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William E. Beaty photograph album

Guide to the William E. Beaty photograph album
1935
An Alaska Historical Society collection

Collection number: HMC-1056-AHS.
Creator: Beaty, William E.
Title: William E. Beaty photograph album.
Date: 1935.
Volume of collection: 0.2 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Collection materials in English.
Collection summary: Photographs and memorabilia created and collected by a tourist visiting Alaska in 1935.

Biographical note:
In the summer of 1935, William E. Beaty of Chicago, Illinois, toured Alaska and Northwest Canada by train, steamship, and river steamer on a Yukon River Circle Tour offered by the White Pass and Yukon Route. His trip included the following legs of travel: the Empire Builder train from Chicago to Seattle; the Alaska Steamship Company’s S.S. Aleutian from Seattle to Skagway; the White Pass and Yukon Railway from Skagway to Whitehorse; the sternwheeler Tutshi from Carmacks to Atlin and Ben-My-Chree and return; the sternwheeler Casca on the Yukon River from Whitehorse to Dawson; the sternwheeler Yukon on the Yukon and Tanana rivers from Dawson to Nenana; the Alaska Railroad north from Nenana to Fairbanks and then south to Seward; the S.S. Yukon from Seward to Seattle; and the North Coast Limited train from Seattle to Chicago.

Collection description:
The collection consists of the tourist photograph album and related memorabilia items from William E. Beaty’s trip to Alaska in 1935. The collection contains: the 37 page photograph album with 119 black and white prints; a passenger list booklet for the August 20, 1935 sailing of the S.S. Aleutian from Seattle; four Alaska Steamship Company newsletters from voyages on the steamships Aleutian and Yukon; four White Pass and Yukon Route tourist booklets; four tourist historical booklets; five menus; a tourist map and four brochures; and various pieces of stationery collected on the trip. Subject of the photographs include the following places: Metlakatla; Wrangell; Juneau; Mendenhall Glacier; Haines; Skagway; Atlin; Carmacks; Whitehorse; Five Finger Rapids; Fort Yukon; Rampart; Fairbanks; Nenana; Mt. McKinley National Park; Curry Hotel; Spencer Glacier; Columbia Glacier; and Taku Glacier. The White Pass and Yukon Route booklets concern the Yukon River Circle Tour, trips in Alaska and the Yukon, Atlin, and West Taku Arm of Lake Tagish. The historical booklets concern the gardens at Ben-My-Chree and a poem about a trip on the sternwheeler Yukon entitled, “The Log of the Yukon.” The menus are from the S.S. Aleutian, the S.S. Casca, and the Alaska Railroad’s Curry Hotel. The travel map and brochures include the following: a map of the Atlin Lake District; a Billingsley’s Curio Shop brochure about Ketchikan; a Valdez Transportation Company brochure about Valdez and a Richardson and Steese Highways travelogue; and a Valdez Chamber of Commerce brochure about the Copper River-Keystone Canyon Tour. The stationery is from the Curry Hotel, Hotel Anchorage, and the White Pass and Yukon Route.

Arrangement: The memorabilia contents of the collection have been arranged by type: lists, newsletters, booklets, menus, map and brochures, and stationery.

Digitized copies: This collection has not been digitized. For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.

Rights note: Archives and Special Collections does not hold copyright to these materials.

Preferred citation: William E. Beaty photograph album, Alaska Historical Society collections, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

Acquisition note: This collection was donated to the Alaska Historical Society in 2007 by Daisy Beaty, William’s wife.  The Historical Society retains ownership of the collection and has placed it on deposit with Archives and Special Collections.

Processing information: This collection was arranged and described by Jeffrey Sinnott in 2008.

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