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Arthur and Rosa Purcell papers

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

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