Guide to the Bert W. Stilphen letter
circa 1916
Collection number: HMC-0706.
Creator: Stilphen, Bert W.
Title: Bert W. Stilphen letter.
Date: circa 1916.
Volume of collection: 0.01 cubic feet.
Language of materials: The letter is written in English.
Collection summary: Letter from a fisherman in Cordova, Alaska.
Biographical note:
Bert W. Stilphen was a fisherman in Cordova, Alaska.
Collection description:
The collection consists of a two-page handwritten letter written by fisherman Bert Stilphen to a friend named Charlie. The letter is dated “Feb 18#14” from Cordova, Alaska. In the letter, Stilphen writes that he has been halibut fishing in Alaska for the past five months, but will be going to Seattle soon, and expects to spend the next summer cod fishing in the Bering Sea, as he has done for five previous summers. Stilphen also relates that he is homesick, too many men are competing for fishing jobs there, prices for fish are low, and he plans to come back home to stay. He writes that there are “thousands of men out of work on the Coast, more than ever was known before the Panama fair in Frisco, ” referring to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, held in San Francisco in 1915.
Arrangement: The collection is arranged in original order.
Digitized copies: This collection has not been digitized. For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.
Rights note: Archives and Special Collections does not own copyright to the collection.
Preferred citation: Bert W. Stilphen letter, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Acquisition note: Archives and Special Collections purchased the collection on eBay in 2004.
Processing information: This collection was described by Jeffrey Sinnott in 2004. The guide to the collection was converted to current standard by Gwen Sieja in 2017.