Archives West Finding Aid

Cape Prince of Wales has long been inhabited by Kinugmiut Eskimo whalers. Kingegan is translated as "a high place," used in reference to the tall hill near the beach-front villages. It is the western-most inhabited location in North America, only 55 miles from Siberia across the Bering Straights and 111 miles northwest of Nome, Alaska. During Susan Bernardi's tenure there, 364 natives lived at Kingegan.

The U.S. Government School was opened with the efforts of the American Missionary Association's Harrison Robert Thornton and William T. Lopp in 1890, under the direction of Rev. Doctor Sheldon Jackson, the first General Agent for Education for Alaska. Jackson also guided the establishment of domesticated reindeer herds on Seward Peninsula, imported from Siberia as a means of assistance for Eskimos starving from game shortage. When a reindeer station was established at Wales in 1894, Lopp shared education and reindeer management duties. By 1901 ten missions/schools had herds and the total reindeer population on the peninsula was approximately 4,000. Eskimos apprenticed with Siberians and Lapps, and then were given herds. Reindeer herds grew as a form of industry and source of food and clothing for several decades. By 1908 the Alaska Reindeer Service officially operated within the Bureau of Education and W.T. Lopp had replaced Sheldon Jackson as Superintendent of Education.

Handwritten on verso of front album cover: "The most westerly point of land on the American continent, separated from Siberia by the Bering Strait, a distance of 50 miles, crossed by natives in skin boats in summer and often over the ice in winter."

Handwritten on verso of back album cover: "This book is the property of Dr. E.M. Rininger. Duplicates of these photos may be had from S.R. Bernardi. New Decatur. Alabama."