Alaska Marine Resources and Pribilof Islands Photograph Collection, approximately 1896-1909

The collection contains photographs which were arranged into several sections. The first part of the collection consists of photographs made by N.B. Miller, who served as the assistant naturalist for the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury Fur Seals Investigations for 1896 in the Pribilof Islands (an island group in the Bering Sea). The commission's agenda was to observe the condition of the American fur seals of the Pibilof Islands in order to determine the factors threatening the herd, and to suggest protective measures to insure the preservation of the fur seal population. The photographs show the Pribilof Islands, Aleut peoples, and pelagic seal and otter hunting.

The second major part of the collection consists of photographs showing Alaskan fish hatcheries. In 1889, the federal Fisheries Act (amended in 1900) required each person, company, or corporation to establish a hatchery near their fishing operation and to produce "four times" the number of mature salmon as would be taken during the fishing season. These photographs show such hatcheries.