Guide to the Millard Preston papers
1940-1945
Collection number: HMC-1297.
Creator: Preston, Millard.
Title: Millard Preston papers.
Dates: 1940-1945.
Volume of collection: 0.25 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Materials in the collection are in English.
Collection summary: Photographs of a man who worked on construction of the Alaska Highway.
Biographical note:
Millard Rutherford Preston was born in 1889 in Pandora, Ohio. In 1910, he settled on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation in Idaho, which had recently been opened to homesteading. In 1913, he married Nina Copeman. He worked in the logging industry in Idaho until the late 1920s, when he began working for logging companies in British Columbia. In 1943, Preston found work on the construction of the Alaska Highway and traveled to Alaska and Yukon. In 1944, he spent a year working in the Aleutian Islands.
Collection description:
The collection consists of photographs taken or collected by Millard Preston during his time working on construction of the Alaska Highway in Alaska and Yukon, as well as some photographs from the Aleutian Islands, particularly Adak. Subjects of the photographs include Preston and other highway construction workers; construction on highways and camps; steamboats; fishing; military buildings; and scenery. There are several photographs of totem poles in Anchorage. There are also postcards depicting Alaskan scenery, some of which have been written on. The collection includes a One Year Award card recognizing Preston’s one year of service in the Aleutians for the Guy F. Atkinson Company, as well as a textile with a map of Alaska printed on it.
Arrangement: The photographs are arranged in the order in which they 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 and Special Collections owns copyright to materials created by Millard Preston. Some materials in the collection may be subject to copyright not held by the Archives.
Preferred citation: Millard Preston papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Works used in preparation of inventory: Biographical information was provided by Millard Preston’s granddaughter, Shelley Dumas.
Separated materials: Published material has been removed from the collection and added to the library’s Rare Books collection. Postcards collected by Millard Preston have been separated to the Ephemera Postcard collection (EPH-0087).
Related materials: For more collections related to the construction of the Alaska Highway, see our Alaska Highway construction collections topic guide.
Archives and Special Collections holds the Elmo and Maxine Alexander papers, HMC-1471. Maxine Alexander was Millard Preston’s daughter.
Acquisition note: The collection was donated to the Archives, and a deed of gift was signed, by Shelley Dumas in 2018. Additional material was donated by Dumas in 2023.
Processing information: This collection was described by Gwen Higgins in 2018 and updated to reflect additional material in 2023.