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Alaska Packers Association records, 1841-1989

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Alaska Packers Association
Title
Alaska Packers Association records
Dates
1841-1989 (inclusive)
1890-1974 (bulk)
Quantity
170 Linear Feet, ( )
Collection Number
XOE_CPNWS0026apa (collection)
Summary
The Alaska Packers Association records document the history of one of the most dominant forces in the commercial fishing industry in Alaska and the Puget Sound from the late nineteenth through the late twentieth century. The bulk of the records span from 1890 through 1974, documenting the growth of the industry, its technological and economic development, the geographic expansion of the salmon trade, and labor conditions. The records include administrative and financial records, production records, maps, plans, photographs, newspaper clipping files, industry publications, and extensive information relating to APA personnel.
Repository
Western Washington University, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies
Goltz-Murray Archives Building
808 25th St.
Bellingham, WA
98225
Telephone: (360) 650-7534
cpnws@wwu.edu
Access Restrictions

Access to personnel records containing social security numbers and other sensitive information is restricted until further notice.

Additional Reference Guides

Microfilm in the Alaska Packers Association records at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies is described in the inventory in accordance with the collection's main series and subseries arrangement. To facilitate physical access to the microfilm, the collection file at the Center contains a list of microfilm contents in the order that they appear on each reel.

Languages
English.
Sponsor
Funding for preparing this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Funding for encoding the finding aid was awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Historical Note

From the 1890s through the 1960s, the Alaska Packers Association (APA) comprised a dominant force in the fishing industry of the Pacific Northwest. With operations located in the Puget Sound and across Alaska, APA was closely involved in many of the major developments and conflicts relating to fishing activities and rights in the region during this period, including use of land, labor and conservation techniques.

APA's origins reflect early commercial concerns within the Alaska fishing industry. As production of canned salmon rose dramatically during the 1880s and 1890s, Alaska-based fishing and packing companies began to suffer increasingly from competition and lack of consumer demand. In 1892 therefore, the majority of fisheries-related operations in Alaska joined forces to form the Alaska Packing Association, aiming to regulate their operations and pursue more successful marketing strategies. In February 1893, twenty-five of the thirty-three Alaska companies formed the Alaska Packers Association, the records of which are contained within this collection.

By consolidating and expanding the holdings of predecessor companies including the Chignik Bay Packing Company and the Central Alaska Company, the APA soon comprised one of the largest operations in the fishing industry. Through the early 1930s, the Association was noted in particular for its "star fleet," of up to thirty large sailing ships, which transported men, supplies and goods between San Francisco and Alaska. APA controlled and established fishing and cannery stations and salteries at sites that included Nushagak, Kvichak, Ugashik, Naknek and Egegik in the Bristol Bay area. The association also maintained stations at Karluk, Alitak, Cook Inlet and Chignik in Central Alaska, and Fort Wrangell and Loring in southeastern Alaska. Puget Sound operations included a cannery at Point Roberts, Washington (acquired in 1894 and operational until the 1920s), and canneries, warehouses and a boat repair yard located on Semiahmoo Spit, in Blaine, Washington. APA operations were supervised and directed from central offices in San Francisco, with regional headquarters based in Seattle until the early 1960s and then at Semiahmoo until 1974. In 1961, APA opened regional offices in Kodiak and Anchorage in Alaska, to supervise production activities. The association was dependent upon labor from Native Alaskan, Chinese, Mexican, Filipino and African American workers, as well as men and women of European and Anglo-American descent. Although its operations focused primarily on the catch, processing and sale of salmon, APA also harvested marine life such as razor clams and king crab from Kodiak and Cordova from 1961.

APA experienced its largest period of growth and prosperity during the first two decades of the twentieth century. In 1905, APA introduced the successful Argo brand canned salmon to the consumer market. From 1916, following acquisition of the corporation's interests by San-Francisco-based California Packing Company (CALPAC), APA products were marketed and sold under the popular "Del Monte" and "Pioneer" labels.

The 1920s, however, heralded a period of growing economic uncertainty and political conflict for APA and other fishery operations in Alaska. The 1920s and 1930s witnessed the beginning of major federal efforts to regulate the activities of the commercial fishing industry, in attempts to minimize the depletion of marine stocks, and also to protect the interests and fishing rights of Native Alaskans. The White Act of 1924 comprised the first in a series of restrictive legislation, enabling the Secretary of Commerce to impose limits on the number of salmon caught and canned each year, as well as limiting fishing seasons, and determining the use and type of fishing gear. With the passage of Initiative 77 in 1935, the Washington State Legislature prohibited use of fixed gear (namely fish traps and set nets) in the Puget Sound. Use of floating fish traps in Alaska was finally outlawed in 1959, when the Territory acquired statehood. Such regulations comprised a source of growing conflict between Bureau of Fisheries officials, commercial fisheries and native and non-native local fishermen. Efforts by native Alaskans to define and protect their rights to fishing and ancestral grounds during this period resulted in prolonged legal conflicts. Claims by members of the Haida and Tlingit tribes, and villagers in Karluk on Kodiak Island, for example, were among those protested by APA and other packing companies. Perceived competition from Japanese and Russian fishing on the high seas comprised a further source of concern within the industry in the post-war period. US fishing operations including APA and also Bellingham-based Pacific American Fisheries formed inter-organizational lobbying groups such as the Bristol Bay Salmon Canners and the Association of Pacific Fisheries to defend their interests. Conflicts and legal battles regarding rights to fish and property in Alaskan territory - and the right of the government to regulate the commercial fisheries - continued to rage through the 1960s and beyond.

By the 1940s, all major fishing operations in Alaska were affected adversely by declining salmon runs, as well as disruption caused by the conscription of men and ships during World War II. Fluctuating salmon runs and high operating costs necessitated increasingly conservative management of cannery operations during the post-war period. Despite recovering sufficiently to gain slight profits during the 1950s, APA was unable to enjoy the same degree of prosperity and possibilities for commercial expansion it had found in the early twentieth century. The 1958 Del Monte Annual Report acknowledged the uncertain future of the Alaska salmon industry - salmon runs during the previous year had failed to meet pre-season estimates, and the APA salmon division had operated at a loss.

In the early 1960s, now under the corporate leadership of the Del Monte Corporation, APA moved its regional offices from Seattle to Semiahmoo, Washington. Over the next two decades, Del Monte began gradually to divest its interests and property in Alaska and the Alaska fishing industry. Several of APA's former stations and canneries in Alaska continued to operate under new ownership, sometimes on a season-to-season basis. APA ended its salmon canning operations at Blaine in 1964, although continued to manufacture labels there for another decade, moving its head offices to Bellevue, Washington in 1974. The boat repair yard remained in operation until 1981, at which point APA transferred all its Semiahmoo property (including buildings, artifacts and records) to Whatcom County Park and Recreation Board. In March 1982, Alaska Packers Association was formally renamed DMC Properties. As a subsidiary of Del Monte Corporation, DMC Properties continued to deal in real estate in Alaska.

Background information from:

The Alaska Packers Association records, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, 98225

DeMuth, Phyllis & Sullivan, Michael, A Guide to the Alaska Packers Association records 1891-1970 , ( Juneau, Alaska: Alaska Department of Education Division of State Libraries and Museums, July 1983).

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Content Description

The records of the Alaska Packers Association at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies reflect the history of APA and the development of commercial fisheries in the Pacific Northwest from the late nineteenth through the late twentieth centuries. While the collection contains records dating from 1841 through 1989, the bulk of materials are dated between 1890 and 1974. These bulk dates correspond to APA’s history from its inception in 1893 through its decline as a dominant force in the Alaska fishing industry over the 1960s and 1970s.

Administrative and corporate records and financial records comprise part of the “core” of the APA collection at the CPNWS, most of which were created and maintained in the company’s central offices in San Francisco, California. Administrative and Corporate records document APA’s incorporation in February 1893, and its early consolidation of property and interests in Alaska and the Puget Sound. Administrative record books dated 1891-1941 include a mixture of minutes, agreements, correspondence and contracts. Together with cannery agreements from 1893-1910, the administrative record books reflect APA’s early acquisition and expansion of fishing and cannery operations. The administrative and corporate series also contains internal correspondence maintained by APA’s regional offices in Seattle between 1958 and 1961. This includes a small amount of correspondence from officials including APA vice president and general manager Aubin Barthold, general correspondence files, and “cannery correspondence.” Much of the correspondence pertains to meetings, statistical date, and operational procedure, including references also to labor needs and appointments, wages, shipping and supply of goods to Alaska.

Financial records include bound account ledgers and voucher and receipt books maintained at APA’s San Francisco offices, spanning the period 1902-1967. These ledgers contain detailed documentation of APA income and expenditures, including breakdowns of accounts at individual canneries, and with various companies and suppliers. The series contains additional account books and financial statements specific to the workings, receipts and expenditures of different canneries. Sales records document charges for equipment and materials relating to the APA’s boat yard operations at Semiahmoo between 1961 and 1964.

Property records reflect APA’s interest in California and particularly in Alaska and the Puget Sound. Many of the textual property records were generated by APA for tax purposes and include estimated values of real estate and moveable assets including buildings, equipment and vessels. Capital Asset cards pertain primarily to property at Naknek and Kvichak in Alaska. The series also contains general property and survey maps from Alaska and the Puget Sound, Alaska homestead claim maps dating from 1892 through 1937 and cannery maps (mostly 1950-1960s). Correspondence and information files document APA’s concerns and actions in relation to Native Alaskan land and fishing claims through the period 1939-1954. Additional materials concerning Native Alaskan land and fishing rights are located in Series VI (Fishing Activities and Operations). The John McFarlane Cuthill Collection at the CPNWS contains related material regarding APA property and that of its successor company, DMC Properties.

Personnel records reflect the composition, duties and wages of APA’s workforce from 1907 through 1972. Researchers should note that access to payroll, retirement and personnel cards containing social security numbers or recent payroll information is restricted until further notice. General employment data files contain clippings, memos and correspondence pertaining to employment regulations and procedures during the 1950s and 1960s, with particular reference to employee wages, and occasional mention of union and labor activity in 1959. Contracts and agreements spanning the period 1911-1963 are small in number, but document APA’s agreements with independent and company fishermen as to the duties and payment of employees in Alaska and the Puget Sound. Payroll records are arranged in two main groups, with records arranged chronologically in each. The first group comprises payroll records for workers in both Alaska and the Puget Sound, spanning the period 1913-1970. Records include bound payroll registers maintained at APA’s San Francisco offices between 1913-1947 and 1968-1970, and partial records for warehouse and cannery workers from the 1950s and 1964. The remaining group of payroll records comprises hours and wage records for Puget Sound workers between 1961 and 1964, generated at APA’s Semiahmoo offices. The series also contains personnel cards for regular APA employees (ca. 1918-1951) and gillnet fishermen (1907-41), arranged alphabetically by name of employee. Cards document the service record of individual employees, often including date and place of birth and other family information.

General Cannery Operations comprises records relating primarily to APA’s daily operations and procedure at canneries and fishing stations in Alaska and the Puget Sound, with the bulk of material dating from 1893-1974. These include the select correspondence of cannery superintendents at Chignik and Semiahmoo, reflecting their communication and relations with local businesses as well as with officials in APA’s San Francisco offices, and government bodies such as the Departments of Labor and Licensing. Letters mostly concern procedural matters such as the use and supply of equipment, labor and licensing regulations, insurance, taxes and business accounts. Pack records document salmon catches from APA’s entire operations in the Puget Sound and Alaska, spanning the period 1893-1972. Supply and shipping records, equipment and machinery records and work orders reflect APA’s distribution and transfer of canned goods, equipment, machinery and vessels between its various operations. Supply records and work orders include a large body of files documenting activities and repair work at the Blaine/Semiahmoo shipyard between 1963-1964. In addition to records of “ground” activity, the series contains logbooks generated by launch captains and engineers of APA fishing vessels (mostly dated between 1950 and 1970), and pilot’s journals dated 1946-1973.

Fishing Operations and Activities records reflect APA’s involvement in and response to many of the issues and debates surrounding expansion of the commercial fisheries in Alaska and the Puget Sound during the twentieth century. APA’s San Francisco and Seattle offices both maintained central subject files entitled “Alaska Fisheries Operations,” “Karluk,” “Legislation and Regulations” and “Alaska Fishing Matters Conferences,” which document many of the major developments and conflicts in the Alaska fishing industry from the 1920s through the 1960s. These files include memos, internal and external correspondence and clippings regarding federal regulation of fishing seasons and gear, Native land and fishing claims, labor disputes, Japanese high seas fishing, and the perceived impact of such issues on APA fisheries in Alaska. The files also contain clippings, memos and occasional minutes and transcripts relating to the Fish and Wildlife Service hearings on fishing regulations, including information about salmon runs and fishing restrictions in areas including Chignik, Karluk, and in particular, the Bristol Bay area. Correspondence and minutes in both the “special subject” and Alaska Fishing Matters Conference files reflect APA’s membership and involvement in commercial fisheries interest groups and inter-institutional lobbying organizations such as the Bristol Bay Packers. Correspondents in these files include US Bureau of Fisheries Commissioner Frank T. Bell, and Washington Senator Warren Magnusson.

Records in Fishing Operations also include navigational maps, and maps and a small number of textual records documenting the location and use of APA fish traps in Alaska from around 1904-32. Additional plans and drawings are located in the engineering records, which comprise mostly oversize plans and architectural drawings, arranged into separate categories relating to buildings, vessels, and equipment and machinery. Record books dated 1950 also contain photographs and structural specifications for buildings at Chignik, Karluk, Larsen Bay, Pilot Point, Semiahmoo and Ugashik.

The reference series contains valuable source material regarding the background and history of the Alaska Packers Association, and the major changes affecting the fishing industry from the late nineteenth century through the late 1960s. Company-maintained “History Files” include clippings, and copies of articles and notes regarding APA, the star fleet of sailing vessels, and the history of the commercial fisheries in the Pacific Northwest. Publications and reports spanning the period 1909-1978 include printed material generated by APA, fishing and canning organizations including the National Canners Association, and government agencies such as the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and the Fish and Wildlife Service. The bulk of these materials date from around 1940 through the 1960s, and reflect industry-related research and technological developments, as well as the processes of economic expansion and decline affecting commercial fishing bodies such as APA. The collection contains copies of the Del Monte Shield, the magazine of APA’s parent company Del Monte, dating from 1948 through 1965. Other significant materials in the reference series are the newspaper clippings maintained by APA, including bound volumes of clippings dated 1898-1939. These files include a wealth of information about the issues and changes shaping the commercial fishing industry during this period, with reference to company and cannery agreements, fish prices and salmon runs, legislative changes, Native Alaskan land and fishing claims and labor conflicts. Some of these files are indexed, or contain clippings arranged topically. Reference files also include a small number of photographs of APA stations and fishing vessels in Alaska, and samples of APA salmon can labels used during the 1950s and from 1966 through 1972.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Alaska Packers Association records, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Western Libraries Archives & Special Collections, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA 98225-9123.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The Alaska Packers Association records are organized according to the following series and sub-series arrangement:

  • Series I: Corporate and Administrative records 1864-1961 (1893-1961)
    • Subseries 1. Agreements 1893-1910
    • Subseries 2. Stock records 1903-1949
    • Subseries 3. Administrative Record Books 1864-1941
    • Subseries 4. Internal Correspondence 1958-1962
  • Series II: Financial records, 1893-1968
    • Subseries 1. Accounts 1902-1967
    • Subseries 2. Financial Statements 1893-1950
    • Subseries 3. Cash records 1933-1968
    • Subseries 4. Tax and Insurance records 1929-1967
    • Subseries 5. Fish Prices 1905-1963
    • Subseries 6. Sales 1963-1965
  • Series III: Property records, 1841-1989 (1892-1960s)
    • Subseries 1. Real Estate 1859-1945
    • Subseries 2. Company Assets 1893-1981
    • Subseries 3. Vessels 4. Native Land and Fishing Rights 1935-1954
    • Subseries 5. General Property and Area Maps 1841-1987
    • Subseries 6. Survey Maps 1893-1937
    • Subseries 7. Cannery Maps 1903-1969
  • Series IV: Personnel records, 1894-1972 (1907-1972)
    • Subseries 1. General employment data and correspondence 1950-1961
    • Subseries 2. Contracts and Agreements 1911-1963
    • Subseries 3. Payroll records 1913-1972
    • Subseries 4. W4 Cards ca. 1947-1969
    • Subseries 5. Personnel Cards 1894-1951
    • Subseries 6. Seasonal Employee records 1953-1961
    • Subseries 7. Retirement records 1940-1959
    • Subseries 8. Medical records 1919-1970
  • Series V: General Cannery Operations, 1878-1982 (1893-1974)
    • Subseries 1. Superintendents' records 1926-1963
    • Subseries 2. Pack records 1878-1972
    • Subseries 3. Labor Requirements 1958-1962
    • Subseries 4. Equipment and Machinery1912-1982
    • Subseries 5. Supply and Shipping 1952-1975
    • Subseries 6. Work Orders 1963-1964
    • Subseries 7. Log Books 1905-1975
  • Series VI: Fishing Operations and Activities, 1857-1982 (1903-1967)
    • Subseries 1. Alaska Fisheries Operations Files 1920-1946
    • Subseries 2. Karluk ca. 1900-1945
    • Subseries 3. Legislation and Regulations Files 1889-1958
    • Subseries 4. Alaska Fishing Matters Conference files 1926-1982
    • Subseries 5. Correspondence re: Fishing Operations 1940-1946
    • Subseries 6. Navigational records 1792-1982
    • Subseries 7. Fish Trap records ca. 1904-1931
  • Series VII: Engineering records, 1922-1985
    • Subseries 1. Buildings 1945-1985
    • Subseries 2. Vessels 1931-1961
    • Subseries 3. Equipment and Machinery 1922-1972
  • Series VIII: Reference files, 1741-1983 (1898-1967)
    • Subseries 1. Company History Files 1893-1983
    • Subseries 2. Publications and Reports 1906-1978
    • Subseries 3. Professional Organizations and Activities 1959-1963
    • Subseries 4. Newspapers and Clippings 1898-1982
    • Subseries 5. Salmon Can Labels & Trademarks 1893-1972
    • Subseries 6. Photographs ca. 1905-1960
    • Subseries 7. Ephemera 1910-1967

Location of Originals

The Alaska Packers Association records at the CPNWS contains copies of microfilm and the microfiche produced by the Alaska Historical Library. Microfilm and microfiche in the CPNWS collection was generated in 1983 through a duplication project by Alaska State Historical Library. In 1970, the Alaska Historical Library received a select number of APA records housed previously housed at San Francisco, California and Semiahmoo, Washington. In 1983, the Alaska Historical Library created microfilm copies of these records, together with microfiche copies of additional APA records held at Semiahmoo.

Acquisition Information

Whatcom County Park and Recreation Board transferred the bulk of the Alaska Packers' Association records to the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies in August 2001. These materials were merged with one linear foot of APA records donated by Rick Metzger in 1995, and microfilm and microfiche previously in the John McFarlane Cuthill Collection.

Processing Note

Ruth Steele processed the Alaska Packers Association records for the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies in 2002 with assistance from Jason Viers, Amber Raney and Jamie Cartwright. During processing, Center staff merged materials donated by Whatcom County Park and Recreation Board with materials donated by Rick Metzger in 1995, and microfilm and microfiche previously in the John McFarlane Cuthill Collection. The bulk of the APA records were in good original order when donated to the CPNWS. Center staff removed all duplicate materials from the collection, including textual records duplicated on 35mm microfilm. Of the sales invoice records from Blaine (dated 1951-64), the Center retained a sample of only 1 in 10 records. Textual records, maps, drawings, microfilm, microfiche and oversize volumes are now described in one comprehensive finding aid.

Processing Note

About Harmful Language and Content

To learn more about problematic content in our collections, collection description and teaching tools (including how to provide feedback or request dialogue on this topic), see the following Statement About Potentially Harmful Language and Content

Related Materials

The John McFarlane Cuthill Collection at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies contains related material regarding APA property and that of its successor company, DMC Properties.

Separated Materials

Runs of the following publications were removed from the collection at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies and destroyed: American Food Institute: Weekly Digest (1954-1961), Better Business Bureau Bulletin, 1954-1961), Business Management (1964), Compost Science (1962), Contamination Control (1963), The Fish Boat (1961-1964), Food Engineering (1963-64), Food Processing (1963-64), Food Technology (1964), Industrial Improvement (1963-1964), Inplant Food Management Magazine (1962-1963), Kiplinger Washington Letter (1954 - 1961), Nation's Business (1964), National Fisheries Institute Yearbook (1946-48, 1950), Package Engineering (1964), Fishing Gazette (1962-1964), Food Engineering (1963) and World Port and Marine News (1963).

An additional collection of Alaska Packers Association records is available at the Alaska Historical Library in Juneau Alaska. The Alaska Historical Library's APA collection contains the master copies of the microfilm and microfiche available at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, as well as additional textual information. Detailed description is contained in a published guide by Phyllis DeMuth and Michael Sullivan (see bibliography section, below).

Bibliography

DeMuth, Phyllis & Sullivan, Michael, A Guide to the Alaska Packers Association records 1891-1970, ( Juneau, Alaska : Alaska Department of Education Division of State Libraries and Museums , July 1983 ).
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Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Finding aid created by Ruth Steele.
2002

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