Guide to the Otte Conrad Johnson photographs
1915-1936
Collection number: HMC-0791.
Creator: Johnson, Otte Conrad.
Title: Otte Conrad Johnson photographs.
Dates: 1915-1936.
Volume of collection: 0.01 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Collection materials are in English.
Collection summary: Photographs of Alaska Packers Association employee who worked at the fishing station at Kvichak.
Biographical note:
Otte Conrad Johnson was born in Astoria, Oregon, in 1886. He married Elizabeth Brickwedel in California in 1910. Johnson was a life-longe employee of the Alaska Packers Association, a salmon packing and canning company headquartered in San Francisco, California. He sailed to Alaska aboard the steel-hulled bark, Star of Greenland, which was owned by the association from 1909 to 1929. He worked at the association’s cannery and fishing station at Kvichak on the Kvichak River in Bristol Bay, as well as at other canneries and fishing stations in Alaska.
Collection description:
The collection consists of photographs and pages from an album belonging to an employee of the Alaska Packers Association. The collection contains 43 black and white prints (41 original and 2 published images). Subjects of the original photographs and the number of prints for each subject include: river ice at the cannery at Kvichak; a cannery as viewed from river ice just before break-up; several steam boats hauled up onto river ice on ways; the gas boat Swallow on the edge of the ice on the Kvichak River; a party of men and women with a sleigh pulled by dog team on the Kvichak River; full views of the bark Star of Greenland at sea off Cape Blanco, and in port; the captain and mate of the Star of Greenland; men on the Star of Greenland; Men hoisting crates of fish onto a dock using large davits; a fishing boat and cannery tenders; large stacks of cans inside a cannery building; machinery inside a cannery building; summer exterior views of canneries; groups of fishermen and cannery workers; and various coastal scenery. The two published prints are by photographer J. E. Worden. One is of LeConte Glacier near Peterburg, dated July 25, 1915. The other is of the rugged coastline and mountains around LeConte Bay. The copied photographs are of Otte Johnson in 1930, a native woman, and a family in front of their house. The collection also contains a copy of Otte Johnson’s Social Security Application, dated 1936.
Arrangement: Materials in the collection are arranged in the order in which they were placed in the album.
Alternative formats: The collection includes xerographic copies of album pages to indicate the original order of the photographs.
Digitized copies: 17 of the images in the collection have been digitized and placed on the Alaska’s Digital Archives. For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.
Rights note: Archives and Special Collection does not hold copyright to the collection.
Preferred citation: Otte Conrad Johnson photographs, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Works used in preparation of inventory: Biographical information was provided by Emilia Winding.
Acquisition note: The collection was purchased by the Archives on eBay in 2005. Additional materials were loaned to the Archives for copying by Emilia Winding in 2005.
Processing information: Selected photographs were removed from album pages and the collection described by Jeffrey Sinnott in 2005. The guide to the collection was converted to current standard by Gwen Sieja in 2015. Original order of the materials was re-established by Tom Myers in 2024, and digitization and description for the online content done at that time.
Location of originals: Materials loaned to the Archives for copying remain in the possession of Emilia Winding.