Guide to the Alma Davis Edington papers
undated, 1938-1942
An Alaska Historical Society collection
Collection number: HMC-1372-AHS.
Creator: Edington, Alma Davis.
Title: Alma Davis Edington papers.
Dates: undated, 1938-1942.
Volume of collection: 0.5 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Materials in the collection are in English.
Collection summary: Photograph albums and documents of a Sitka resident.
Biographical note:
Alma Davis was born in 1918 in Carnegie, Pennsylvania to Thomas and Gertrude Davis, and the family moved to Sacramento, California shortly thereafter. By 1938, Alma was living in Sitka, Alaska. In 1942, when she filed for a permit to re-enter Alaska, she had married and had taken the surname Edington, but was in the process of divorce. On the application she writes that she had been arrested several times for disorderly conduct while employed as a chamber maid. She later married Edward Collins and died in San Francisco in 1981.
Collection description:
The collection consists of three photograph albums, loose photographs, an application for permit to enter Alaska, and a typewritten page of poetry. The photographs in the albums, as well as the loose photographs, date from 1938 to 1942. The subjects of the photographs are primarily people, including Alma Davis Edington, and military service members. The photographs were primarily taken in Sitka with a few labeled as Juneau, Ketchikan, and Seattle. Buildings depicted in the photographs include the Sitka Pioneer Home, The Red House, Arctic Hotel, and Columbia Bar. One of the poems in the collection refers to brothels and prostitution.
Arrangement: The collection is arranged by type of material.
Digitized copies: This collection has not been digitized. For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.
Rights note: Archives and Special Collections does not own copyright to this collection.
Preferred citation: Alma Davis Edington papers, Alaska Historical Society collections, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Works used in preparation of inventory:
1920 United States Census, Sacramento Assembly District 15, Sacramento, California, digital image, Ancestry.com.
California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997 Ancestry.com.
Additional biographical information provided by the donor.
Acquisition note: This collection was donated to the Alaska Historical Society in 2020 by Julie Collins. The Historical Society retains ownership of the collection and placed it on deposit in Archives and Special Collections in 2021.
Processing information: This collection was described by Gwen Higgins in 2021.