REFERENCE CODE: AkAMH REPOSITORY NAME: Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center Bob and Evangeline Atwood Alaska Resource Center 625 C Street Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-929-9235 Fax: 907-929-9233 Email:
[email protected] Guide prepared by: Sara Piasecki, Photo Archivist TITLE: Dora Keen Collection COLLECTION NUMBER: B2015.008 OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION Dates: 1880-1958 (bulk 1911-1932) Extent: 7 boxes, 5.4 linear feet Language and Scripts: The collection is in English. Name of creator(s): Dora Keen, George W. Handy, H.L. Tucker, Alfred H. Brooks, Thomas Riggs Jr., Ralph S. Tarr, D. W. Eaton, Rob. Sewell, Lawrence Martin, Merl LaVoy, E. F. Foley, T. H. Lindsey, Leonora Brooks Borden Trafford Administrative/Biographical History: Dora Keen was born June 24, 1871, in Philadelphia, a daughter of the surgeon William Williams Keen. She was educated at Bryn Mawr College, graduating in 1896. Her interest in mountaineering began during a trip to the Alps in 1909-1910. She traveled to Alaska in 1911 “merely to see the wonderful scenery of the southwest coast,”1 but shortly after arriving developed her plan to summit Mount Blackburn. Her first attempt failed; she returned and successfully reached the top on May 19, 1912. Keen’s 1911 expedition to Mt. Blackburn was the first expedition to use dogs on a mountain, the first to succeed without Swiss guides, the first to camp in snow caves, and the first to make a prolonged night ascent.2 1 Keen, Dora. “The first expedition to Mt. Blackburn.” Bulletin of the Geographical Society of Philadelphia, 10 (1912): 172-176.