Guide to the Albert W. Newhall letters
1915-1928
Collection number: HMC-0188.
Creator: Newhall, Albert W., 1872-1929.
Title: Albert W. Newhall letters.
Dates: 1915-1928.
Volume of collection: 0.02 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Collection materials are in English.
Collection summary: Letters from a doctor and missionary at the Jesse Lee Home in Unalaska and later in Barrow.
Biographical note:
Dr. Albert Warren Newhall was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1872. He graduated from the University of Vermont and the Union Missionary Training School in Brooklyn, New York. In 1898, he married Agnes Sowle, superintendent of the Jesse Lee Home for orphans in Unalaska, Alaska, and worked there as a medical missionary. In 1902, he succeeded his wife as superintendent of the Jesse Lee Home. After his wife Agnes died in 1917, he married Emma Supernaw in 1922. Newhall continued to work at the Jesse Lee Home until 1923, when the Methodist Church decided to move the orphanage to Seward. In 1925, Newhall and his wife Emma moved to Barrow, where he worked for the Presbyterian Board of Missions until his death in 1929.
Collection description:
The collection consists of original and copied letters of Dr. Albert W. Newhall. The letters, providing accounts of his life and work as a medical missionary, were primarily written for a general audience of friends.
Arrangement: The letters are arranged in chronological order.
Digitized copies: This collection has not been digitized. For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.
Rights note: Materials authored by Albert Newhall are most likely in the public domain.
Preferred citation: Albert W. Newhall letters, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Related materials: The Alaska State Library Historical Collections has other materials related to Albert Newhall.
Acquisition note: The majority of the collection was presented to the archives by Rebecca Neff in 2007 who found them in Ballard, Washington. The 1925 letter copy was provided to the Archives by the Alaska State Library Historical Collections in 1987.
Processing information: This collection was arranged and described by Jeffrey Sinnott in 2007. The finding aid was updated to current standards by Arlene Schmuland in 2012.
Container list:
| Item | Description | Date |
| 1 | To “Dear friend Mary” Nasenius from Unalaska (1 page) | 1915 October 1 |
| 2 | To “Dear friends” from Unalaska of recent trip to Alaska (carbon copy, 5 pages) | 1919 August 4 |
| 3 | Account of the influenza epidemic in Unalaska (carbon copy, 3 pages) | circa 1919 |
| 4 | From Unalaska (carbon copy, 4 pages) | undated |
| 5 | To “Dear friends” from Barrow five months after arriving there (xerographic copy, 6 pages) | 1925 December 31 |
| 6 | “Going to meeting at Point Barrow” from Barrow (carbon copy, 2 pages) | 1926 April 24 |
| 7 | “The coming of the airships to Barrow” from Barrow account of the Detroit Arctic Expedition (carbon copy, 4 pages) | 1926 June 21 |
| 8 | To “Dear friend Mary” Nasenius from Barrow (carbon copy, 1 page) | 1926 November 12 |
| 9 | “Down the coast with Tato” from Barrow, account of dogsled trip from Barrow to Wainwright (carbon copy, 6 pages) | 1926 December 1 |
| 10 | “Along the Arctic coast in early winter” from Barrow (carbon copy, 4 pages) | 1927 |
| 11 | “Ice flows of Barrow” from Barrow; Sep. 25, 1928. | 1928 September 25 |
| 12 | To “Mrs G. Groomes” from Barrow (xerographic copy, 1 page) | 1928 September 28 |
| 13 | To “Dear friend Mary” Nasenius in False Pass from Barrow (carbon copy, 1 page) | 1928 December 12 |
| 14 | “Getting the ice supply from the mission at Barrow Alaska” from Barrow (xerographic copy, 4 pages) | 1928 December 28 |
| 15 | “Christmas in the Arctic” from Barrow (carbon copy, 4 pages) | 1928 |
| 16 | To “Dear friends” from Barrow (carbon copy, 4 pages) | undated |
| 17 | Account of 180 mile dogsled trip from Barrow (carbon copy, pages 2-6, first page missing) | undated |
| 18 | Handwritten letter from Joseph Nasenius in Seattle, Washington to Mary Hanson (5 pages) | undated December 16 |
| 19 | Postmarked envelopes (3 different) | undated, 1926-1927 |
| 20 | unidentified letter pages | undated |