Location on shelf: CS 29, B4
DOROTHY L. SURGENOR CO
LLECTION. Photos. .33 cu.ft. 1923 – 1925.
B72.32. Inventory.

The following biographic information was written by Diane Brenner, Archivist at the AMRC:

The photo album was that of Louise Margaret Leeper Lynch, mother of donor.

Mrs. Lynch came to Kennicott about 1923 as a nurse, recently out of Johns Hopkins nursing
school. She was born in Lewiston, ID and had gone to "Normal School" before entering nursing
school. At Kennicott, Miss Leeper met Roy E. Lynch, a packer, prospector and mechanic. It is
unclear whether he ever worked for Kennecott Copper Co. They married in Seattle about 1925.

Mr. Lynch had come to Alaska with his stepfather Tom Lynch, who was a trapper and
prospector. They lived for a time on Douglas Island. (It is unclear whether Tom's wife, Florence
Lynch, a Norwegian, lived on Douglas with them.) Roy E. Lynch was born in North Dakota
around 1891, when his mother was about 16. He had a childhood injury that caused his left leg
to develop abnormally. When he was about 20 he suffered a serious injury to that bad leg, and
had the leg amputated just above the knee when he was 21. From then on, he wore a wooden
leg. Mrs. Ronning pointed out his stance in some photos. "You see how he's standing?"
(B72.32.215)

The Lynches were married in Seattle in 1925. Dorothy was born in 1931. In 1937, when
Dorothy was 6, they returned to Alaska and lived at Independence mine, 1937-1943, where Roy
was mill foreman.

Mrs. Ronning gave photos of Independence to the mine. She has a few artifacts from Kennicott
and Independence, and is considering sending those items north. Among those pieces: book ends
with insets of copper ore, a K. miner-made keep-sake box, and a few pieces of mining
equipment.

She was thrilled that the 1972 donated photo album was being useful to researchers. She
identified a few photos that had no captions. She believes that the cutout photos in the early part
of the album were of her mother, as she was a large woman who was self-conscious of her size.

The Dorothy L. Surgenor Collection consists of around 300 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, and other towns in Alaska, including McCarthy, Valdez,
and Juneau.

This collection was donated to the Anchorage Museum by Dorothy Surgenor, the daughter of
Roy and Louise Lynch, on June 26, 1972.

Com
pleted by JD; 2/03/2009

Location on shelf: CS 29, B4
Completed by JD; 2/03/2009

DOROTHY L. SURGENOR COLLECTION. Photos. .33 cu.ft. 1923 – 1925.
B72.32. Inventory.


INVENTORY

BOX 1

Series 1:
Photographs
Album 1
B72.32.1 - .317