WAUDobbsBeverlyBAlaskaAlbumPHColl788.xmlGuide to the Beverly B. Dobbs Alaska Photograph Album approximately 1903-1907Dobbs (Beverly B.) Alaska Photograph AlbumSpecial Collections, University of Washington Libraries© 2008 (Last modified: 8/11/2025)
Seattle, WA 98195
Finding aid written in English.Finding aid based on DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard).University of Washington Libraries, Special CollectionsPH0788Dobbs, B. B. (Beverly Bennett)Beverly B. Dobbs Alaska photograph album approximately 1903-19071 box (82 photographs in 1 album) ; 11" x 15"Collection materials are English.Photographs of Alaska Natives, mining operations in Alaska, and other Alaska subjects

The son of a farmer, Beverly Bennett Dobbs was born in 1868 near Marshall, Missouri. At age 8, he moved with his parents to Lincoln, Neb., where he learned photography. In 1888, Dobbs moved to Bellingham, Wash., and operated a photography studio for 12 years, including a partnership in 1890-1891 with F.F. Fleming under the name Dobbs & Fleming. He married Dorothy Sturgeon of Bellingham in 1896, then moved to Nome, Alaska, in search of gold in 1900. Dobbs continued to earn his living as a photographer, and by 1903, he had formed a partnership with the photographer A.B. Kinne from San Francisco. The Dobbs & Kinne studio in Nome offered photography services and photo supplies. Dobbs photographed scenes in Nome and the Seward Peninsula and made portraits of Eskimo people (Eskimos). He was awarded a gold medal at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis World’s Fair) in 1904 for his Eskimo photographs.

By about 1909, Dobbs had started Dobbs Alaska Moving Picture Co., making him one of the first to use motion picture film north of the Arctic Circle. He made a name for himself as a filmmaker with Atop of the World in Motion (also called Top of the World in Motion ), a collection of his motion picture travelogues detailing the Alaska gold rush. By 1911, it is probable that Dobbs was focusing only on his moving picture business; he no longer had his photography supply store, and had sold his photography negatives to the Lomen Brothers, who later issued some of his work under their name. By 1914, Dobbs had returned to Seattle and was managing the Dobbs Totem Film Company. He is listed as the cinematographer for A Romance of Seattle , a film shot in and around Seattle in 1919. In his later years he specialized in developing motion picture films in his studio at his home. During the 1930s, Dobbs photographed the fish processing operations at Pacific American Fisheries (PAF) in the Fairhaven area of Bellingham. He died at age 69 in 1937.

The collection consists of one photograph album with red leather cover containing photographs taken in Alaska by B.B. Dobbs. The album includes images of Alaska Natives, both studio portraits and images of Iñupiat people in their daily lives, showing men fishing, with dog and reindeer sleds, and with reindeer carcasses; images of mining, showing mining operations at various locations, mining camps and landscapes, and gold bars in a bank; and views of Nome and other Alaska locations.

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Entire collection can be viewed on the Libraries’ Digital Collections website. Permission of Visual Materials Curator is required to view originals. Contact Special Collections for more information.

Restrictions may exist on reproduction, quotation, or publication. Contact Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries for details.

Source: Old Butte Antiques, 2006.

Processed by Jody Hendrickson and Marion Brown, 2008.

Title of some images revised to align with harmful language guidelines. Revison completed by G. Mandarino, June 2023

See also B. B. Dobbs Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition photographs (coll. PH0755) and Beverly B. Dobbs photographs (coll. PH0323) .

Visual Materials Collections (University of Washington)Dobbs, B. B. (Beverly Bennett)Alaska--PhotographsNome (Alaska)--PhotographsAlaska--Gold discoveriesNome (Alaska)--Gold discoveriesEskimos--Alaska--PhotographsEskimo children--Alaska--PhotographsEskimo women--Alaska--PhotographsFishing--Alaska--PhotographsGold mines and mining--Alaska--PhotographsSled dogs--Alaska--PhotographsPhotographsAlaskaMines and Mineral ResourcesNative AmericansPhotograph albums

 

1Alaska Native man dressed in parka holding a stick. (156)1903 2Wegaruk and her child. (346)1905 3 Iñupiat woman Nowadluk Nora Ootenna dressed in fur parka, Alaska1907

Nowadluk Nora Ootenna (1883/85-1918) [Norwadluk; Nowadlook; Nawadlook; Nawadluk; Noadkuk; Noadoadlok; Newarluk] was born in Kingegan about 1883-1885 to Eungnuk (1841-1918) (Eungknook, Enuquenuh) and Weakaseuk (1834-1918) (Weokrseok). Her known siblings were Ongualuk (Stella Adlooat Kaingnizinia) (1888-1941) and James Keok (1879/1880-1918). Nowadluk “Nora” and her cousin Nowadluk “Alice” attended school and worked for the educators Ellen and W. T. Lopp. Ellen Lopp gave the cousins the names Nora and Alice, because they shared the same Inupiaq name. In August 1900, in a double wedding with her cousin, Nowadluk married George Ootenna (1878-1971) a successful reindeer herder. They did not have children, however, sometime after 1910 they adopted a daughter Isabel. Nowadluk was an active member of the church, taught Sunday school, and was the subject of several Christian missionary articles about her exemplary home. Nowadluk was also a popular subject of the Nome commercial photographers, marketing her as an “Eskimo Belle” wearing her atigi (fancy fur parka). Nowadluk died in the 1918 pandemic in Kingegan, along with her parents, her brother James Keok, four of his children, her brother-in-law Adlooat and his baby. References: Smith, Kathleen Lopp and Smith, Verbeck, Ice Window, Letters from a Bering Strait Village: 1892-1902, Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2001.; The American Missionary, vol. 68, 1914, An Arctic Journey to Dedicate Thornton Memorial Church, by Rev. Philip E. Bauer, of Nome, Alaska, p. 477.; Nagozruk's Report of Deaths and Living, U.S. Public School, Wales, Alaska, November 1918, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1908-1934, Record Group 75, M2150, pages 1220-1229, National Archives, Identifier number 231817243. Submitted by Deborah Tear Haynes, 3/2022.

4Young Iñupiat woman wearing cloth kuspuk, Alaska1903 5Iñupiat man dressed in a fur lined parka, Alaska (119)1903 6 Iñupiat woman Martha Anguluk with chin tattoo wearing fur parka and mitten1903

Martha Anguluk (1874/82-1946) married John Anguluk (1879-1930/39). They had one daughter Veronica Anguluk Van Loock (1901/1903-1960). Reference: Ancestry.com U.S. Census records and family trees. Submitted by Deborah Tear Haynes, 3/2022.

7Taluk and her babycirca 1903-1907 8Five Alaska Native people with metal buckets on a streetcirca 1903-1907 9 Four young Iñupiat women including Nowadluk Nora Ootenna wearing fur parkas, Nome, Alaska1903

Nowadluk Nora Ootenna second from left, possibly her cousin Nowadluk Alice Stanley third from left.

10Portrait of Iñupiat with tonsured hair wearing fur parka (129)1903 11 Iñupiat boy Kituk with his parents Nopunkoak and Kitnk, Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska1903

Kituk (1899-1918) (Ki-tuk, Charles Kutook) was born in Kingegan in 1899 to Nopunkoak (1863-unknown) and Kitu/nk (1870-unknown). His known siblings were a brother Ulosangrauk (born 1889) and a sister Tamaknena (born 1894). As a young boy Kituk was photographed dancing by Suzanne Rignon Bernardi, B. B. Dobbs and Frank H. Nowell. The photographs of Kituk are titled "Eskimo Boy Dancer," "Kituk, Eskimo Dancing Boy, with Father and Mother, Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska," and "Arctic Dancing Boy, Cape Prince of Wales." Charles Kituk was a teacher in Nome from 1915-1918. Charles Kutook (Kituk) wrote "Some Reasons for Sending Children to School" in the Bureau of Education"™s magazine The Eskimo, Vol. 1, No. 9, May 1917. The missionary Dr. Albert Warren Newhall recorded the dramatic loss of life in the Alaskan villages during the 1918 pandemic. One story describes how Kituk (Ki-tuk) died on his way to Kingegan on an infected mail sled. References: 1910 U.S. Census, Cape Prince of Wales; Alaska Bureau of Education Reports, 1915-1918; Account of the influenza epidemic in Unalaska, 1919. Albert W. Newhall letters, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska, Anchorage, HMC-0188. http://sites.rootsweb.com/~coleen/seward_alaska.html Submitted by Deborah Tear Haynes, 3/2022.

12Alaska Native woman (184)1903 13Iñupiat child wearing fur parka, Alaskabetween 1898 and 1908 14Large group of Iñupiat people outside a building in Nome, Alaska during reception to Governor HoggattJuly 28, 1906 15 Iñupiat man with tonsured hair, woman and child seated inside shelter and working with toolscirca 1903-1907 16Tents, canoes and logs on a beach. (806)1906 17Men and dogs outside Iñupiat cache and igloo near Cape Douglas, Alaskabetween 1903 and 1907 18Alaska Native woman ice fishing, Alaska (648)1906 19Iñupiat reindeer driver with sled and reindeer near Nome, Alaskacirca 1903-1907 20Iñupiat children outside school in Cape Prince of Wales, Alaskacirca 1903-1907 21Clothes hanging from an upturned umiakcirca 1903-1907 22Man in a native whaling boat at the edge of the ice pack in the Bering Straitscirca 1903-1907 23Two Iñupiat boys skinning reindeer near Penny River, Alaska. #953circa 1903-1907 24Two Iñupiat men with a racks of reindeer killed for the Nome market near Cape Prince of Wales, Alaskacirca 1903-1907 25Reindeer herd near Cape Prince of Wales, Alaskacirca 1903-1907 26Cape Prince of Wales Iñupiat people and reindeer hauling sleds of reindeer meat to Nome market, Seward Peninsula, Alaskabetween 1901 and 1911 27Two people and a dog sled teamcirca 1903-1907

"Milton Weil with his malamute chorus"

28Man in ice field at the edge of towncirca 1903-1907 29Men and dog sled team on East Front Street in Nome, AlaskaJanuary 1907 30Destruction in Nome, Alaska caused by a stormcirca 1903-1907

"Looking west from Snake River"

31Ship covered in snow and icecirca 1903-1907

"One of the Mosquito Fleet in winter quarters"

32View down a street in Nome, Alaskacirca 1903-1907 33Nome, Alaska viewed from the ice-covered Bering Seacirca 1903-1907 34Sloop Greyhound smashed by the ice packJanuary 1907 35Warped railroad tracks and dock caused by the ice packJanuary 1907 36Nome, Alaska viewed from the ice-covered Bering Seacirca 1903-1907 37Group of men, women and dogs around an ice hummock on the Bering Sea, one mile in front of Nome, Alaska. (708)February 25, 1906 38Two-part panorama of Nome as viewed from the ice-covered Bering Sea1907 39Bob Griffis, U.S. Mail Carrier, and his dog sled team one mile in front of Nome, Alaska on the Bering Sea (627)circa 1903-1907 40Rack of drying Tom Cod near Nome, Alaska. (453)circa 1903-1907 41Two men and a dog sled team in snowcirca 1903-1907 42People looking out over the side of a shipcirca 1903-1907 43Large ship in an icy sea. (153)circa 1903-1907 44Sesnon Lighterage Co. crane loading passengers for the S.S. St. Paul in Nome, Alaska circa 1903-1907 45Passengers on a barge landing at Nome, Alaska from the S.S. Ohio. (844)June 9, 1906 46Nome life saving crew making for the disabled sloop Greyhound. (839)circa 1903-1907 47Parade reception for Governor HoggattJuly 1906 48Reception to Captain Roald Amundsen and Lieutenant Hansen at the Golden Gate Hotel in Nome, AlaskaSeptember 1, 1906 49Seward Peninsula Excursion Train at Dorothy Creek with people standing on flatbed cars (816)circa 1903-1907 50Men working near a mining sluice. (894)circa 1903-1907

"Metson Bench-Berger & Anderson Layman"

51Men working near a mining sluice. (879)circa 1903-1907

"The Bessie Bench"

52Two men standing at the Sumit Bench at the head of Dexter Creekcirca 1903-1907 53Hydraulic Mining at Daniels Creek by Top Kok Ditch Co. circa 1903-1907 54 Completed portion of ditch on Nome River, Alaska by Seward Ditch Company. (337)circa 1903-1907

"C.L. Morris, Contractor"

55Little Creek viewed from Portland Bench. (798)circa 1903-1907 56Two men looking into a creek. (435)circa 1903-1907

"Tundra Mining near Jess Creek, Alaska"

57Three men standing on the Berger & Sullivan Drill. The first drill operated at Bluff, Alaska.circa 1903-1907 58Four plates of gold. (789)circa 1903-1907

"One days clean up at Discovery Little Creek"

59Man putting gold assay buttons in furnace at the Miners and Merchants Bank in Nome, Alaska.circa 1903-1907 60View from above a snow-covered town. (534)circa 1903-1907 61Looking down from No 6 Above Cleary Creek, Alaska. (532)circa 1903-1907 62Lelands Camp near Pilgrim River and Salmon Lakecirca 1903-1907 63Birds-eye view of Cleary Creek, Alaska (520)circa 1903-1907 64Blocks, buckets and bags of gold (794)June 10, 1906

"$1,250,00 Gold Buillion at the Miners and Merchant's Bank in Nome, Alaska"

65Three Friends Mining Company dredge on Solomon river, Alaska. circa 1903-1907 66Field of Alaska cotton. (185)circa 1903-1907 67Pressed northwestern and Alaskan wild flowerscirca 1903-1907 68Alaska Native graves at St. Michael, Alaska. (654)circa 1903-1907 69Interior of a Greek Church in Unalaska. (141)circa 1903-1907 70Wreck of the ship Sadie at Cape York, Alaska (809)circa 1903-1907 71Russian Fort St. Michael in Alaska, established 1849 (637)circa 1903-1907 72Street in Teller, Alaska. (819)circa 1903-1907 73Iñupiat village at Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska (798)between 1903 and 1907 74aDiomede Islands viewed from the watercirca 1903-1907 74bIce floes in the arctic viewed from the deck of the U.S. Revenue Cutter ThetisAugust 1906 75a Alaska Native Village on Little Diomede Island viewed from the watercirca 1906 75bAlaska Native on board the U.S. Revenue Cutter Thetis at Point Barrow, Alaskacirca 1906 76aU.S. Revenue Cutter Thetis fastened to an ice flow off the Seahorse IslandsAugust 1906 76bFurling the sails on board the U.S. Revenue Cutter Thetiscirca 1906 77Three rows of stuffed Ptarmigan of north-western Alaska. (156)circa 1903-1907 78View of the Bering Sea near Nome, Alaska after a storm. (836)circa 1903-1907