannery, K.F. Cos. Cannery and C.R. Packing Co.

• .495 (C.R. Packing Co., Chignik), .599 (Ouzinkie Cannery, Afognak), .600 (Ouzinkie Cannery, Afognak, above), .693 (K.F. Cos. Cannery, Kodiak), .703 (Cordova)

Candy Waugaman Collection, B1998.025

This collection consists of photographs from World War II, dating from 1940-1945. This is a largely-unprocessed collection with unnumbered photographs of canneries in envelope 5 and album 17.

Crusey Postcard Collection, B1999.013

There are about 50 postcards in this collection, with six postcards featuring canneries: 2 illustrated postcards of Fort Wrangell and Skagway, and four photographs of Ketchikan and Kodiak.

• .2 (Fort Wrangell), .6 (Skagway), .40 (Ketchikan), .43 (Ketchikan), .45 (Ketchikan), .48 (Kodiak)

Hilscher Collection, B1999.014

The Hilscher Collection has approximately 300 photographs taken by Herb and Miriam Hilscher when he was working for the king crab industry, statehood, and the constitutional convention. There are nine photographs of canneries. The first photograph has the caption: “Canneries at Ocean Dock.” The second is a postcard of Cordova. The third photograph is of Dillingham before 1952. The fourth is of red salmon arriving at APA Cannery in Karluk. The last four are small pictures of the same cannery, with no information on the location or date.

• .1323 (Canneries at Ocean Dock), .1324 (Cordova postcard), .1335 (Dillingham), .1392 (APA Cannery, Karluk), .1176 (four small photographs of canneries)