REFERENCE CODE: AkAMH

REPOSITORY NAME:
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center
Bob and Evangeline Atwood Alaska Resource Center
625 C Street
Anchorage, AK 99501
Phone: 907-929-9235
Fax: 907-929-9233
Email: resourcecenter@anchoragemuseum.org

Guide prepared by: Sara Piasecki, Photo Archivist

TITLE: Katherine G. Kane Manuscript, My Twenty Seven Years in Alaska and the Aleutians

COLLECTION NUMBER: B2013.049

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Dates: 1909-1943 (bulk 1913-1937)

Extent: 0.25 linear feet

Language and Scripts: The collection is in English.

Name of creator(s): Katherine G. Kane, Phinney S. Hunt, Carrie Jacobs-Bond, Schallerer’s

Administrative/Biographical History:
According to her autobiography, Katherine Gertrude Kane worked as a teacher and public
health nurse in rural Alaska from 1913-1938. A native of Iowa, she received her teachers’
training at Benedictine Academy in North Dakota and began her career as a teacher in Idaho.
After her sister’s death, she adopted her niece and began looking for more lucrative career
options. Wanting to expand her skills, she entered a nurse training program at Providence
Hospital in Spokane, Washington. She relocated to Alaska in 1913 and was offered a position
as a teacher at Nushagak, but opted instead to stay for one year near Kenai Lake to help
operate a hunting lodge. In 1914, she moved up to Talkeetna to establish a school for local
Native children. In 1917, she transferred to Susitna Station, where she taught and then helped
care for residents during an outbreak of influenza in 1918. In 1919, she moved again, to
Kokrines on the Yukon River, where she taught for five years. After a short stint in Anchorage
at Emard’s, she relocated to Akutan in 1923, and taught in that village for five years. She spent
four months in Koggiung in the Bristol Bay region before heading west again, to Atka in the
Aleutian Islands. After one year, she transferred to Copper Center in Southcentral Alaska,
spending another year establishing a school there. In 1931, she left for Alitak, or Akhiok, on

Kodiak Island, remaining there until 1937. The memoir ends with her request for a one-year
sabbatical from teaching and her return to Washington State.

Scope and Content Description:
The collection consists of a 255-page typescript manuscript written (probably in 1938) by
Katherine G. Kane, titled My Twenty Seven Years in Alaska and the Aleutians. The text is
illustrated with mounted photographs, including both snapshots and commercial images.
Twelve additional photographs were enclosed in an accompanying envelope. The text contains
transcriptions of correspondence, reports, and news articles pertaining to Kane’s tenure in
Alaska. The manuscript bears some penciled notes, possibly made by an editor to whom the
manuscript had been offered for publication. Facing page 245 is a typescript poem, “I believe,”
signed and dated “Carrie Jacobs-Bond, 1943.” For table of contents and list of photographs,
see Detailed Description of Collection.

Arrangement: Not applicable

CONDITIONS GOVERNING ACCESS AND USE

Restrictions on Access: The collection is open for research use.

Physical Access: Original items in good condition.

Technical Access: No special equipment is needed to access the materials.

Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use:
The Anchorage Museum is the owner of the materials and makes available reproductions for
research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the
Anchorage Museum before any reproduction use. The Anchorage Museum does not
necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission
for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.

Preferred Citation:
Katherine G. Kane Manuscript, My Twenty Seven Years in Alaska and the Aleutians, Anchorage
Museum, B2013.049

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Acquisition and Appraisal Information
Item found in collection.

Processing Note
Loose photos sleeved and numbered at end of series, placed in envelope at front of
manuscript.


Note
Photocopy created and cataloged for general use as a copy 2.


SUBJECTS
Kane, Katherine G.
Jetté, Jules, 1864-1927
Education--Alaska—History
Teachers—Alaska
Dena’ina Indians—Social life and customs
Ahtena Indians—Social life and customs
Yupik Eskimos—Social life and customs
Koyukon Indians—Social life and customs
Aleuts—Social life and customs
Pacific Gulf Yupik Eskimos—Social life and customs
Influenza Epidemic, 1918-1919—Alaska—Susitna River Valley
Whaling—Alaska—Akutan
Talkeetna (Alaska)
Susitna River Valley (Alaska)
Kokrines (Alaska)
Yukon River (Yukon and Alaska)
Akutan (Alaska)
Atka (Alaska)
Attu Island (Alaska)
Copper Center (Alaska)
Bristol Bay Region (Alaska)
Kodiak Island (Alaska)
Aleutian Islands (Alaska)

Detailed Description of the Collection

Table of Contents
Chapter One: Beginnings [p. 1]
Chapter Two: Su-sit-na, Shining River [p. 9]
Chapter Three: Five Years on the Yukon [p. 20]
Chapter Four: Akutan Tragedy [p. 50]
Chapter Five: Summer School at Koggiung [p. 91]
Chapter Six: Atka in the Aleutians [p. 100]
Chapter Seven: Copper Center Goes to School Again [p. 120]
Chapter Eight: Alitak the Treeless, the Ordinary [p. 128]
Chapter Nine: Religious, Funeral, and Burial Customs of the Alaskan Indians [p. 165]
Chapter Ten: Totems and Legends of the Alaskan Indians [p. 181]
Chapter Eleven: Marriage and Morality among the Alaskan Indians [p. 194]
Chapter Twelve: The Medicine Man [p. 209]

Chapter Thirteen: Short Sketches [p. 227]
Chapter Fourteen: Gleanings from a Whaling Station [p. 244]
Chapter Fifteen: Letters and Observations [p. 250]

Photographs, mounted
 1 — facing p. 1. [Author’s caption:] The author, Miss Katherine G. Kane
 2 — facing p. 4. [Author’s caption:] Going to Susitna on the river steamer, Omneca. [On photo:] Str. Omineca, Anchorage, Alaska, A.E.C. G513 P.S. Hunt
3 — facing p. 9. [On photo:] Business section of Susitna Station, Alaska. A.E.C. G639 P.S. Hunt
4 — between p. 9-10. [Author’s caption:] My niece Loretta at Susitna
5 — between p. 9-10. [Author’s caption:] My school at Susitna, the author in the white uniform
 6 — between p. 9-10. [Author’s caption:] Hitting the trail for the gold strike at Cache Creek [On photo:] St. Patrick’s Day, 1909, Susitna Station, Alaska
 7 — facing p. 20. [Author’s caption:] The way they catch fish on the Tanana. [On photo:] Fish wheel, Tanana River, Alaska
 8 — facing p. 20. [Author’s caption:] The river steamer Alaska on the Yukon
 9 — facing p. 29. [Author’s caption:] The school at Kokrines as I found it
 10 — facing p. 29. [Author’s caption:] The school at Kokrines as I left it
 11 — facing p. 30. [Author’s caption:] Stern wheelers run on the mighty Yukon. [On photo:] On the Yukon River, Alaska
 12 — facing p. 31. [Author’s caption:] The Roman Catholic mission at Kokrines, Father Jette’s church
 13 — facing p. 31. [Author’s caption:] Indian cache at Kokrines
 14 — facing p. 32. [Author’s caption:] My pupils at the Kokrines school
 15 — facing p. 32. [Author’s caption:] Hunters returning with the “bacon”
 16 — facing p. 35. [Author’s caption:] Snow even covered the cabins at Kokrines
 17 — facing p. 35. [Author’s caption:] Spring break-up on the Yukon
 18 — facing p. 36. [Author’s caption:] Boy and dogs at Kokrines
 19 — facing p. 36. [Author’s caption:] Reindeer herd at Melozia on the Yukon [Melozi or Melozikakat?]
 20 — facing p. 51. [Author’s caption:] Steamer Starr in distress on the Kodiak-Seward run
 21 — facing p. 51 [Author’s caption:] Visiting at the whaling station at Akutan
22 — between p. 59-60. [Author’s caption:] Full-blooded Aleut men, adults at Akutan [at AFN 2014, man at left tentatively identified as Arthur Stepetin Sr.; at AFN 2015, man in center tentatively identified as John Tcheripanoff]
23 — between p. 59-60. [Author’s caption:] Full-blooded Aleut women, adults and babes [at AFN 2016, woman at right identified as relative of Zacharofs]
24 — between p. 59-60. [Author’s caption:] Full-blooded Aleut children, note the smiles on their faces
25 — between p. 59-60. [Author’s caption:] My school children and myself at Akutan [At Afn 2015, boy in center rear identified as a McGlashan]
 26 — between p. 59-60. [Author’s caption:] My school takes a hike over to Lazy Bay
 27 — between p. 59-60. [Author’s caption:] My school house and myself at Akutan
28 — between p. 59-60. [Author’s caption:] Half breed children of Norwegian and Aleut parentage. No Russian blood here. The cannery boats bring the Norwegian fishermen here [at AFN 2015, identified as McGlashan children with mother, Matrona “Matty” McGlashan]
 29 — between p. 59-60. [Author’s caption:] Akutan village, note the church in the background
30 — between p. 77-78. [Author’s caption:] Christmas tree at Akutan
31 — between p. 77-78. [Author’s caption:] Note the various reactions of the children towards the camera
 32 — between p. 77-78. [Author’s caption:] “The carrying of the stars” at Christmas time
 33 — between p. 77-78. [Author’s caption:] Christmas at the government school at Akutan
 34 — between p. 91-92. [Author’s caption:] On board the motor ship Boxer bound for Koggiung
 35 — between p. 91-92. [Author’s caption:] My school at Koggiung has a visitor
 36 — between p. 91-92. [Author’s caption:] A good view of my summer school at Koggiung
 37 — facing p. 100. [Author’s caption]: The village of Atka
 38 — facing p. 100. [Author’s caption]: My school at Atka had lighthouse windows
 39 — facing p. 100. [Author’s caption]: The village of Attu, closely related to Atka by blood and geography [On photo:] Attu [second copy in loose photos]
 40 — facing p. 101. [Author’s caption]: When Chief Zoachney visits my school at Atka, we have our picture taken [Chief Makary Zaochney with students]
41 — facing p. 120. [Author’s caption]: The village of Copper Center congregates together with my school [at AFN 2013, boy seated in center tentatively identified as Robert Marshall. At AFN 2016, girl fourth from left in second row tentatively identified as Adena Kindgren]
 42 — between p. 128-129. [Author’s caption:] The entrance to Alitak Bay looks like this
 43 — between p. 128-129. [Author’s caption:] I look out the school house window and see twin peaks across the bay
 44 — between p. 128-129. [Author’s caption:] Rear view of Alitak village
 45 — between p. 128-129. [Author’s caption:] The Indian dormitories at the P.A.F. cannery
 46 — between p. 128-129. [Author’s caption:] Trap Point. Seven miles from Alitak school. Great fishing grounds for Alitak Indians
 47 — between p. 128-129. [Author’s caption:] Dead Bay near Alitak. Gold is found here on the beaches
 48 — facing p. 129. [Author’s caption:] To the astonishment of the Indians, the airplane comes to Alitak for the first time
 49 — facing p. 129. [Author’s caption:] Cape Alitak, where the petrographs are found
 50 —.52 – facing p. 148. [Author’s caption:] Petrographs found on the rocks on Cape Alitak, hints of an earlier civilization [petroglyphs] [second copy of .51 and 2 additional copies of .52 in loose photos]
 53 — facing p. 161. [Author’s caption:] My adopted daughter, Patsy Jean
 54 — facing p. 165. [Author’s caption:] On board the Coast Guard cutter Brant with Commissioner Bell and ladies. The author is third from the left
 55 — facing p. 164. [Author’s caption:] Greek Orthodox church at Kodiak, note the three barred cross of St. Peter
56 — facing p. 164. [Author’s caption:] Indian funeral on the Yukon River [at AFN 2016, location tentatively identified as Tanana or Kokrines]
 57 — facing p. 168. [Author’s caption:] Interior of the Greek Orthodox Catholic Church at Akutan, note the ikons etc.
58 — facing p. 168. [Author’s caption:] The bishop visits his flock at Unalaska [at AFN 2015, priest in rear at left tentatively identified as Father Makari Baranoff, woman at left under archway as Maria Yatchmeneff, man second from right under archway as Chief Alexei Yatchmeneff, woman in front of pillar at rear as possibly Helen Merculieff]
59 — facing p. 193. [Author’s caption:] Wedding at Unalaska. At the wedding feast bride and groom eat from the same dish [at AFN 2015, man front left identified as a McGlashan, bride as Zenia, groom as Casey [?]]
 60 — facing p. 193. [Author’s caption:] Katie Tcheripanoff and Gregior Prokoptoff at home after their marriage
61 — facing p. 193. [Author’s caption:] Child marriage at Akutan. The bride is 13; the groom nearly 40
62 — facing p. 194. [Author’s caption:] Wedding at Akutan. The god mother wears a veil
 63 — between p. 244-245. [Author’s caption:] The whale boat Tanalac makes a kill. Harpooning a hum[p]back whale near Akutan. [On photo:] Harpooning
 64 — between p. 244-245. [Author’s caption:] A sulphur bottom whale drawn up on the slip. [On photo:] Sulphur bottom
 65 — between p. 244-245. [Author’s caption:] Blue whale 96 feet long. [On photo:] Blue whale 96 ft. long
 66 — between p. 244-245. [Author’s caption:] Sperm whale at Akutan. [On photo:] Sperm Photographs, loose
67 — [group portrait outside Kokrines schoolhouse]
68 — [steamship Starr in distress]
69 — [group portrait outside Koggiung schoolhouse]
70 — [similar to .69]
71 — [group portrait outside Copper Center schoolhouse]
72 — [Photographic postcard, stamped “Schallerer’s Alaska Shop, Seward, Alaska.” Stamp placed over earlier stamp, “John [?], Unalaska, Alaska.” Group portrait of bishop and parishioners at Unalaska]
73 — July 1936 [Katherine Kane with young girl outside house, Anchorage?]
74 — [musicians on deck of ship, including guitars and banjo, possibly the Boxer?] Guide updated: October 26, 2016