Collection is open to the public.
Collection must be used in Special Collections & University Archives Reading Room.
The S.S. Baranof began its life as the USS Santa Elisa in 1919 in New Jersey as a civilian passenger ship. In June 1919 the ship was taken over by the Navy and placed in commission to bring American service personnel home from France. The ship was decommissioned in October 1919 and returned to her owners. In 1936 she was renamed as the S.S. Baranof. She was eventually scrapped in 1955.
In the late 1930's the Civilian Conservation Corps and the U.S. Forest Service retrieved and restored totem poles from village sites around Alaska. They were brought to Saxman to create a totem park. The Saxman Totem Park is the largest in the world.
Wrangell began its life as a Russian stockade named Redoubt St. Dionysius in 1834. Then it came under British rule as Fort Stikine until the Alaska purchase in 1867. In 1868 it became Fort Wrangell. It was an important supply point for fur traders and gold seekers. In 1898 an easier route was used for the gold seekers. Chief Shakes Island and Tribal House is in the middle of Wrangell harbor. The Tribal House was rehabilitated by the C.C.C. in 1939 and stands today.
This album consists of 93 photographs relating to a trip "Buck" and "Averill" took to Alaska aboard the S.S. Baranof in 1950. Stops along the trip included the Saxman Totem Park in Saxman Alaska, Ketchikan Alaska, Juneau Alaska and Wrangell, Alaska. As well as numerous photographs taken aboard the S.S. Baranof. The concentration of photographs is of the Saxman Totem Park and Wrangell. There are several postcards in the collection that were written to others about the trip, as well as two articles from 1952 about a collision that the Baranof was involved in.
Nothing is known about the originators of this album. The names on postcards from the trip are "Buck" and "Averill." The postcards were sent to places in Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington.