Guide to the Lawrence M. Demers photograph album
1929-1944
Collection number: HMC-0748.
Creator: Demers, Lawrence M.
Title: Lawrence M. Demers photograph album.
Dates: 1929-1944.
Volume of collection: 0.02 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Collection materials are in English.
Collection summary: Photographs from a Civil Aeronautics Authority construction worker at Galena from 1939 to 1944.
Biographical note:
Lawrence M. Demers was from Central Montana. He worked as a tractor operator for the Civil Aeronautics Authority in Galena, Alaska, constructing a civilian air field and facilities there from 1939 to 1944. Demers also worked in the Aleutian Islands in 1944.
Collection description:
The collection consists of the contents of the photograph album of Lawrence M. Demers. The collection contains: a xerographic copy of the original 8-page photograph album entitled, “Alaska C.A.A. Camp Photographs, 1939-1944”; 85 original black and white prints (73 of which were mounted on the album pages) and 9 color prints; 8 black and white Alaskan tourist prints; and an x-ray film from 1929 of Demers’ left forearm fracture. Subjects of the photographs originally mounted in the album include: Lawrence Demers and fellow construction workers at Galena; people, buildings, houses, tent camps, vehicles, tractors, and boats at Galena; holiday competitions at Galena; and people and buildings at the nearby Yukon River villages of Nulato and Koyukuk. The competitions at Galena include a sack race, canoe race, apple eating contest, nut roll, pillow fight, and foot races. Specific images of Galena include the native cemetery with spirit houses, the Riverboat Alice, and the Bishop Mountain Trading Company store. Subjects of the loose photographs with the album include: Demers with a fellow orderly and doctor at a camp hospital in Minnesota in 1937; the Wasilla Railroad Depot in 1940; Demers’ car on the Glenn Highway between Anchorage and Palmer in 1943; Demers in front of Paxson’s Lodge on the Richardson Highway in 1943; Demers at a base in the Aleutian Islands in 1944; and Demers’ father, Louis Demers, at his home in Lewistown, Montana, in the 1960s or early 1970s (color).
Arrangement: The album copy is first, followed by the photographs in order of size.
Digitized copies: Selected photographs can be found online at Alaska Digital Archives. For information about obtaining copies please contact Archives and Special Collections.
Rights note: The Archives does not hold copyright to the materials in this collection.
Preferred citation: Lawrence M. Demers photograph album, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Related materials: More World War II-related collections can be found at: http://libguides.consortiumlibrary.org/ASCWorldWarIIcollections
Acquisition note: The Archives acquired this collection from eBay in 2005.
Processing information: This collection was initially arranged and described by Jeffrey Sinnott in 2005. Materials were removed from the album and placed into photograph enclosures. The finding aid was updated by Jay Sylvestre in 2013.