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: Bruce Merrell, museum volunteer

TITLE: Morgan Sherwood Alaska Railroad Photographs

COLLECTION NUMBER: B1999.022

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Dates: 1949-1950

Extent: 77 items

Language and Scripts: The collection is in English.

Name of creator(s): Morgan B. Sherwood, Steve McCutcheon, K. Boswell

Administrative/Biographical History:
Morgan Bronson Sherwood was born Oct. 22, 1929 in Anchorage and spent the first 19 years of
his life here, graduating from Anchorage High School in 1947. He worked for the Alaska
Railroad during the summer and fall of 1949, and perhaps in 1950, as part of an evaluation
survey team “sent to plot and evaluate every piece of ARR property from Seward to
Fairbanks.” His fellow workers included Steele Wotkyns, Roger Erickson, Marvin Trump, and
party chief Norval Miller.1

Sherwood earned his master's and doctorate degrees in history from the University of California
at Berkeley. He held teaching positions at the University of Maryland, the University of
Cincinnati and the University of California Davis, the latter from 1965 to 1991, when he
retired. While at U.C. Davis, he helped edit the journal Agricultural History for many years,

1 From author’s caption for image .19 in accession file; see also Bernadine LeMay Prince, The Alaska Railroad in
Pictures, 1914-1964 (Anchorage: Ken Wray’s Print Shop, 1964), Vol 2, pp. 766-800 for a description of Alaska
Railroad activities during 1949-1950, when these photos were taken. From 1946-1952, over $70 million in
improvements were made to the railroad, which was well-worn after heavy use during World War II. A summary
of this rehabilitation effort is in Prince, Vol. 2, pp. 816-818.

served as editorial adviser to half a dozen scholarly journals and book publishers and was a
member of or an advisory board appointee to a number of organizations devoted to the
American West and environmental history.

Sherwood was the author of several books about Alaska and its history including Exploration of
Alaska, 1865-1900, which was selected for The Alaska 67: A Guide to Alaska’s Best History
Books by the Alaska Historical Society in 2006. He also wrote Big Game in Alaska: A History
of Wildlife and People, and The Cook Inlet Collection: Two Hundred Years of Selected Alaskan
History. He was an editorial advisor for Alaska Journal and Alaska History. In 1983, he
received an honorary degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In addition to his
research in American science and technology, the American West and Alaska, and
environmental history, he maintained a lifelong interest in magic and quackery and their
histories. Sherwood and his wife Jeanie built a cabin at Halibut Cove across Kachemak Bay
from Homer and for three decades, spent their summers there. Morgan Sherwood died of
cancer in Davis, California, on October 31, 2000 and at his request, his ashes were distributed
over Kachemak Bay.2

Scope and Content Description:
The collection consists of 77 35mm color slides. Most images are of scenes along the railroad
between Seward and Fairbanks, many featuring the survey crew. There are also generic images
of Alaskan flora and fauna, some taken by other photographers, implying that the collection
may have been used for a slide talk about Alaska. All but a few images were taken during the
summer and fall of 1949.

Notable images include female Native section gang workers near Cantwell, the water tank and
railroad yard at Matanuska Junction, and the Jonesville coal mine.

Arrangement: Collection arranged by donor, generally from south to north along the Alaska
Railroad.


CONDITIONS GOVERNING ACCESS AND USE

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

Physical Access: Items in good condition.

Technical Access: Light box or projector may be used to view slides.


2 Anchorage Daily News, November 7, 2000, B7;
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/inmemoriam/MorgonBronsonSherwood.htm, accessed
August 23, 2012.


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:
Morgan Sherwood Alaska Railroad Photographs, Anchorage Museum, B1999.022


ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Acquisition and Appraisal Information
Morgan Sherwood donated the collection to the Museum in October 1999.

Processing Notes
Forty-four scenic views and sixteen copies of published photos were discarded at the time of
processing.

RELATED MATERIALS

B1995.031, Morgan Sherwood Gold Rush Ephemera Collection
B1970.062, Hugh Jones Collection [female section gang workers at Cantwell]
B1979.002, Alaska Railroad Collection

SUBJECTS

Alaska Railroad
Jonesville Coal Mine
Railroad workers—Alaska
Coal mines and mining—Alaska
Railroad speeders
Nenana (Steamboat)
Porcupines
Black bears
Dall sheep
Marmots
Fishwheels
Dredges
Seward (Alaska)
Seward Highway (Alaska)
Lawing (Alaska)
Bartlett Glacier (Alaska)
Spencer Glacier (Alaska)
Portage (Alaska)

Portage Glacier (Alaska)
Passage Canal (Alaska)
Whittier (Alaska)
Billings Glacier (Alaska)
Anchorage (Alaska)
Matanuska (Alaska)
Palmer (Alaska)
Glenn Highway (Alaska)
Curry (Alaska)
Mount McKinley National Park (Alaska)
Kantishna (Alaska)

Detailed Description of the Collection:
 1 —Seward, from Poindexter’s Point
 2 —Seward, Mount Marathon
 3 —Seward, From atop Mt. Marathon
 4 —Seward, Army buildings
 5 —Southern end, Seward Highway, “Road to Gabe’s,” a bar
 6 —Porcupine [Steve McCutcheon photo]
 7 —Kenai Peninsula, Snow River
 8 —Violets
 9 —Kenai Lake
 10 —Alaska Nellie’s (Lawing) on Kenai Lake
 11 —Outbuildings on Kenai Lake
 12 —Trail Lake
 13 —Peasant’s house, dog belonged to crew chief Cyrus Savage [Alaska Railroad speeder towing small flat car with doghouse] 3
 14 —Wild iris [Steve McCutcheon photo]
 15 —Wild forget-me-nots
 16 —Evaluation team, Kenai Peninsula [on bridge, near Seward?]
 17 —Old Loop in winter
 18 —“Toby” at Tunnel Station [black bear] 4
 19 —1949 evaluation team near Spencer Glacier: Steele Wotkyns, Roger Erickson, Morgan Sherwood, Martin Trump
 20 —Martin Trump near the face of Bartlett Glacier
 21 —At meridian moraine, Bartlett Glacier
 22 —Beer break at Spencer Glacier: Ken Cannon, Norval Miller, M. Sherwood (above), Martin Trump (reclining), Steele Wotkyns
 23 —On the way back from Spencer Glacier [three figures on top of distant rocky hill]
 24 —Track and clouds 3 For details about the dog and his owner, see letter from Morgan Sherwood to Diane Brenner, November 3, 1999, in the accession file. 4 See Prince, Vol 2, p. 785 for two more photos of Toby at Tunnel.
 25 —Wild columbine
 26 —Portage Junction [diesel locomotive in background]
 27 —Into the bowels of the earth [evaluation team sitting on speeder, approaching railroad tunnel]
 28 —Portage Glacier and Lake [with railroad bridge in foreground]
 29 —Passage Canal [with Billings Glacier]
 30 —Whittier and Billings Glacier
31 —Air-view Anchorage [looking east, from over Bootlegger’s Cove. Note Holy Family Cathedral, under construction; Steve McCutcheon photo]
 32 —Fourth and C, Drunkard’s End, Anchorage [Fourth Avenue bars; Steve McCutcheon photo]
 33 —Providence Hospital [Steve McCutcheon photo]
 34 —Alaska Railroad water tower at Matanuska Junction
 35 —Palmer
 36 —Barn, silo and house, Matanuska Valley
 37 —Matanuska River east of Palmer
 38 —Cabin near Moose Creek
 39 —Jonesville Coal Mine
 40 —Glenn Highway, near Jonesville
 41 —Kashwitna River Bridge (mainline)
 42 —Curry Hotel and Curry Station from across the Susitna River
 43 —Norval R. Miller and survey instrument on Indian River
 44 —Chulitna River south of Colorado Station
 45 —California poppies along track near Colorado Station
 46 —Hurricane Gulch Bridge
 47 —Track north of Broad Pass Station
 48 —Blueberries thrive in Broad Pass [Steve McCutcheon photo]
 49 —Double rainbow in Broad Pass
 50 —Part of crew on speeder at Summit, Roger Erickson [holding survey rod], Norval Miller, M. Sherwood
 51 —Mr. Plummer and Sherwood cleaning grayling at Broad Pass, 1950
 52 —Telling bear stories on Nenana River north of Cantwell Station, Mike Nelson (sitting), M. Sherwood, James A. Morrison, Resident Engineer, unknown, unknown white shirt, R. Jensen, unknown sitting, Albert Long with arms up-stretched telling bear story, R. Erickson 5
 53 —Fireweed, north of Cantwell Station
 54 —Female section gang, Cantwell 6
 55 —Wild rose [K. Boswell photo]
 56 —Wild Alaska cotton [Steve McCutcheon photo] 5 Information about Albert Long is in a letter from Morgan Sherwood to Diane Brenner, November 3, 1999, in the accession file. 6 Women from Cantwell worked on the railroad after World War II—between 1945 and 1950—when military railroad personnel left the railroad and there was a shortage of men. These women included Alice Norton, Grace Secondchief, Yaddy and Helen Stickivan, and Olga and Valdez Tyrone. (Prince, Vol. 2, pp. 694-695 and 754.)
 57 —Mt. McKinley Park Hotel
 58 —Polychrome Pass, Mt. McKinley Park road
 59 —Toklat grizzly bears [Steve McCutcheon photo]
 60 —Fish and people at Wonder Lake & Mt. McKinley: unknown, unknown, Wilma Morrison, Albert Long, Johnny Busia, ca. 1949
 61 —Shovel monument, McKinley Park valley
 62 —Johnny Busia with dogs in front of cabin, Kantishna
 63 —Johnny Busia’s cable ferry, Kantishna
 64 —“Denali” from the Park [Mt. McKinley]
 65 —Nenana River Canyon, between McKinley Park Station and Healy
 66 —New bridge under construction at Mile 350.3 (left, R. Erickson)
 67 —Ram & wife [Dall sheep; Steve McCutcheon photo]
 68 —Hoary marmot [Steve McCutcheon photo]
 69 —Suntrana Station and Healy River Coal Mine (now Usibelli)
 70 —Fishwheel on the Tanana River
 71 —Nenana Station on Tanana River. Steamer Nenana
 72 —Fox (Steve McCutcheon photo)
 73 —Downtown Fairbanks [Lacey Street]
 74 —Gold dredge [Steve McCutcheon photo]
 75 —Ptarmigan [Steve McCutcheon photo]
 76 —Arc of the midnight sun [K. Boswell photo]
 77 —An hour’s catch [of fish] at Bear Lake with Roger Erickson (left) and Sherwood (right) Guide written: January 31, 2013