The first documented ascent of Denali (aka Mount McKinley), the tallest peak in North America, was made 100 years ago, on June 7, 1913, with Alaskan Native Walter Harper being the first to reach the summit.
Be sure to check out the University of Alaska’s Museum of the North Tumblr for more details on the actual ascent.
SCENES OF MT. MCKINLEY PARK, NOW KNOWN AS DENALI NATIONAL PARK, ALASKA, ca. 1920 - ca. 1929
From the Assorted Motion Picture Films series of the National Park Service
44 years after the Battle of Attu:
Tomoyuki Omura, a Japanese dignitary whose father was killed on the island during World War II, and U.S. Coast Guard CMDR. Alex Montanez, whose father was also killed during the island battle, share pictures of their parents… 06/30/1987
In the only land battle of World War II to take place on incorporated U.S. territory, American forces began the invasion of Attu, in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, to dislodge occupying Japanese Forces on May 11, 1943.
U.S. FORCES BLAST JAPANESE FROM ATTU [ETC.], 1943
From the “United News” Newsreels series from the Office of War Information
Welcome to the Union, Alaska!
Presidential Proclamation 3269 of January 3, 1959, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower admitting the State of Alaska into the Union., 01/03/1959
Did you miss our Alaskan photoset from last year’s anniversary?
“On the ninth day of Archives an archivist brought to me:
nine Metlakahlta baseball players
Eight Navy officers
seven of Mrs. Hicks’s eight children,
six tiny thorn carvings,
five sisters from Alaska,
four boys hanging out at the Fletcher aircraft school,
three happy girls at a West Virginian celebration,
two San Francisco children painting,
and one astronaut in space.”
Image: “Metlakahtla Baseball nine.” ARC Identifier 297658
“On the fifth day of Archives an archivist brought to me:
Five sisters from Alaska,
four boys hanging out at the Fletcher aircraft school,
three happy girls on West Virginia’s 100th birthday,
two San Francisco children painting,
and one astronaut in space.”
Image: Indian woman with five daughters, ARC Identifier 297970
On October 18, 1867, the U.S. officially took possession of the Alaskan territory. The U.S. paid Russia $7.2 million for the territory (which was less than 2 cents an acre!). This memorial from the American Philosophical Society in favor of an exploration of the Alaskan coast was received in Congress just a few months after the territory was turned over to the U.S.
Memorial of the American Philosophical Society, Sen 40A-H2.1, 2/26/1868, Records of the U.S. Senate (ARC 306402)
Happy Alaska Day & Moby-Dick Day
Color post card. “Eskimo in skin Omiak in pursuit of walrus. Caught in the act of throwing the harpoon, Alaska.”
from the Sir Henry Wellcome Collection, Photographs of the inhabitants of Metlakatla, British Columbia and Metlakatla, Alaska, ca. 1856 - 1936.
On October 18, 1867, the United States officially took possession of the territory of Alaksa, having agreed to purchase it from Russia for 7.2 Million Dollars.
A few years earlier on October 18, 1851, Herman Melville’s epic novel Moby-Dick; or, The Whale was first published in London.
Aleut Womens Petition, 10/10/1942
This item is a petition by Aleut women in the Pribilof Islands Program citing their living conditions at the Funter Bay Evacuation Camp in southeastern Alaska during World War II. Residents of many Alaskan islands had been relocated during early Japanese advances in the Pacific.
via DocsTeach
Roderick Davis, Indian native of Metlakahtla, presenting President Harding with a paddle, a symbolic offering, and a possible aid in paddling through Alaskan waters, 07/08/1923
The first president to visit Alaska, President Harding was presented with a variety of gifts during his trip. Unfortunately, with his administration plagued by scandal and in failing health himself, the President died upon reaching San Francisco at the conclusion of his western trip.
70 years ago on St. George Island, Alaska.
This log of events on the tiny Alaskan island of St. George mentions various details of life in wartime, including the ominous - such as the Japanese attack on Dutch Harbor earlier in the month, and the joyous - happy birthday, Tikhon Mandregan!
Official Logbook of St. George Island, 06/16/1942 - 06/29/1942
From the Pribilof Island Logbooks series of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
via DocsTeach
(correction - 70 years ago!)
June 21, 1914 - On the Great Glacier, Stikine River, near Wrangell, Alaska.
Written on April 13, 1989, this letter was sent from second-grader Kelli Middlestead of the Franklin School in Burlingame, California, to Walter Stieglitz the Regional Director of the Alaska Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, lamenting the Exxon Valdez oil spill of March 24, 1989.
The Russian exchange copy of the Treaty of Cession, March 30, 1867
In 1866 the Russian government offered to sell the territory of Alaska to the United States. Secretary of State William H. Seward, enthusiastic about the prospects of American Expansion, negotiated the deal for the Americans. Edouard de Stoeckl, Russian minister to the United States, negotiated for the Russians. On March 30, 1867, the two parties agreed that the United States would pay Russia $7.2 million for the territory of Alaska.
Read more at Our Documents »
“A crack dog team, Alaska.”
Just in time for the finish of this year’s Iditarod.
Color postcards from the Sir Henry Wellcome Collection,: Photographs of the Inhabitants of Metlakatla, British Columbia and Metlakatla, Alaska, ca. 1856 - 1936
