Guide to the Arthur and Rosa Purcell papers
1956-1977, bulk 1957-1960
An Alaska Historical Society collection
Collection number: HMC-1152-AHS.
Creator:
Purcell, Arthur.
Purcell, Rosa.
Title: Arthur and Rosa Purcell papers.
Dates: 1956-1977, bulk 1957-1960.
Volume of collection: 0.4 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Materials are primarily in English.
Collection summary: Photographs and papers of an Alaskan registered nurse and Alaska store manager.
Biographical note:
Arthur Purcell was a longtime store manager in Alaska for the Northern Commercial Company. He was also an ardent hunter and fisherman. Rosa Purcell was a registered nurse at the Children’s Tuberculosis Hospital in Sitka before marrying Arthur.
Collection description:
This collection contains mostly photographic slides taken by Rosa and Arthur Purcell. The slides reflect the Purcell’s hunting and fishing activities as well as vacation photographs. The collection also contains four black and white photographs of the Northern Commercial Company’s manager’s meetings and the 1977 Northern Commercial Company’s newsletter.
Arrangement: The materials have been retained in the order in which they were given to the Archives. The collection is arranged into the following two series:
Series 1: Colored slides and photographs; circa 1956-1970, bulk 1957-1960
Series 2: Northern Commercial Company files; undated, 1977 January
Digitized copies: Selected photographs have been digitized and can be found online at Alaska Digital Archives . Funding for the digitization of the photographs was provided by the donors, Larry and Rebecca Lintz.
Rights note: The Alaska Historical Society owns copyright to materials created by Rosa and Arthur Purcell.
Preferred citation: Arthur and Rosa Purcell papers, Alaska Historical Society collections, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Acquisition note: This collection was donated to the Alaska Historical Society in 2013 by Larry and Rebecca Lintz. The Historical Society retains ownership of the collection and has placed it on deposit with Archives and Special Collections.
Processing information: This collection was described by Veronica Denison in 2013. Selected images were digitized by Jennifer Fisher in 2013.
Container list:
Series 1: Colored slides and photographs; circa 1956-1970, bulk 1957-1960. 0.45 cubic feet.
This series contains 740 colored slides and two colored photographs. Subjects include the Mendenhall Glacier, dogsled races in various parts of Alaska, Tanana, Fairbanks, Sitka, and Nome, as well as caribou and moose hunts and fishing trips the Purcells took. There are also photographs of acquaintances of the Purcells and children Rosa Purcell worked with as a nurse in Sitka. Each folder contains slides from originally described slide holder magazines. Slides are arranged by subject and in the order in which they arrived at the Archives.
| Folder | Description | Dates |
| 1 | Tanana: dog race | circa 1957-1958 |
| 2 | Tanana: winter scenes, break-up | circa 1956-1963 |
| 3 | Assorted Tanana and Tanana races | circa 1957-1960 |
| 4 | Assorted Tanana | circa 1957-1961 |
| 5 | Oogruck hunt, Nome: Winter, Summer | circa 1959-1961 |
| 6 | Nome: Tanana: no good | circa 1958-1960 |
| 7 | Nome: Winter, Summer: trip 2 | circa 1958 |
| 8 | Nome: Summer, gold dredge | 1958-1959, 1965-1967 |
| 9 | All in Sitka: Totem Park, Bear Mt, B.O.2, streets of Sitka, Russian cemetery, boats and floats | circa 1957 |
| 10 | Ualk on causeway, Sitka | circa 1957 |
| 11 | Fairbanks races | 1958, 1963 |
| 12 | Trip 1: Barrow, Seward, Mt. McKinley, Anchorage, Juneau, various locations in Alaska | circa 1957-1960 |
| 13 | Trip 3: Tanana, moose hunts, rafting, Barrow, Fairbanks | circa 1957-1958 |
| 14 | Trip 5: Glacier Bay, Resurrection Bay, Seward, Brooks Range, Barrow | circa 1957-1960 |
| 15 | Trip 5: Brooks Range, Mendenhall, Yukon at Whitehouse | circa 1960 |
| 16 | T. B. Kids | circa 1957 |
| 17 | Tim. Art and Diamond Willow and sawing ivory: Nome | circa 1960 |
| 18 | Boats and Halibut, Sitka | 1957 |
| 19 | Caribou and moose hunt | circa 1960-1961 |
| 20 | Drying fish and barge unloading | circa 1958-1960 |
| 21 | Various vacation slides and photographs: Tanana and Fairbanks dogsled races, hiking, ice breakup, Barrow, Sitka, Kotzebue, UNK, Nome, King Island | circa 1957-1963, 1970 |
Series 2: Northern Commercial Company files; undated, 1977 January. 0.05 cubic feet.
This series includes four black and white photographs of the Northern Commercial Company’s manager’s meetings. The photographs were taken by Ward W. Wells, photographer, of Anchorage, AK. There is also an issue of The Flag, a Northern Commercial Company newsletter covering the 1976-1977 year.
| Folder | Description | Dates |
| 22 | Manager’s meeting photographs | undated |
| 23 | The Flag newsletter | 1977 January |