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Elmer Williams photograph album

Guide to the Elmer Williams photograph album
1939-1956

Collection number: HMC-0569.
Creator: Williams, Elmer.
Title: Elmer Williams photograph album.
Dates: 1939-1956.
Volume of collection: 0.25 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Materials in this collection are in English.
Collection summary: Family photographs of a locomotive engineer with the Alaska Railroad.

Biographical note:
Elmer Williams was a locomotive engineer with the Alaska Railroad from1946 to 1951. He was married and had a daughter named Phyllis. Williams and his wife lived in Anchorage during the time he worked for the railroad. Their daughter attended Oregon State University in Corvallis.

Collection description:
The collection consists of the family photograph album of Alaska Railroad engineer Elmer Williams. Subjects of the photographs include family and friends, camping trips, parties, railroad personnel, scenes along the Alaska Railroad, train locomotives, and railroad depots and other buildings. The majority of the photographs are of Elmer Williams, his wife, and his daughter Phyllis. Other family, friends, and coworkers shown are not identified. Alaska locations depicted include Anchorage, Fairbanks, Curry, Whittier, and Bear Valley. Specific places depicted in Alaska include the Curry Hotel, Alaska Railroad depots in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Whittier, and the Mountain View Store in Anchorage. There are also photographs of a rotary and a spreader snowplow used by the railroad. Several of the prints are of Elmer Williams’ daughter, Phyllis. These include portraits and wedding shots, as well as others identified as having been taken in Corvallis and Crown Point, Oregon.

Arrangement: Materials in the collection are arranged by type. Photographs are arranged by size.

Alternative formats: The collection includes a xerographic copy of the original photograph album. Copy negatives were made from select images in the collection.

Digitized copies: Selected photographs have been digitized and can be viewed on Alaska’s Digital Archives . For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.

Rights note: Archives does not hold copyright to materials in this collection.

Preferred citation: Elmer Williams photograph album, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

Acquisition note: The collection was purchased via eBay in 2002.

Processing information: The photo album was dismantled, photographs rearranged by size, and the collection described by Jeffrey Sinnott in 2002. The guide to the collection was converted to current standard by Veronica Denison in 2015.

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