Guide to the Thomas W. Benham photographs
circa 1880-1890
Collection number: HMC-0069.
Creator: Benham, Thomas W.
Title: Thomas W. Benham photographs.
Dates: circa 1880-1890.
Volume of collection: 0.4 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Materials in the collection are in English.
Collection summary: Photographs owned by an officer in the U.S. Revenue Marine.
Biographical note:
Thomas W. Benham was an officer in the United States Revenue Service. In the 1880s, he served on several cutters operating in the North Pacific along the coast of Alaska and in the Bering Sea. The ships were the Thomas Corwin, Oliver Wolcott, Richard Rush, and Bear. During this period he held the rank of Second Lieutenant.
Collection description:
This collection consists of seventy-three photographs primarily relating to Alaska and to the United States Revenue Cutter Service. Individuals depicted include officers who served on the Corwin, Rush, and Bear; passengers on the Corwin in 1885; and Alaska natives. Ships and boats pictured include the Revenue Cutters Corwin, Rush, and Bear, and Native kayaks and umiaks. Places in the photographs include Bogoslov Island, Icy Cape, King Island, Point Barrow, Point Hope, Port Clarence, St. Michael, St. Paul Island, Siberia, Unalaska, and Wrangell.
Arrangement: Photographs in the collection are arranged roughly by subject.
Alternative formats: Copy negatives and contact prints were made from all of the photographs in the collection.
Digitized copies: Selected photographs from this collection have been digitized and can be found on Alaska’s Digital Archives. For information about obtaining copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.
Rights note: Photographs in the collection are presumed to be in the public domain based on their age.
Preferred citation: Thomas W. Benham photographs, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Works used in preparation of inventory:
“Photograph Collection of the Revenue Cutters “Bear” and “Corwin” in Alaska: Finding Aid.” Huntington Library. April 28, 2014. Accessed December 1, 2015. http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8q23z64
Related materials: This collection contains photographs that can also be found in the following collections:
Fred Wildon Fickett papers, HMC-0108
Photograph Collection of the Revenue Cutters “Bear” and “Corwin” in Alaska. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California
Acquisition note: The collection was presented to the archives as a gift by the Key West Art and Historical Society in 1985.
Processing information: This collection was described prior to 1995. The guide to the collection was converted to current standard by Gwen Sieja in 2015.
Photograph list:
A number of the photographs have been identified and described based on photographs in the Photograph Collections of the Revenue Cutters “Bear” and “Corwin” in Alaska at the Huntington Library, which contain some of the same photographs. Where locations given in captions describing those photographs conflict those in this collection, both are given.
| Folder | Item | Description | Date |
| 1 | 1 | Thomas W. Benham, 2nd Lt. | circa 1885 |
| 1 | 2 | Thomas W. Benham, 2nd Lt. on a ship (likely the Bear) | circa 1886 |
| 1 | 3 | A. L. Broadbent, 1st Asst. Engr. | circa 1885 |
| 1 | 4 | John C. Cantwell, Lt., Kowak R. Hotham Inlet | undated |
| 1 | 5 | F. M. Dunwoody, Lt. on a ship (likely the Bear) | circa 1886 |
| 1 | 6 | Horace Hassell, 1st Asst. Engr. on a ship (likely the Bear) | circa 1886 |
| 1 | 7 | Johnsen, Quartermaster on a ship likely the Bear | circa 1886 |
| 1 | 8 | C. D. Kennedy, 3rd Lt. on a ship (likely the Bear) | circa 1886 |
| 1 | 9 | S. B. McLenegan, 2nd Asst. Engr. Noatuk Riv, Hotham Inlet | undated |
| 1 | 10 | Yeamans, Dr. | 1885 |
| 1 | 11 | Henry T. Allen, 2nd Lt. | 1885 |
| 1 | 12 | Sir John Watts McGarland | undated |
| 1 | 13 | “Hassel’s Boots.” Unidentified man sleeping in a cabin. | undated |
| 1 | 14 | Tar-Ta Rok | undated |
| 1 | 15 | Kowak River Native (2 copies) | undated |
| 2 | 16 | U.S.R.C. Richard Rush in Sitka Harbor | circa 1880-1885 |
| 2 | 17 | “U.S.R.C. Richard Rush on her departure Jan 2d, 1886, in search of the Amethyst” | 1886 January 2 |
| 2 | 18 | U.S.R.C. Thomas Corwin | circa 1885 |
| 2 | 19 | “Northward Ho. U. S. Rev Stmr Bear‘ bound out.” U.S.R.C. Bear with steam launch | undated |
| 2 | 20 | “U.S.R.C. Bear in the Bering Sea ice off Cape [?]” | undated |
| 2 | 21 | “On the Bear,” U.S.R.C. Bear. | undated |
| 2 | 22 | “Porpoise caught on the U.S. Rev. Stmr. Rush” (Corwin is scratched out) | undated |
| 2 | 23 | “‘Coal Seam,’ Bringing of Coal in Corwin’s Boats” (Photographer is A. L. Broadbent. I.W. Taber Photograph No. 63) | undated |
| 2 | 24 | “Whaling Bark.” Whaling Bark John Carver in the ice – Bering Sea | undated |
| 2 | 25 | “Pt. Barrow Arctic Ocean,” Steam Whaler “Lucretia” in Arctic Ocean | 1887 August |
| 2 | 26 | “Whaling Bark.” | undated |
| 2 | 27 | “Sch San Jose off C. Behring, fast.” Schooner San Jose in the ice – Bering Sea | undated |
| 2 | 28 | “Steam Whalers off Cape Lisbourne” | undated |
| 2 | 29 | Native Kayak | undated |
| 2 | 30 | Four Native Kayaks | undated |
| 2 | 31 | “Oomiak – Arctic Ocean.” Alaska Native Umiak in the Arctic ocean. | undated |
| 2 | 32 | “Rendezvous, Natives alongside the Bear. Hotham, I.” | undated |
| 2 | 33 | Native umiak | undated |
| 3 | 34 | “Bogoslov Island, New End, bearing N.W.xN.” (Photographer is A. L. Broadbent. I. W. Taber Photograph No. 13.) | undated |
| 3 | 35 | “Bogoslov Island, New End, bearing N.W.xN.” (Photographer is A. L. Broadbent. I. W. Taber Photograph No. 16) | undated |
| 3 | 36 | Indian Keshagen (Dance-House) at Icy Cape, Alaska | undated |
| 3 | 37 | “Midnight Scene off Icy Cape – Arctic Ocean” | undated |
| 3 | 38 | “Kings Island Houses” (Photographer is A. L. Broadbent. I. W. Taber Photograph No. 42) | undated |
| 3 | 39 | “Natives of Point Barrow” (Photographer is probably A. L. Broadbent. I. W. Taber Photograph No. 65) | undated |
| 3 | 40 | “Ice berg 70 ft. high. Pt. Barrow. Arctic Ocean” | undated |
| 3 | 41 | Point Barrow Women – Alaska | undated |
| 3 | 42 | Native House at Point Hope – Alaska | undated |
| 3 | 43 | Group of Women at Port Clarence (I. W. Taber Photograph No. 45) | undated |
| 4 | 44 | “St. Paul’s Island. Seal on killing ground” (Photographer is A. L. Broadbent. I. W. Taber Photograph No. 78.) | undated |
| 4 | 45 | “St. Paul’s Island. Filling fur seal” (I. W. Taber Photograph No. 79.) | undated |
| 4 | 46 | “St. Paul’s Island. Fur seal rookery” | undated |
| 4 | 47 | “St. Paul’s Island. Seal rookery” | undated |
| 4 | 48 | Native Men, East Cape, Siberia (Photographer is A. L. Broadbent. I. W. Taber Photograph No. 55) | undated |
| 4 | 49 | “Native Women, East Cape, Siberia” (Photographer is A. L. Broadbent. I. W. Taber Photograph No. 56) | undated |
| 4 | 50 | “View in Senavine Straits, Siberia” (Photographer is A. L. Broadbent. I. W. Taber Photograph No. 57) | 1885 July 12 |
| 4 | 51 | “Esquimaux [?] – on the Ice – East Cape, Siberia” Native trading party on the ice, East Cape, Siberia | undated |
| 4 | 52 | “Ounalaska from Grave Yard,” Unalaska (I. W Taber Photograph No. 7) | undated |
| 4 | 53 | “Pyramid Mountain, Ounalaska,” Unalaska (Photographer is A. L. Broadbent. I. W. Taber Photograph No. 9) | undated |
| 4 | 54 | “Barabara and Woman. Ounalaska,” Unalaska (Photographer is A. L. Broadbent. I. W. Taber Photograph No. 10) | undated |
| 4 | 55 | “Waterfall, Ounalaska,” Unalaska (Photographer is A. L. Broadbent. I. W. Taber Photograph No. 11) | undated |
| 4 | 56 | “Ounalaska,” Unalaska (Photographer is A.L. Broadbent. I. W. Taber Photograph No. 43) | undated |
| 4 | 57 | “Expedition Island, Ounalaska,” Unalaska (Photographer is A. L. Broadbent. I. W. Taber Photograph) | undated |
| 4 | 58 | Unalaska (date based on the fact that the Church of the Holy Ascension was remodeled in 1885) | before 1885 |
| 4 | 59 | “Barabara, Ounalaska,” Unalaska | undated |
| 4 | 60 | “Port Wrangell, Alaska” | undated |
| 5 | 61 | “Village, Pt. Hope” (location may be Kotzebue Sound) | undated |
| 5 | 62 | “Esquimaux, Icy Cape” (location may be Kotzebue Sound) | undated |
| 5 | 63 | “Stoney’s Camp – Hotham Inlet” (location may be St. Michael, Alaska) | undated |
| 5 | 64 | “Stoneys Station [?],” Indian Village near St. Michael, Alaska | undated |
| 5 | 65 | “Mr. Wolfe’s Station at C. Lisbourne” (building is identified as the Russian Orthodox Church at St. Michael in Frederick Wildon Fickett papers) | undated |
| 5 | 66 | “Natives on the Bear off Icy Cape” (location may be East Cape, Siberia) | undated |
| 5 | 67 | “Summer Camp – Pt. Barrow” (location may be East Cape, Siberia) | undated |
| 5 | 68 | Native House at Indian Point, Siberia | undated |
| 5 | 69 | “Esquimo Dogs and Sledge” (A. L. Broadbent is the photographer. I. W. Taber Photograph, No. 71) | undated |
| 5 | 70 | Group of men by the ocean | undated |
| 5 | 71 | Carrying a pig over the ice | undated |
| 5 | 72 | “Specimens of Pipes” | undated |
| 6 | Contact prints and copy negatives | undated |