Album with 229 Original Gelatin Silver Snapshot Photographs, Showing Nome (Sheldon Hotel, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Front Street, Golden Gate Hotel, &c.), Dutch Harbor (Facilities of the “North American Commercial Co.,” Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Ascension, Iliuliuk Bay), Likely Kotzebue Sound, Gold Miners Panning, Dredging and Digging, Canoeing, Dog Sledding, Posing next to Their Tents, on Board a Steamship, Native Alaskans, “Wisconsin” Gold Dredge, &c. Ca. 1898-1903.

Oblong Folio album (ca. 27x34 cm or 10 ½ x 13 ¼ in). 44 brown paper leaves (20 blank). With 229 original gelatin silver photos (mostly mounted, one loosely inserted), including 39 larger images from ca. 8x13,5 cm (3 x 5 ¼ in) to ca. 7x13 cm (1 2 ¾ x 5 in); the rest of the images are ca. 5,5x8,5 cm (2 ¼ x 3 ¼ in). Several photos with visible period pencil captions on verso. With pencil notes on the albums leaves not related to the photos, partly concealed by the mounted photos. With five loose leaves of lined paper (ca. 20x12,5 cm or 8x5 in) with period ink captions, possibly related to some of the photos. Period brown quarter canvas album with grey papered boards. Binding rubbed and with chipping on extremities, spine with a tear on the bottom, some photos mildly faded, one mount with a tear not affecting the photos, but overall a very good album with interesting rare photos.

Historically significant extensive collection of early original vernacular photographs of Alaska, mostly showing Nome, the Seward Peninsula and Dutch Harbour (Unalaska). Apparently compiled by a pioneer Alaskan gold miner and fortune seeker, the album includes about a hundred portraits and scenes with men posing next to their tents and sod houses, on board a steamer, in field camps, gold panning and sluicing, digging, going on dog sleds, sailing in a canoe, showing hunted birds and a walrus, &c. The identified views of Nome show “Sheldon Hotel,” St. Joseph’s Catholic Church (built in 1901 on the corner of West King Place and Steadman Street), Front Street (with the buildings of the “Nome Bazaar,” “Archer, Ewing & Co.” and others), and Golden Gate Hotel. A photo mounted on the first leaf has a readable period pencil caption on verso “Church at Nome, Alaska, Oct. 1902.” The other photos, likely also showing Nome, include views of wooden buildings with the signs “Saloon,” “church services,” “restaurant, lodgings,” “Alaska Exploration Co.,” “Alaska Commercial Company,” a tent house with the sign “N.A.T. & T. Co.” (North American Transportation & Trading Company), the interior of a general store, &c. About a dozen images (a couple captioned “Dutch” on versos) show Dutch Harbor on Unalaska (Aleutian Islands), with the facilities of the “North American Commercial Co.,” Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Ascension, Iliuliuk Bay and snow-capped mountains in the background. Other interesting photos show the buildings of “Ames Mercantile Co.” and “Office of United States Commissioner,” “Wisconsin” gold dredge, the interior of a tent house store with native Alaskans, Aleut children in Dutch Harbour, a native family in a small sailboat, racks with drying fish, &c.

The album is accompanied by a period manuscript list of captions to 59 photos. Although it is not certain that the captions identify all images, some of them seem to relate to the photos, i.e.: “12. Group of Eskimo & Egloo (house). Kotzebue Sound, Apr. 99” (to a photo on leaf [9]); “21. Feeding dogs at camp on Sound. June 99” (to a photo on p. [6]); “29. Dredger Wisconsin in 4 inches of ice in Snake River. Sept. 23, 99” (to a photo on leaf [11]); “58. Busted water pipes, Nome, Oct. 1902” – to a photo on leaf [1]), &c. If this is the case, a large group of photos were taken in the Kotzebue Sound in the spring of 1899 and then may relate to the 1898 Kotzebue Sound Gold Stampede – a little-known episode of the Nome Gold Rush. One of the larger group portraits depicts male and female Americans posing in front of the building with the sign “The Inmachuk” – possibly in Deering (the Inmachuk River flows into the Kotzebue Sound near Deering).

Among the other identified photos in the album are views of Seattle (South Main Street with the building of the “Alaska Hotel” on the right, built in 1892), “Hotel Maywood” in Corning, California (built in 1899), storefront of “A.E. Springborg, Jeweler, Optician” in Redlands, California (operated in 1896-1913 at 5 East State Street), Alcatraz Island, and possibly a ferry wharf at Sausalito.

Overall an interesting content-rich album of rare early vernacular photos of Alaska, its native people and pioneer residents during the gold rush period.