Guide to the Beth and Ernie Wackwitz photographs
1933-1935
Collection number: HMC-0504.
Creator:
Wackwitz, Beth.
Wackwitz, Ernie.
Title: Beth and Ernie Wackwitz photographs.
Dates: 1933-1935.
Volume of collection: 0.01 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Materials in this collection are in English.
Collection summary: Photographs of a mining family in Fairbanks.
Biographical note:
Beth Wackwitz (née Green) was a schoolteacher from the Fairbanks area of Alaska. She was married to Ernest H. Wackwitz, a German miner. The couple was affiliated with the Wyoming Mine on Red Rock Creek, in Cleary, Alaska.
Collection description:
This collection contains 35 black and white photographs relating to Beth and Ernie Wackwitz’s home in the Fairbanks area. Included are images of the Wackwitz home, family and friends, the Fairbanks Ice Carnival, Wyoming Mine, Circle City, and a local wedding. .
Arrangement: The collection is arranged in the order it arrived at the Archives.
Alternative formats: Nine copy negatives have been made from selected photographs in the collection.
Digitized copies: Selected photographs have been digitized and can be found online at Alaska’s Digital Archives. For information about obtaining copies please contact Archives and Special Collections.
Rights note: Archives does not hold copyright to materials in this collection.
Preferred citation: Beth and Ernie Wackwitz photographs, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Acquisition note: This collection was purchased from eBay in 2001.
Processing information: This collection was described by Kathy Hertel in 2001. The guide to the collection was revised by Veronica Denison in 2014.
Container list:
| Item# | Description | Dates |
| 1 | “The day Fred murdered the caribou! Thelma, Jade, Anne, and I the day we went to Circle, Alaska and Circle Hot Springs. This picture was taken 6 ½ miles North of ‘Central Road House.’” | circa 1934 |
| 2 | “This is the way Fred brought the caribou home. It is strapped to the running board of his car. Fred is the man in the picture” | circa 1934 |
| 3 | “Feb., 1935. Fairbanks, Alaska. Loving You, Beth (Beth Green, Schoolteacher)” | 1935 February |
| 4 | “One of the Ice Carnival Floats. Bill’s masterpiece – at photography???” | circa 1934 |
| 5 | “Ernest H. Wackwitz. Fairbanks, Alaska. June 22, 1934 (German miner who married Alaska schoolteacher Beth Green” | 1934 June 22 |
| 6 | “First Nat’l Bank. Note the dog team cut from tin – hanging in mid air – Bill failed to get the sled & driver – this was for the ‘Ice Carnival’” | circa 1934 |
| 7 | “This is the Post Box a mile and a half from the mine. (Alaska schoolteacher Beth Green)” | circa 1934 |
| 8 | “Cleaning Day – Wyoming Mine, June 1933. Margaret Berry, Mary Erickson, Doris Cox” | 1933 June |
| 9 | “Pietno Vigna. Fairbanks, Alaska, July 1933” | 1933 July |
| 10 | “Ice Carnival King Regent and Queen Regent – King & Queen (boy & girl) – Mayor Collins – crowned them on the ice throne. Vigna carried the ice dogs (If you can find them)” | circa 1934 |
| 11 | “Vigna’s ice house he built for the ‘Ice Carnival’. Natives (college kids) dressed as Eskimos – Otto Geist, (the anthropologist collecting Eskimo specimens from St. Lawrence Island) is in the white parka. Alaskan Seal in foreground” | circa 1934 |
| 12 | “The little house at the mine where we spent our two week vacation. Ernie built this place almost entirely alone six years ago. Feature getting 33 bedded down? For the night! July 1933” | 1933 July |
| 13 | “Where the girls took their morning ‘spit baths,’ brushed their teeth and later washed their clothes. This is ‘Wash Day,’ continued. We panned gold here. This is a placer claim” | circa 1934 |
| 14 | “-10, Fairbanks, Alaska. Feb 4, 1934. Beth, Thel, Anne, shoveling the latest in Alaskan fashions!!” | 1934 February 4 |
| 15 | “Wash Day!” | circa 1934 |
| 16 | Scenic view of river | circa 1934 |
| 17 | “Left to right: Mrs. Ross, Papa, M.B.W., Norma Jordet, Anne, Irene, Thel, Jade, Lala Cremeans, preacher. Note the groom’s white canvas gloves! Thel’s expression is killing!” | circa 1934 |
| 18 | “Thel, Jade, Beth, Anne, Norm, Benjie. June 4, 1934. Fairbanks, Alaska” | 1934 June 4 |
| 19 | Beth Green | circa 1934 |
| 20 | “‘The Grocer’s Trail’ west side of our cabin. Note the ‘Ash Trail’ branches off?! One seldom gets cold in such clothing. This is the real Eskimo costume made by the Eskimo near Nome. Mr. Palme (Larry) the man who brought in the Musk oxen from Greenland gave the Parka to Thelma. He was stationed in Nome for 4 yrs. Caring for reindeer” | circa 1934 |
| 21 | “Jack by the Soda Dam” | circa 1934 |
| 22 | “‘Fish Wheel’ on the Yukon River. Circle City, Alaska” | circa 1934 |
| 23 | “Home Sweet Home. Alaska. Aprl. 1935. Beth, Ernie, Bill” | 1935 April |
| 24 | Rock exhibit (half of photo missing) | circa 1934 |
| 25 | Moose crossing dirt road | circa 1934 |
| 26 | “A few ‘back door views,’ Fairbanks, Alaska. Jan. 1932. This was before our recent heavy snow. So imagine how it looks now” | 1932 January |
| 27 | “Bill’s first skiis. Feb. 1935. Fairbanks, Alaska” | 1935 February |
| 28 | Beth and Ernie sitting on saw jack outside | circa 1934 |
| 29 | “Wyoming Mine, Red Rock Creek, Cleary, Alaska. July 15, 1934” | 1934 July 15 |
| 30 | “Our home – ‘in the making.’ Feb. 4, 1934. Fairbanks, Alaska” | 1934 February 4 |
| 31 | “Wyoming Mine, Cleary Hill, Alaska. June 10, 1934. Ernie & Beth Wackwitz” | 1934 June 10 |
| 32 | “Beth’s house taken from the back-side yard. (Be sure to send this back)” | circa 1934 |
| 33 | Group watching dog sled races | circa 1934 |
| 34 | “Ernie feeding the group ice cream! Wyoming Mine. June 1933. Cleary Hill” | 1933 June |
| 35 | View of church from hill | circa 1934 |