Guide to the American Museum of Natural History
Alaska-Yukon expedition photograph album
1936
Collection number: HMC-0600.
Creator: American Museum of Natural History.
Title: American Museum of Natural History Alaska-Yukon expedition photograph album.
Date: 1936.
Volume of collection: 0.25 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Collection materials are in English.
Collection summary: Photographs from a museum expedition in search of fossils.
Organizational history:
In the summer of 1936, the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City sponsored an expedition to Alaska and the Yukon Territory to search for pre-Pleistocene vertebrate fossils. The expedition was led by Erich Maren Schlaikjer. He was accompanied by David Bradley Cheek, Louis du Pont Irving, and John Wolbach. The members of the expedition traveled from Skagway to Dawson, Circle, Fairbanks, Hess Creek, Healy, Anchorage, the Matanuska Valley, and returned via Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Dawson to Skagway. The expedition focused on areas where tertiary formations occur: the Yukon Territory west of Dawson, the area between Dawson and Circle, the Fairbanks vicinity, the north flank of the Alaska Range, and the Matanuska Valley.
Collection description:
This collection consists of a photograph album of AMNH’s Alaska-Yukon Expedition of 1936. The collection contains the original album of 94 black and white photographs, and 56 copy negatives of selected photographs. The subjects of the photographs include the members of the expedition collectively and individually, riverboats on which the party traveled, geologic formations, Anchorage, Dawson, Fairbanks, Palmer, Skagway, the Yukon River, Healy Creek, Thanksgiving Creek, and various individuals encountered along the way.
Arrangement: The photographs in the album appear to be in roughly chronological order based on the journey.
Digitized copies: 6 photographs from the collection have been digitized and placed online in the Alaska’s Digital Archives. For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.
Rights note: Copyright to collection materials is not held by the Archives.
Preferred citation: American Museum of Natural History Alaska-Yukon expedition photograph album, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Acquisition note: The Archives purchased the collection at internet auction in 2002.
Processing information: This collection was described by Arlene Schmuland in 2002. Photograph descriptions were transcribed from album captions. The guide was updated to meet current standard by Arlene Schmuland in 2017.
Container list:
| Page | Item | Description |
| 1 | a-b | “Stagnant and active Taku glaciers.” Panoramic view. |
| 2 | a | “Skagway, Alaska.” Street scene. |
| 2 | b | “On the trail of ’98.” |
| 2 | c | “Across Lake Bennett to the South.” |
| 3 | a | “Whitehorse dock upstream.” |
| 3 | b | “Down the Yukon to Dawson.” The riverboat Whitehorse. |
| 3 | c | “Beautiful Lake Laberge 10:30 P.M.” |
| 4 | a-b | “Down the Yukon through the Five-finger Rapids.” |
| 4 | c | “‘Moose!’ Swimming the Yukon just above Dawson.” |
| 5 | a | “[David] Cheek, [John] Wolback [sic], [Louis] Irving, [Erich] Schlaikjer aboard the Whitehorse.” |
| 5 | b | “The good ship Thérése at Dawson.” |
| 5 | c | “Our first camp just above Fortymile.” |
| 6 | a | “Eagle, Alaska downstream.” |
| 6 | b | “Bob Steele and Jack Hillard.” |
| 6 | c | “North summit of Seventymile Trail.” |
| 7 | a | “Louis [Irving] on Rock Creek.” |
| 7 | b | “Down Seventymile from cable crossing.” |
| 7 | c | “Dave [Cheek] and Snort fording the Seventymile.” |
| 8 | a | “Nord, MacHenry, Olson, Erich Schlaikjer, Louis Irving, Jost, [John] Wolback [sic].” |
| 8 | b | “Nine-day Sourdoughs.” Erich Schlaikjer, Louis Irving, David Cheek, and John Wolbach. |
| 8 | c | “International boundary on the Yukon.” Louis Irving, David Cheek, and John Wolbach at boundary marker. |
| 9 | a | “Looking north along the international boundary.” Erich Schlaikjer at boundary marker. |
| 9 | b | “Looking north along the international boundary.” David Cheek at boundary marker. |
| 9 | c | “Calico Bluff, below Eagle.” |
| 10 | a | “Carboniferous, six miles below mouth of Seventymile.” |
| 10 | b | “The same, Louis [Irving] on Cretaceous-Carboniferous contact.” |
| 10 | c | “Midnight, Squaw Mountain across the Yukon at ‘No-Mosquito’ Creek.” |
| 11 | a | “Folded Permian limestone, right limit.” |
| 11 | b | “A Coal Creek ‘Cat.'” |
| 11 | c | “Mc Rae dredge on Coal Creek.” |
| 12 | a-b | “Terraces and block-faulting opposite Thanksgiving Creek.” Panoramic view. |
| 12 | c | “Fish wheel opposite Woodchopper.” |
| 13 | a-b | “Farewell to Thérése.” |
| 13 | c | “Circle, Alaska.” |
| 14 | a | “Fairbanks from air, looking southwest.” |
| 14 | b | “Lonnie and the Stimson. Typical landing field, right limit of Yukon. Four miles below Hess Creek.” |
| 14 | c | “Sunset on the Yukon from Elephant Mt.” |
| 15 | a | “Forsaken on the bank of the Yukon.” Caption only, no photograph. |
| 15 | b | “Baby caribou opposite Hess Creek.” |
| 15 | c | “150 foot hydraulic cut on Cripple Creek.” |
| 16 | a | “Camp on Healy Creek.” |
| 16 | b | “Cranberries at Healy Creek Camp.” |
| 16 | c | “A steep climb to camp.” |
| 17 | a | “Healy River Coal Mine on Healy Creek.” |
| 17 | b | “Dave [Cheek] in the fish quarry.” |
| 17 | c | “‘Porky’ on a limb over Nenana River at Poker Creek.” Porcupine in tree. |
| 18 | a | “Down the Chulitna, Hurricane Gulch.” |
| 18 | b | “Cabin on Summit Creek.” |
| 18 | c | “Mt. McKinley up the Susitna River from Talkeetna.” |
| 19 | a | “From here to Palmer.” Matanuska train station. |
| 19 | b | “Main Street, Anchorage, east.” |
| 19 | c | “Steve and his Belanca – Cook Inlet 8/16/36.” |
| 20 | a | “With Steve over Palmer.” Aerial view. |
| 20 | b | “Chugach Mountains across Long Lake.” |
| 20 | c | “Long Lake, east.” |
| 21 | a | “Au Revoir to Steve.” |
| 21 | b | “On Long Lake.” An Alaska Star Airlines plane. |
| 21 | c | “North to Boulder Creek on a cold, wet day.” |
| 22 | a | “King Mountain.” |
| 22 | b | “Castle Mountain.” |
| 22 | c | “John on a boulder.” |
| 23 | a | “Moose from the air near Wood River.” |
| 23 | b | “Blueberries on Boulder Creek.” |
| 23 | c | “Tertiary on upper Lignite Creek.” |
| 24 | a | “Mt. McKinley enroute to Kantishna.” |
| 24 | b | “Mt. McKinley over Caribou Creek.” |
| 24 | c | “Over the Chena River just east of Fairbanks.” |
| 25 | a | . “Chitsea Mountain, northwest.” |
| 25 | b | “Ogilvie Mountains – over the International Boundary.” |
| 25 | c | “South along First Avenue, Dawson.” |
| 26 | a-b | “Across the Klondike about 20 miles upstream.” Car ferry. |
| 26 | c | “Early morning in Dawson.” |
| 27 | a | “Dawson’s one-bathroom hotel.” The Royal Alexander Hotel. |
| 27 | b | “At the corner of Third and Albert, Dawson.” |
| 27 | c | “Mr. T. A. M. Haney, Dawson.” |
| 28 | a | “Jimmy and his place of business.” Grocery store in Dawson. |
| 28 | b | “Dave [Cheek] before leaving Dawson.” David Cheek. |
| 28 | c | “The Aksala ready to start upstream.” |
| 29 | a | “On board the Aksala.” David Cheek, Louis Irving, unidentified boat’s officer, John Wolbach. |
| 29 | b | “On board the Aksala.” John Wolbach, Louis Irving, unidentified boat’s officer, Erich Schlaikjer. |
| 29 | c | “Gentleman Charles Vifquain.” Erich Schlaikjer and Vifquain, railway agent at Dawson. |
| 30 | a | “Farewell to Dawson.” |
| 30 | b | “The Nemo on her way downstream.” |
| 30 | c | “Loading silver ore at Stewart.” |
| 31 | a | “The disasters on the Yukon.” The grounded steamboat Casca. |
| 31 | b | “The disasters on the Yukon.” The wrecked steamboat Klondike. |
| 31 | c | “We stop for wood.” |
| 32 | a | “Two men on a raft.” |
| 32 | b | “Victoria Rock below Selkirk.” |
| 32 | c | “Moonrise on the Yukon.” |