Guide to the Edward William Laird film
1930-1934, 1992
An Alaska Historical Society collection
Collection number: HMC-1168-AHS.
Creator: Laird, Edward William.
Title: Edward William Laird film.
Date: 1930-1934.
Volume of collection: 275 mb.
Language of materials: Materials in this collection are in English.
Collection summary: Footage of Ketchikan and surrounding areas shot by a lighthouse engineer.
Biographical note:
Edward William Laird was a civil engineer who graduated from Oregon State University in 1927. He then entered the Lighthouse Service in San Francisco as a junior engineer, but was transferred to Alaska as an assistant engineer in 1930, working at the district office in Ketchikan. He helped design the Hinchinbrook station, Five Fingers light station, Scotch Cap and Cape Sarichef lighthouses on Unimak Island, as well as renewed the lighthouses on Tree Point and Sentinel Island. Laird left Alaska in 1935, but returned in 1938 as an assistant superintendent in the Ketchikan office. After the U.S. Coast Guard took over the lighthouse service in 1939, Laird became a Captain in the Coast Guard.
Collection description:
The collection contains a home movie, digitized, of Ketchikan and scenery throughout Alaska. Subjects include wildlife, boats, ships, and steamers, people, totems, sunrises and sunsets, harbors, lighthouses, building and boat construction, and whale butchering. Some of the footage was shot in color.
Arrangement: The film elements are in the order in which they were digitized.
Digitized copies: The film has been digitized, however digital copies of collection material are not available online. For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.
Rights note: The Alaska Historical Society owns copyright to materials created by Edward Laird.
Preferred citation: Edward William Laird film, Alaska Historical Society collections, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Works used in preparation of inventory: Laird, Edward William. “Lighthouse Memories of a Lighthouse Engineer.” Human Interest Summer 1992.
Acquisition note: This collection was donated to the Alaska Historical Society in 2014 by Margaret Laird Dennis. The Historical Society retains ownership of the collection and has placed it on deposit with Archives and Special Collections.
Processing information: This collection was described by Veronica Denison in 2014.
Location of originals: The original film is with the donor.