Historical Manuscripts Collection List »
THOMAS W. BENHAM (d. 1914). Photographs; ca. 1880-1890. .65 cu. ft. List.
Thomas 
W. Benham
was an officer in the United States Revenue Service. In the 1880s,
he served on several cutters operating in the North Pacific along
the coast of Alaska and in the Bering Sea. The ships were the
Thomas Corwin, Oliver Wolcott, Richard Rush,
and Bear. During this period he held the rank of Second
Lieutenant.
This collection consists of seventy-three photographs primarily relating to Alaska and to the United States Revenue Cutter Service. The collection is divided into photographs of individuals, ships and boats, places, as well as items with conflicting or partial captions. The individuals include officers who served on the Corwin, Rush, and Bear; passengers on the Corwin in 1885; and natives. The pictures of ships and boats include the Revenue Cutters Corwin, Rush, and Bear, and native kayaks and oomiaks. The places include Bogoslov Island, Icy Cape, King Island, Point Barrow, Point Hope, Port Clarence, St. Paul's Island, Siberia, Unalaska, and Wrangell. The remaining pictures include several with captions that conflict significantly with copies in the Michael Healy Collection in the Huntington Library; and photographs which are only partially identified and lack peoples' names and the location. In addition, there is a set of contact prints of all photographs in the collection.
This collection was presented to the archives as a gift by the Key West Art and Historical Society in 1985.
HMC-0069
Photo Credit/Source: Photographer Unknown. It is photo no.
1 in Series A of the Thomas W. Benham Col.