Guide to the Eleanor Seyfer scrapbook
1955-1956
Collection number: HMC-0896.
Creator: Seyfer, Eleanor.
Title: Eleanor Seyfer scrapbook.
Dates: 1955-1956.
Volume of collection: 0.01 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Materials in this collection are in English.
Collection summary: Scrapbook kept by Denver Presbyterian Church circle leader concerning a medical missionary family in Klawock.
Biographical note:
Eleanor Seyfer was from Denver, Colorado. She was the leader of a circle of the North Presbyterian Church in Denver, which supported the works of medical missionary Dr. Robert R. Starr. In 1955 and 1956, Dr. Starr was the physician for the Alaska Medical Mission in Klawock, Alaska, which was owned and operated by the Board of National Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Dr. Starr and the mission’s clinic in Klawock served the Prince of Wales Island communities of Klawock, Craig, and Hydaburg, and cooperated with the Alaska Native Service’s public health programs. Dr. Starr, his wife Ruth, and their eight children were residents at the mission’s clinic at Klawock from August 1955 until December 1956, when they returned to Denver. Eleanor Seyfer died in Denver, Colorado, in 2000.
Collection description:
The collection contains Eleanor Seyfer’s scrapbook concerning support for the work of medical missionary Dr. Robert R. Starr and his family in Klawock, Alaska. The thirteen page scrapbook contains: eleven letters from Dr. Starr and members of his family in Klawock to Eleanor Seyfer in Denver; a copy of a single page missionary profile of Dr. Starr; two clippings of articles on the mission published in the Presbyterian magazine Outreach; one clipping of an article on the mission published in the North Presbyterian Church’s bulletin; one black and white photograph of the Starr family, taken at Stapleton Airfield in Denver before leaving for Alaska on May 22, 1955; and a clipping of a map of Southeast Alaska marked with the location of Klawock. Two of the letters are mimeographs addressed to friends of the mission and report on its activities. Two letters are by Dr. Starr and typed on mission letterhead, one appealing to Seyfer’s circle for a supply of gauze sponges for the clinic, and the other announcing the closure of the mission at the end of 1956. Four of the letters are by Ruth Starr thanking Seyfer and her circle for sending gifts of clothing and other items to the family in Klawock. Three letters are thank-you notes from the Starr children for gifts received from the circle. The scrapbook also contains captions related to the letters and clippings and a list of gifts sent to the Starrs.
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 does not hold copyright to materials in this collection.
Preferred citation: Eleanor Seyfer scrapbook, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Acquisition note: The collection was purchased via Internet auction in 2006.
Processing information: Materials were removed from the scrapbook and the collection was described by Jeffrey Sinnott in 2006. Items were returned to the scrapbook and interleaved with archival paper by Veronica Denison in 2015. The guide to the collection was also converted to current standard at that time by Veronica Denison.