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: Helen M. Bucy 1964 Earthquake Collection

COLLECTION NUMBER: B2014.008

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Dates: 1964

Extent: 1 box; 1 linear foot

Language and Scripts: The collection is in English.

Name of creator(s): Helen M. Bucy, Edward Bucy

Administrative/Biographical History:
Helen and Edward Bucy were living in Anchorage at the time of the 1964 Good Friday
Earthquake. Ed was working for Alaska Van and Storage.

Scope and Content Description:
The collection consists of a photograph album containing 106 black-and-white and color prints,
a clippings scrapbook, several publications, and ephemera pertaining to the 1964 Alaska
Earthquake. For additional 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:
Helen M. Bucy 1964 Earthquake Collection, Anchorage Museum, B2014.008

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Acquisition and Appraisal Information
Gift of Helen M. Bucy and her children, Robert Kloepfer, Darryl Kloepfer, Starr Lane, Roberta
Jasper, and Edward Rosek. Donated March 2014.

Processing Note
Photo album pages removed from three-ring binder. All loose newsprint clippings photocopied
and originals discarded.

RELATED MATERIALS
CIHS McCutcheon Collection, B1964.x.006
AHFAM Earthquake Photographs, B1969.011
Betty Bannon Collection, B1970.015
Zappa Earthquake Papers, B1972.060
Portage Earthquake Photographs, B1973.070
Patricia Mayo Earthquake Time Ticket, B1974.013
Kroninger Photograph Collection, B1976.118
Army Corps of Engineers 1964 Earthquake Photographs, B1977.118
Corps of Engineers 1964 Earthquake Photographs, B1979.038
Woodman Photograph Collection, B1980.027
McDermott Collection, B1987.083
Ron Aldrin Earthquake Slides, B1994.024
Though the Earth Be Moved, B1997.021
Sanborn Recording of 1964 Earthquake, B1997.023
Anchorage Chamber of Commerce Collection, B2002.002
Charles Koppel 1964 Earthquake Collection, B2002.008
Norman Campbell Photographs, B2005.041
Bronitsky Letter, B2006.021
4th and H St. Demolition Collection, B2007.002
Opal Myers 1964 Earthquake Collection, B2007.003
Christenson Slide collection, B2007.016
Bangkok Embassy Teletype Collection, B2009.044
Truth Coven Gray Earthquake Album, B2009.056
Kleihauer Slide Collection, B2010.004

Johnny Sartor Collection, B2010.020
Langford-Ose Photograph Collection, B2011.002
Kenneth C. Allen Earthquake Slides, B2012.027
Jean Kaufman Earthquake Photographs, B2012.032
John Mull III Alaskan Earthquake Reflections, B2012.036
Sportsman's Club Earthquake Photographs, B2013.001
Bill and Ellyn Frye letter regarding the 1964 Alaska Earthquake, B2013.011
Harold and Malita Hitchen Collection, B2013.010
Milo Fritz Letter to Folks, 1964, B2013.046
Grace Tucker Letter to Folks, 1964, B2013.051
Col. Paul W. Stephens 1964 Alaska Earthquake Photographs, B2013.061
J. O. Anderson 1964 Earthquake Collection, B2014.006

SUBJECTS
Bucy, Helen M.
Alaska Earthquake, Alaska, 1964
Earthquakes – Alaska – Anchorage
Earthquake damage – Alaska – Anchorage
Anchorage (Alaska)

Detailed Description of the Collection

Photo Album
“The Alaska Earthquake March 27th, 1964 Good Friday. We are proud to be Alaskans”
 1 — [boy standing next to sign, “Welcome to Alaska, Prevent Forest Fires!”
 2 — 4th Avenue Anchorage, Alaska before the earthquake on Good Friday, March 27th, 1964 5:35 P.M. [street scene looking east on Fourth Avenue, Anchorage Fur Rendezvous sign hanging over street, businesses including Mode O’Day, Stewart’s Photo Shop, 515 Club]
 3 — 4th Avenue after the earthquake, 5:36 P.M. [street scene looking west on Fourth Avenue, businesses including Scandinavian Club & Bar, Pawn Shop Loans]
 4 — 4th Avenue with the Westward Hotel in the background, which survived slight damage [Union Leader in foreground]
 5 — 4th Avenue [including Frisco Bar & Café, D & D Bar and Café, Mac’s Foto, Sportsman’s Club]
 6 — 4th Avenue [Safari Hotel, Union Leader, Denali Theater]
 7 — 4th Avenue [including Union Leader, Corral Bar]
 8 — Buildings on 4th Avenue that sunk into the ground 20 feet or more [man wearing hard hat outside Denali Theater]
 9 — The [blank] in the Denali Theatre is level with the ground [sign or marquee]
 10 — The ground gave away under the Camera Center [McLain’s]
 11 — Anchorage Hardware, Ed had to remove merchandise from the debris [building exterior]
 12 — Ed’s truck at the back of the hardware store
 13 — The street in front of the Anchorage Hardware [man looking into fissure, with signs for Hobby Lobby and Koslosky’s]
 14 — A leaning bar on 4th Avenue, The Green Dragon
 15 — Looking north on C Street from 4th Avenue [automobile, buildings, heaved earth]
 16 — The Mint Lounge fell into 4th Avenue [exterior of building with sign for Irish Coffee]
 17 — The back part of the Denali Theatre on B St. off of 4th Avenue
 18 — Bagoy Florists across the street from the Denali Theatre, B St. and 4th Avenue
 19 — Demolishing 4th Avenue [two men walking past debris piles]
 20 — J. C. Penney’s on 5th Avenue and D Street [parking garage]
 21 — J. C. Penney’s [street scene looking down Fifth Avenue to parking garage]
 22 — J. C. Penney’s [parking garage]
 23 — The Playboy Lounge on 3rd Avenue and B Street
 24 — The east side of the Playboy Lounge
 25 — The E & E Apartments directly across from the Playboy Lounge
26 — [street scene on Fourth Avenue in fresh snowfall, people gathered at far edge of fissure in front of businesses including Koslosky’s, D & D Bar & Café, Frisco Bar & Café, Mac’s Foto, Pawn Shop Loans, Scandinavian Club & Bar]
27 — [similar to .26]
 28 — [J. C. Penney parking garage]
 29 — [soldiers gathered near crushed automobile outside businesses including Barrett Office Supply, Club Paris, Rexall Drug Store]
 30 — [J. C. Penney parking garage]
 31 — [damage to Sam’s Liquor Shop, Safari Hotel, and Union Leader]
 32 — [damage to Anchorage High School]
 33 — The Hillside Apartments 3 ½ blocks from us
 34 — The Hillside Apartments
 35 — Front entrance to the Hillside Apartments
 36 — The “Four Seasons” Apartment building that didn’t see a season. It was to be ready for occupancy this spring.
 37 — “Four Seasons” 4 ½ blocks from us
 38 — The 1200 “L” Apartments in front of us. Its all steel frame, so leaned and cracked, but stayed up
 39 — The playground on the 9th Avenue park strip
 40 — A house split in the middle across the street from the park strip
 41 — More demolition on 4th Avenue
 42 —44 – Eddie and our chimney [Ed Rosek next to fallen chimney]
 45 —47 – More of the chimney
 48 — Eddie’s school, Inlet View [distant view of children on playground in fresh snow]
 49 — West Anchorage High School
 50 — Ed’s office, Alaska Van and Storage [exterior of loading dock]
 51 —53 – These were houses on K St. and L St. only about 4 or 5 blocks from us
 54 — The Dalton Co. on D St. near 2nd Ave. [soldier at barricade outside building]
 55 — One house split and another down in a hole near 9th and N St. [bulldozer working next to row of houses, automobile in foreground]
 56 — The “Four Seasons” Apartments, that were almost completed [pedestrians and automobiles on street in foreground]
 57 — A house and fissures on Government Hill [water tower in distance]
 58 — The sunken ground on the 9th Ave. park strip [man in foreground taking photograph]
 59 — The Government Hill grade school [water tower in distance]
 60 —62 – Fallen homes in the Turnagain area
 63 —65 – More Turnagain homes
 66 —68 – Some of the Turnagain homes were as much as $60,000 or $80,000
 69 —72 – [damage to Turnagain homes]
 73 —75 – Turnagain
 76 —106 – [damage to Turnagain homes] Clippings scrapbook “The Alaska Earthquake Good Friday March 27th 1964” - “Top Ten Quake Tunes” [manuscript list on page 2 of scrapbook] Publications - Alaska quake : pictorial review. Anchorage : Anchorage Printing Co., [1964] - Quake : a pictorial record of the strongest and most devastating earthquake ever recorded in the history of North America, and the tidal wave extending from California to the Aleutian Islands, which followed / [compiled and published by the Parks Letter Service, Inc]. Anchorage, Alaska : The Service : Distributed by the Alaska News Agency, [1964?] - Great Alaska earthquake! : a pictorial review / [compiled, composed and printed by Alaskan Publishing Company]. Anchorage, Alaska : Alaskan Pub. Co., c1964. - Alaskan earthquake pictorial / Color Art Printing Co., photography by Mac’s Foto. Anchorage : The Company, 1964. - Good Friday nightmare : pictorial review, quake and tidal wave, Alaska to California, 1964. [Portland, Or.] : [Sturm], 1964. - Destruction from earthquake : Anchorage, Alaska and Turnagain area, March 27, 1964 / photographs by Vern Coryell and Armond Johnson. [Anchorage, Alaska] : [publisher not identified], [1964?] - “Alaska after the quake: a look at the future.” In: U.S. News & World Report, v. 56 no. 15, April 13, 1964. - Graves, William P. E. “Horror strikes on Good Friday”; Miller, Maynard M. “What causes earthquakes”; and Thomas, Jr., Mrs. Lowell. “An Alaskan family’s ordeal.” In: National Geographic, vol. 126, no. 1, July 1964. - Lindeman, Bard. “How a stricken state met chaos.” In: Saturday Evening Post, Yr. 237, no. 18, May 9, 1964. Clippings - “Earthquake edition pictorial,” Anchorage Daily News, [no date] - “Horrifying scene as Alaska earth opens,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 29, 1964 - “Alaska earthquake disaster,” Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, March 27, 1964 - “104 feared dead in quake area,” Anchorage Daily Times, March 30, 1964 - “Earthquake in Alaska in color,” Life magazine, April 10, 1964 - “The quake story,” Anchorage Daily Times, April 14, 1964 - “Earthquake leaves a reminder,” Anchorage Daily Times, May 22, 1973 - “Earthquake, 1964-1974,” Anchorage Daily Times, March 26, 1974 Guide written: April 21, 2014