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Harold Stuart Smith papers

Guide to the Harold Stuart Smith papers
1940-1966, bulk 1943-1945

Collection number: HMC-1243.
Creator: Smith, Harold Stuart.
Title: Harold Stuart Smith papers.
Dates: 1940-1966, bulk 1943-1945.
Volume of collection: 0.5 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Materials in this collection are in English.
Collection summary: Scrapbooks and memorabilia of a man who was stationed at Fort Richardson during WWII.

Biographical note:
Harold Stuart Smith was born in England in 1911 and his family emigrated to the United States sometime after. Smith was a Staff Sargent for the US Army and stationed at Fort Richardson with the Army Transport Service during WWII. In 1946, he began working for the United States Navy as a civilian, retiring in 1966. Smith died in 2000.

Collection description:
The collection contains two scrapbooks from Smith’s time in Alaska, selective service registrations, Japanese money, patches, and dog tags. The scrapbooks include photographs and photographic postcards of buildings, people, and activities on Fort Richardson; swimming and activities on Green Lake and Lake Spenard; the train station, buildings, and panning for gold in Girdwood; Whittier; Waterfall Cannery and buildings in Waterfall, Alaska; Arctic Valley and the ski bowl; Summit, Alaska (possibly located south of Cantwell on the Parks Highway) airstrip, buildings, and planes; barges in Nome; Fairbanks; Elmendorf and Merrill fields; Massacre Bay, Attu; Valdez; Chitina and the Copper River; Anchorage, including Providence Hospital, Ship Creek, the Federal Building, City Hall; and fishing on Wasilla Lake. The scrapbooks also include various membership cards and leave passes, including a Veterans of Foreign Wars membership card, a Unit Permanent pass, a Non-Commissioned Officers’ Club for Fort Richardson membership card, a Casual Leave Pass for Fort Lawton, Washington, and an Enlisted Man’s Temporary Pass to visit Summit, Alaska.

Arrangement: The collection is arranged in the order in which it arrived at the Archives.

Digitized copies: Selected items have been digitized and can be viewed on Alaska’s Digital Archives. For information about obtaining copies please contact Archives and Special Collections.

Rights note: Archives holds copyright to materials created by Harold Stuart Smith. The collection contains materials not created by Smith which may be subject to copyright restrictions.

Preferred citation: Harold Stuart Smith papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

Works used in preparation of inventory: Biographical information was provided by the donor of the collection.

Separated materials: Publications were removed from the collection and added to the Consortium Library’s Rare Books collection.

Acquisition note: The collection was donated to the Archives by Harold Stuart Smith’s daughter, Jacquelyn Mabesa, in 2016. A deed of gift was signed by Mabesa at that time.

Processing information: This collection was described by Veronica Denison in 2016.

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