Libraries, Archives, Museums: Fishing, fisheries, and canneries primary sources: Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center Archives

Fishing, fisheries, and canneries

This guide lists collections of primary source material related to fishing, fisheries, and canneries that are accessible to the public at archives, libraries, and museums in Alaska. The guide is divided into pages by institution, and you can navigate between pages using the menu on the left-hand side of the page. Click on the linked collection names for more detailed guides to the collections. Not all collections have detailed guides online, and it may be necessary to contact the institution that holds a collection for more information. This guide is not meant to be comprehensive, and there may be additional collections containing primary source material relating to fishing, fisheries, and canneries.

Selected items related to fishing, fisheries, and canneries from many of the institutions represented in this guide have been digitized and added to Alaska's Digital Archives. You can use the search box at the top right of the homepage to search for these materials.

If you represent an institution that has primary source material about these topics and would like to see your collections included in the guide, please contact the University of Alaska Anchorage Archives and Special Collections.

Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center Archives

The following collections can be found in the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center Archives. For a complete list of archival collections at the museum containing photographs of canneries, please visit the Museum's Canneries Resource Guide.

Alaska Travel Scrapbook. 1932.
B2016.020. A scrapbook commemorating a 1932 trip up the Inside Passage and into the Interior via the Alaska Railroad, this album contains five images, possibly all from the Nakat Packing Co. Hidden Inlet Cannery in Southeast.
George E. Allen Collection. circa 1940-1981.
B1995.010. This large collection of images dating from the 1940s to the 1970s includes 38 images of canneries, including many of Emard Cannery in Anchorage, as well as canneries in Cordova, Ketchikan, Annette Island, Metlakatla, and unidentified locations.
Bering Sea Pictures. 1934.
B2013.059. The Bering Sea Pictures collection consists of 32 black-and-white photographic prints of cannery personnel and activities at Alaska Packers Association canneries near Naknek, Alaska. Two of the canneries have been identified by Melvin Monsen, Sr., as Diamond M and Diamond O on the Naknek River. The photographs were taken from 1901-1941.
James D. and Patricia Bourbonnais Collection. circa 1969-2003.
B2015.026. The collection contains photos identified as the cannery at Port San Juan (after its conversion to a fish hatchery), and the Port Ashton cannery.
John Broostrom Photographs. circa 1940s-1967.
B2013.064. This collection includes 27 black-and-white snapshots, possibly taken by F.J. Goodman, a barber, on a visit to canneries on Kodiak Island, probably in the 1940s. Shown are the fishing boat Deep Sea in Viekoda Bay, the docks of the San Juan Cannery in Uganik Bay, a commercial fish trap at Broken Point, and cannery buildings and workers at the Old Herring Saltery at Uganik.
Crary-Henderson Collection; circa 1885-1930.
B1962.001. This collection contains six images pertaining to canneries. Four of the pictures are unidentified, though one is probably from Valdez due to the collection scope. Two photographs have been identified to be from Cordova.
Henry M. deButts Slides. 1964-1968 (bulk 1964).
B2009.038. There are six slides in this collection of Clark’s Point Cannery and two slides of a New England Fish Co. cannery.
Fran Durner Collection. 1974-2005.
B2016.004. Fran Durner worked as a photojournalist in Anchorage from 1976-2010. Before taking her first job at the Anchorage Times, she shot a series of 74 black-and-white images of the Whitney Fidalgo Cannery in Anchorage in 1974. The set includes exteriors, interiors, and cannery workers engaged in various activities. The collection also contains six color 35mm slides of the exterior of the Orca Cannery in Cordova in the summer of 1980.
Juliet Steinmetz Frawley Albums. circa 1920-1940s.
B2013.058. The collection consists of three photo albums compiled by Juliet Steinmetz Frawley, who lived in Cordova in the 1920s and may have worked in a cannery. Included are five images of canneries: bird’s eye view of Pioneer Packing Co.
Clarence and Winona Gronning Collection. circa 1949-1956.
B2005.013 Captain Clarence R. Gronning and Winona (Nona) Gronning worked on the floating health clinic M/V Health in 1951-1952. The collection includes a handful of images of canneries, primarily in Western Alaska and the Aleutians.
Hilscher Collection.
B1999.014. There are nine photographs of canneries. The first photograph has the caption: “Canneries at Ocean Dock.” The second is a postcard of Cordova. The third photograph is of Dillingham before 1952. The fourth is of red salmon arriving at APA Cannery in Karluk. The last four are small pictures of the same cannery, with no information on the location or date.
Don Horter Photographs.
B2014.016. This collection includes about 150 black-and-white photographic prints and color transparencies of cannery buildings, boats, operations, and workers in western and southeastern Alaska, including those of the Columbia River Packers Association, Bristol Bay
Packing Co., Pacific American Fisheries, Independent Packers Co., A & P, San Juan Fishing & Packing Co., and Alaska Year-Round Canneries Co.
Hobart Hyatt Collection. circa 1950-2003 (bulk 1951-1969).
B2012.030. The collection contains six slides of canneries. A salmon cannery in Dillingham, dated 1955; two unidentified canneries; one in Valdez, dated 1961; one showing West Point Cannery in Uganik, dated 1963; and one in Kodiak, dated 1970.
Ickes Collection. 1938.
B1975.175. This large collection holds eighteen photographs of canneries. Locations include: Klawock, Annette Island and Kasaan. Canneries identified include: Libby’s Cannery, Annette Islands Canning Company, and Kasaan Cannery.
Eugene C. Jack Collection. circa 1916-1925.
There are five photographs of canneries in this collection. One in Kodiak, two in Cordova, one with no information, and one in Sitka, dated 1922.
Kay McFarland Jackson Slides. 1974-1999.
B2017.029. This collection of nearly 3000 color slides from the 1970s and 1980s includes images of four canneries, including buildings, docks, and some interiors.
Ketchikan Cannery Manager Albums.
B2008.010. This collection is comprised of three albums put together by the Ketchikan Cannery manager, Steve Arietta. The first album includes an unidentified photograph, and several photographs of a harbor in Juneau with the building “Juneau Cold Storage” featured. Two other photographs in the first album show a dock with a building advertising Wrangell Ice. There is also an unnumbered photograph showing the Waterfall Cannery in Craig. In the second album there are unnumbered photographs showing Sunny Point Cannery, as well as, filtering and brailing
salmon in Ketchikan.
Latouche Collection.
B1980.029. The photo album contains seven photographs related to canneries. Most of the images are unidentified canneries, as well as a few images of fishing boats docked at a cannery dock, and one of a pallet of canned salmon with a porcupine sitting on top.
B. Leonard Collection.
B1977.002. This collection features photographs of the cannery in King Cove and Excursion Inlet, which is located in Southeast Alaska.
Evelyn Lessel Postcard Collection. 1908-1911.
B1987.086. There are seven photographs related to canneries. The first three photographs show the cannery in Chignik, Alaska. The photographs are undated and each shows a different angle of the cannery. Three photographs are of the shipwreck of the cannery ship Jabez Howes in Chignik. And the last photograph shows a cannery ship loading cans in Chignik.
Lu Liston Collection. circa 1899-1967.
This collection contains photographs of canneries.
Steve McCutcheon Collection. circa 1890-1990.
B1990.014.5. The collection holds twenty cannery-related photographs. Locations and canneries identified include: Petersburg, Dillingham, Haines, Mud Bay, Kasaan, Kenai, Ketchikan, Pacific American Fisheries Cannery, Scandinavian Slough, and Halibut & Fish Biz.
Arnold Nelsen Collection.
B1987.071. In the collection, there are nine photographs and three canned salmon labels that were used to write a letter on, dated 1944. Locations and canneries identified are: Port Althorp, Koggiung, Carlisle Packing Co., and Libby’s Cannery. The photographs show the canneries, fishing boats filled with fish, a cannery conveyor belt in action, and a bin with men standing in salmon up to their knees.
William C. and Frances P. Ray Slides. circa 1944-1993.
B2016.006. This collection contains 2915 35mm slides taken by Bill and Frances Ray between 1944 and 1993, including 22 of canneries around the state, some unidentified.
Joe Redington Sr. Family Collection.
B2006.023. has six photographs relating to canneries. The photographs show a fish processing plant in Emmonak, dated 1978 and 1980.
Doris Rhodes Slides.
B1993.020. This large collection of images from Vida’s and Doris’s lives and travels
around the state includes six color 35mm slides of the cannery on the Kenai River in Soldotna
W.T. Roberts Album.
B1987.056. There are eight photographs of Alaskan canneries. Locations identified include: Douglas, Cordova, Valdez and Latouche Island. There is also a photograph of a floating cannery.
Simonson.
B1991.009. There are eleven photographs of multiple locations and canneries. Two of the photographs show the shipwreck of the cannery ship Jabez Howes. Three photographs show the cannery in Chignik, dated 1910. Two photographs show the canneries of Northwestern Fisheries Company, dated 1913, and Lebbep Cannery, dated 1909, in Kenai. Two photographs show Ketchikan. There is one photograph of Nushaguk, Alaska, and the final photograph is of Tim Odale at steering wheel of the cannery boat (The North Cape), dated 1920.
Carl C. (Dick) Tousley.
B1998.017. This collection holds six photographs of canneries. Locations and canneries identified include: Chignik, Cordova, Kodiak, Afognak, Ouzinkie Cannery, K.F. Cos. Cannery and C.R. Packing Co.
John Urban Collection; circa 1897-1940s.
B1964.001. Contains photographs of fishing and canneries. They depict W.J. Imlach Packing Co.in Port Benny; Carlisle Packing Co., in Cordova; San Juan Fish Co. in Seward; and the cannery at Yakutat.
Candace Waugaman Gatherings Collections.
B2001.013. This collection contains 15 photographs, 13 of which show the construction of a cannery in King Cove, probably from the 1920s.
L. J. ‘Osky’ and Henrietta ‘Hank’ Weeda Family Albums Collection.
In two of the photo albums, there are five photographs of canneries. The first two are taken from the view of a ship and there is no note of the location of the cannery. The other three photographs have little to no information, though in one photograph, there is a building with “N.C. Co.” (Northern Commercial Co.) on the roof.
Charles Weller Collection.
B1974.040. This collection consists of 149 photographs of Alaska. There are several photographs relating to canneries, all dating from 1937-1938.
Ward Wells Collection.
B1983.091. There are five photographs of canneries: one of salmon being packaged in Bristol Bay, one possibly of Libby’s Cannery, two of salmon being unloaded off a boat into a cannery in Bristol Bay, and a cannery assembly line in Bristol Bay.
Wien Collection.
B1985.027. There are thirty cannery-related photographs in this very large collection. Locations and canneries identified include: Eyak, Naknek, Bristol Bay, Wards Cove Packing Co., and Columbia Rivers’ Packers’ Association. The photographs are dated 1954.
Charles W. Wray Negatives. 1910.
B2014.012. This collection of 95 images taken in and around Nushagak in 1910 includes several photographs of cannery buildings and boats in the Nushagak area. There are four photographs of the August 10, 1910 fire that destroyed the Alaska-Portland Packers Association cannery at Snag Point.

Credits

This guide is supported in whole or in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the Alaska State Library.