Guide to the Emorene and Roger Briggs letters
1957-1966
Collection number: HMC-0676.
Creator:
Briggs, Emorene.
Briggs, Roger.
Title: Emorene and Roger Briggs letters.
Dates: 1957-1966.
Volume of collection: 0.01 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Collection materials are in English.
Collection summary: Annual letters to family friends from a family living at Lake Clark.
Biographical note:
The Emorene and Roger Briggs family moved to the Lake Clark area in southcentral Alaska in 1956 to settle in a cabin at the lakeshore. Emorene “Randy” Briggs taught school for her own children and children of other settlers in the area while her husband Roger worked in various locations across Alaska. In 1961 the Briggs family started the Briggs Way Company, a salmon canning operation in the Bristol Bay.
Collection description:
The collection consists of nine typed letters and a pamphlet. The annual letters, usually written in January or February by Randy, detail the life of the Briggs family through the preceding year. She discusses the difficulties of transporting goods to their remote home, occasional trips to Anchorage, hunting and fishing, activities with the other people living near Lake Clark, and the death of their oldest son in 1966 of a boating accident near Ugashik. The pamphlet is a copy of an article about the Briggs Way Company published in 1963 in Natural Food and Farming, a journal published by the Natural Food Associates organization.
Arrangement: The collection is arranged in chronological order.
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 materials in this collection.
Preferred citation: Emorene and Roger Briggs letters, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Acquisition note: The collection was donated to the Archives by Helmi R. Viliesis in 2004. Viliesis was one of the recipients of the letters.
Processing information: This collection was described by Arlene Schmuland in 2004. The guide to this collection was converted to current standard by Veronica Denison in 2014.