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: Yukon Territory Athapascan Indian Photographs

COLLECTION NUMBER: B2013.053

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Dates: circa 1940-1949

Extent: 17 items

Language and Scripts: The collection is in English.

Name of creator(s): unknown

Administrative/Biographical History:
The Alaska Highway, connecting Alaska to the lower 48 states through Canada, was
constructed in 1942 and opened to vehicles in 1943. The Tutchone and Han Indians are
Athapascan groups that traditionally inhabited the Yukon Plateau and upper Yukon River areas
of Yukon and Alaska. The Native communities were greatly affected by the influx of white
workers to their territory during the construction of the highway and subsequent development
of subsidiary roads. Episcopal, Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Baptist missions were
established throughout the area.1

Scope and Content Description:
The collection consists of 17 black-and-white photographs of Native villagers and white priests,
possibly taken somewhere in Yukon Territory near the route of the Alaska Highway during its
construction in the 1940s. The Natives are likely Athapascan, possibly Gwich’in, Han, or
Tutchone Indians. Attendees of the 2013 Alaska Federation of Natives Convention tentatively
identified image .13 as Christian Village, or Christian, a settlement 55 miles north of Fort
Yukon, Alaska.

Arrangement: Not applicable

1 Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 6,Subarctic. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1981.



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:
Yukon Territory Athapascan Indian Photographs, Anchorage Museum, B2013.053

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Acquisition and Appraisal Information
Items found in collection May 2013. Correspondence found with the items indicates that they
may have come into the Museum in 1982 from a woman who had worked on the Alaska
Highway.


SUBJECTS
Athapascan Indians—Yukon
Athapascan Indians—Alaska
Athapascan Indians—Missions
Log buildings—Yukon
Missions—Yukon
Missions—Alaska
Yukon—Photographs

Detailed Description of the Collection
1 — [group portrait behind board railing on porch of log building, either church or school, with Caucasian priest, Native women and children, winter]
2 — [group portrait in front of log building, not same as in .1, Native women and children]
3 — [Native man, woman, and boy with two bear skins hanging over pole railing on porch of log building]
 4 — [group portrait on same porch as in .3, Native men, women, and children]
 5 — [young woman outside log building]
 6 — [three white men wearing cassocks, fascia, and pectoral crosses, wood pile in shelter in background and pole railing at left]
 7 — [young Native man and woman with infant on porch of log building]
 8 — [two Native men wearing zippered sweaters]
 9 — [Native family outside log cabin]
 10 — [young woman next to tent]
 11 — [young Native girls outside log cabin with large eave over entry, snowshoes mounted on wall]
 12 — [Native elder woman wearing plaid shirt and kerchief]
13 — [four Native women and two children in front of small tent; Christian Village, Alaska?]
 14 — [young Native man holding red fox, winter]
 15 — [young woman wearing short-sleeved dress and wristwatch outside log cabin in winter]
 16 — [Native man and woman next to building in winter, third person in background]
 17 — [young girls in Western clothes outside log building in winter] Guide updated: December 17, 2013