REFERENCE CODE: AkAMH

REPOSITORY NAME:
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center
Bob and Evangeline Atwood Alaska Resource Center
625 C Street
Anchorage, AK 99501
Phone: 9079299235
Fax: 9079299233
Email: resourcecenter@anchoragemuseum.org

Guide prepared by: Sara Piasecki, Photo Archivist

TITLE: Nellie Brown Collection

COLLECTION NUMBER: B1994.003

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Dates: 1910-1956

Extent: 0.2 linear feet, 1 box

Language and Scripts: The collection is in English.

Name of creator(s): Nellie Brown, Jack Brown, Philip Wischmeyer, George L. Johnson,
Sydney Laurence

Administrative/Biographical History:
Nellie Edythe Shepard Brown was born in 1891 and died at the age of 86 in 1978. She married
Jack Brown in 1912 and soon after they settled in Ship Creek. They were the first to
permanently settle on the future site of Anchorage.

Scope and Content Description:
The collection consists of 2 autograph albums (12 x 15 cm.-12 x 16 cm.), and 34 black-and-
white photographic prints and 1 color photographic print (9 x 6 cm.-18 x 28 cm.). The albums
contain autographs and quotes from Nellie Brown’s friends and acquaintances dated mainly
between 1929 and 1938. The photographs range in date from 1910 through 1956. The locations
of the photos taken in Alaska include: Valdez, Cache Creek, Healy River, Valley of Ten
Thousand Smokes, King Island, Mount McKinley, Skagway, Afognak Island, Knik, Hope, Ship
Creek, and Anchorage (including the Elk Lodge, the theatre district, Third Avenue, and the
Government Hill neighborhood). Subjects of the photos include: gold mining, coal mining,
camping, farming, the first boat built at Ship Creek, log cabins, Jack Brown, and photographer
Sydney Laurence. For more information, see Detailed Description of Collection.

Arrangement: Arranged by format.



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:
Nellie Brown Collection, Anchorage Museum, B1994.003

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Acquisition and Appraisal Information
Delivered to the Anchorage Museum by John Bagoy on behalf of Will Knoppe.

RELATED MATERIALS
B1981.019.59 FIC Collection
B1988.011 Nellie Brown Copy Print Collection
B1989.011 Donald V. Johnson Collection
B1991.010 Nellie Brown Photographs
B1994.012 Opal Myers Collection
B1998.010 Nellie Brown Panorama
B1999.015 Mary Boye Collection
B2001.002.14, 17-18 FIC Collection
B2006.010 Seaburg-Lindsey Family Collection

SUBJECTS
Brown, Nellie Shepard, 1891-1978
Brown, John Matthew, 1878-1972
Laurence, Sydney, 1868-1940
Alaska Railroad
Gold mines and mining – Alaska
Coal mines and mining – Alaska
Camping – Alaska
Agriculture – Alaska
Boats – Alaska

Log cabins – Alaska
Valdez (Alaska)
Healy River (Alaska)
Knik (Alaska)
Ten Thousand Smokes, Valley of (Alaska)
Ukivok (Alaska)
Hope (Alaska)
McKinley, Mount (Alaska)
Skagway (Alaska)
Afognak Island (Alaska)
Ship Creek (Anchorage, Alaska)
Anchorage (Alaska)
Government Hill (Anchorage, Alaska)

Detailed Description of the Collection

F1
 1 — Valdez, AK. P. Wischmeyer, 2131 8[th] Ave., Seattle [winter street scene of McKinley Street, with pedestrians, horse, and businesses including The First Bank of Valdez. Postcard postmarked May 25, 1920]
 2 — Gold dredge, Cache Creek, Alaska. Geo. L. Johnson [postcard]
 3 — Cliff dwellers, King Island [view of houses on cliffside. Postcard]
 4 — Healy River coal mines [Alaska Railroad train with locomotive 614 at mining complex. Postcard]
 5 — 36. Knik 1911. [note on verso:] “We use to get our supplies from Knik 1912 to ’15.” [view from water of dock with canoes, skiffs, and riverboats, buildings behind, sign for G.W. Palmer]
6 — Pioneer freighting. [note on verso:] “Jack Lane built this barge in 1918, 6 mi. from Ship Creek. He ran the sternwheeler with Ford car and delivered spuds etc. etc. with the same car in town.” [barge loaded with supplies, two canoes tied alongside]
 7 — Ship Creek, March 22d, 1916. The S. L. Co. [view of mouth in winter, with ice chunks along shore, cabins visible]
 8 — [note on verso:] “Ten Thousand Smoke, Illamia 1922” [camp in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes near Mt. Iliamna]
 9 — Laurence [caption cropped from print. note on verso:] R.R. Warehouse 1915. [horse team and wagon next to lumber pile outside Alaska Railroad warehouse, Anchorage]
 10 — [note on verso:] To my darling Gene with love, Irene, July 15, 1954 [man and woman with two bear cubs on chain]
 11 — The Theatre District, Anchorage. [Laurence, photographer? note on verso:] “This is where KFQD is now.” [Fourth Avenue street scene with signs for Entrance Motion Pictures, Ice Cream Sodas, Library, The Sydney Laurence Co. Photographers]
 12 — [Elk’s Lodge, Third Avenue, man sitting in automobile parked out front]
 13 — A.R.R. picnic June 19, 1932, Hope, Alaska [several automobiles parked on grass next to town buildings, mountains in background]
 14 — [street car on dock with steamship behind it, Skagway, sign reading “No. 2 Skaguay Alaska Street Car one way 25 ₵. Two hour drive to all points of interest. Days of ’98 described on tour. Nothing like it in the world.”]
 15 — [note on verso:] “Ten Thousand Smokes, 1922” [river exiting glacier terminus]
 16 — Joe Spenard’s first car in Anchorage [note on verso:] “New depot is where Rexall Drug store is now. Lake Spenard is named for Joe Spenard, 1916” [Fourth of July parade float decorated with flags and banners, passing businesses including Richter’s Bath House and News Depot]
 17 — [note on verso:] Night scene of Mt. McKinley
 18 — [man outside log cabin with snowshoes]
19 — Strikers waiting for non-union men. The S. L. Co. [note on verso:] “Govt. Hill north” [crowd gathered on hill in foreground, Ship Creek in distance]
20 — [signed] Sydney Laurence, 1924 [note on verso:] “I made this smock for him. He loved it.” [portrait of Laurence seated in front of blank canvas]
21 — [note on verso:] “Syd Laurence in Valdez 1914” [portrait of Laurence seated in front of canvas]
 22 — A real teddy bear. Sydney Laurence [bear up a tree]
 23 — Ball game, Anchorage, 1915 [baseball game in progress, pitcher throwing in foreground, African American player behind him, spectators along base of Government Hill]
24 — [Alaska Railroad railmobile or motor railcar, driver leaning out and holding fish]
 25 — Glacier Loop, White Pass & Yukon Route [aerial view of railroad track through mountains]
26 — Steel cantilever bridge, White Pass and Yukon Route [view from riverbed to bridge above, train on bridge]
 27 — Launching first boat built in Anchorage [note on verso:] “Jack built the first boat in Anchorage use to haul passengers from boats anchored at Cook Inlet. Love, Nellie Brown” [horse pulling the ship Progress of Ship Creek across mud flats, four men watching]
28 — Landing sheep, Afognak. Laurence [men transporting sheep in three small boats]
 29 — [note on verso:] Jack Brown farming 3 1/2 miles from Ship Creek, Knik Arm, 1921 [man pushing boat Run onto shore in surf, dog standing on beach]
 30 — [note on verso:] Taken May 2, 1912 at Cordova. Day after my wedding” [portrait of Nellie Brown]
31 — [note on verso:] “Nellie’s Garden, 1912” [woman in garden, wooden fence and walled tent in background]
 32 — [note on verso:] “Jack Brown’s first breakfast on Ship Creek, June 10, 1912” [man sitting at small table next to tent. 2 copies]
 33 — [note on verso:] “Nellie E. Brown, August 1917 [woman with dog]
 34 — First log house in Anchorage [note on verso:] “The house that Jack built in 1914 for Nellie, first log house on Ship Creek.” [woman standing outside log cabin]
 35 — [note on verso:] “[E]llie Mellish family behind me, Nellie [group portrait on steps to house, color, print date July 14, 1956] F2
 36 — Album of autographs, poems and quotes from friends of Nellie’s
 37 — Album of autographs, poems and quotes from friends of Nellie’s Guide written: May 12, 2014