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, Archivist TITLE: John Urban Collection COLLECTION NUMBER: B1964.001 OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION Dates: circa 1897-1940s Extent: 4 boxes; 1.75 linear feet Language and Scripts: The collection is in English. Name of creator(s): John D. Urban Edward C. Adams Alaska Shop Clarence Leroy Andrews B. N. Co. Baker Drug Co. John M. Blankenberg Robert S. Bragaw Guy F. Cameron Charles S. Cann Case & Draper Chisholm & Hall Czubay D Trevor M. Davis B.B. Dobbs Arthur Hansin Eide Frank Glaser Gordon’s Lillie N. Gordon Al Hardy Eric A. Hegg Hettel T.N. Hibben & Co. Johnson Photo George L. Johnson H.G. Kaiser O. Kennedy P.E. Kern Landahl's Emporium Sydney Laurence Merl LaVoy Lewis Liska Lomen Bros. William A. Logemann Lowman & Hanford Max Manger Arthur Albert Martin Augustus B. Martin Edward H. Mitchell Frank H. Nowell Owl Drug Co. Peiser Portland Post Card Co. Fannie Quigley Lorenzo E. Robertson Sylvia Sexton Schallerer Stoddard Thomas Fotoshop Carl Tousley J.E. Thwaites Wegner Winter & Pond Philip Wischmeyer G.W. Woodruff Zaccarelli's Book Store H.G. Zimmerman & Co. Administrative/Biographical History: John D. Urban, Sr., was born in 1882 in Portage, Wisconsin, and moved to Washington state as a child. His mother sent him to Seattle in order to gain more schooling. During the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897, Urban and a friend stowed away about a scow leaving Seattle for Skagway. The two did odd jobs onboard to pay their way and were given a mule as payment for their labor. The two men used the mule and a sled found on the beach to begin their own business hauling freight up the Chilkoot Trail for stampeders. Urban moved to Nome and Fairbanks in 1900 and 1906, respectively, during the gold rushes there. Urban moved to Anchorage in 1922 and began working for the Alaska Railroad as a brakeman. Urban married Edith Edlund, one of eleven children from a Matanuska Valley homesteading family, in 1926. Edlund’s family originally came to Knik and constructed a five-mile wagon road to their new homestead in order to bring in the family and their equipment. The Urbans moved in 1931 to their homestead on Loop Road, a one-room log cabin, in order to help defray costs during the Great Depression. John continued his work on the Alaska Railroad, retiring as a conductor in 1944, while Edith worked as a telephone operator. John D. Urban died on December 13, 1949 in Idyllwild, California. Scope and Content Description: The Urban Collection consists of 842 black-and-white and tinted photographs and postcards, depicting the Klondike and Nome gold rushes, construction and operation of the Alaska Railroad and the Copper River & Northwestern Railroad, and communities and locations around the state. For more information, see Detailed Description of Collection. Arrangement: Original order maintained. CONDITIONS GOVERNING ACCESS AND USE Restrictions on Access: The collection is open for research use. Physical Access: Original items in good condition. Technical Access: No special equipment is needed to access the materials. Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use: The Anchorage Museum is the owner of the materials and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Anchorage Museum before any reproduction use. The Anchorage Museum does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners. Preferred Citation: John Urban Collection, Anchorage Museum, B1964.001 ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION Acquisition and Appraisal Information Donated by John D. Urban, Jr., to Cook Inlet Historical Society in January 1964. Transferred to the Anchorage Museum. Processing Note The photos were removed from the albums for conservation purposes in the late 1980s. Guide created from card catalog data; photographs not physically consulted at time of writing. RELATED MATERIALS John D. (Jack) Urban Collection, B1995.019 SUBJECTS Urban, John D., 1882-1949 Smith, Jefferson Randolph, 1860-1898 Alaska Railroad Copper River and Northwestern Railway Frontier and pioneer life—Alaska Transportation—Alaska Railroads—Alaska Mines and mining—Alaska Agriculture—Alaska Alaska Natives—Social life and customs Reindeer herding Anchorage (Alaska) Anvik (Alaska) Chatanika (Alaska) Copper River (Alaska) Cordova (Alaska) Denali National Park and Preserve (Alaska) Eagle (Alaska) Fairbanks (Alaska) Fort Yukon (Alaska) Haines (Alaska) Juneau (Alaska) Kanatak (Alaska) Ketchikan (Alaska) Knik (Alaska) Kwigillingok (Alaska) Matanuska (Alaska) Metlakatla (Alaska) Nenana (Alaska) Nome (Alaska) Nulato (Alaska) Petersburg (Alaska) Ruby (Alaska) Saint Michael (Alaska) Sand Point (Alaska) Seldovia (Alaska) Seward (Alaska) Skagway (Alaska) Sunrise (Alaska) Tanana (Alaska) Unalaska (Alaska) Whittier (Alaska) Wrangell (Alaska) Yakutat (Alaska) Dawson (Yukon) Detailed Description of the Collection B1/F1 .1 – The Nome Rush, June 1906, S.S. Ohio. No. 2074, Lowman & Hanford Co., Seattle [Photographic postcard. View of men aboard the S.S. Ohio arriving in Nome, Alaska during the Gold Rush.] .2 – No. 2190. Alaska sailing day, Seattle, Washington. Lowman & Hanford of Seattle. [Photographic postcard. View of people at docks in Seattle, Washington, as ships prepare to set sail for Alaska during the Gold Rush, 1897?] .3 – 309. Ketchikan, “the first city in Alaska.” Edward H. Mitchell, publisher, San Francisco [Color postcard. View of Ketchikan waterfront, with church in center background.] .4 – Waterfront, looking south, Ketchikan, Alaska. [Bird’s eye view of town and boats in harbor, 1898?] .5 – “24th of May,” Prince Rupert, B.C. [Photographic postcard. Bird’s eye view of sailing ships in harbor at Prince Rupert, British Columbia, with town in foreground. 1898?] .6 – 5010. Sunset at Sitka, Alaska. Made at 9:45 pm. Lowman & Hanford S & P Co., Seattle, Washington [Color postcard. Scenic with boats in harbor] .7 - Indian totem poles near Sitka, Alaska. [on verso:] Publ. by Portland Post Card Co. Portland, Ore. and Seattle, Wash. (Made in Germany). [Color postcard. View of large group of people standing in front of totem poles near Sitka, 1898? Publisher's number 9012.] .8 – Indians selling curios at Sitka, Alaska. [on verso:] Publ. by Portland Post Card Co. Portland, Ore. and Seattle, Wash. (Made in Germany). [Color postcard. View of Natives sitting on Lincoln Street in front of log building selling curios, with pedestrians on boardwalk and St. Michael the Archangel Cathedral in background, scaffolding on roof. 1898?] .9 – 5015. Metlakatla, Alaska. Built entirely by Indians, showing Father Duncan's church. Lowman & Hanford S. & P. Co. Pub. Seattle, Washington. [on verso:] Seliochrom - Adolphi Selige, Pub. Co. St. Louis - Leipzig. [Color postcard. Bird’s eye view of town, with church at far right and boats in harbor at left, 1898?] .10 – A portion of Metlakahtla [sic] Indian band, on wharf at Metlakahtla [sic] with Rev. Wm. Duncan. [Photographic postcard. Group portrait of Tsimshian band members with instruments and Reverend William Duncan on wharf, Metlakatla] .11 – View of Wrangel, Alaska. Baker Drug Co. Pub. #1 [Photographic postcard. Bird’s eye view of Wrangell. 1898?] .12 – 5604. Wrangell, Alaska [Color postcard] .13 – Third Street, Juneau, Alaska. [on verso:] Publ. by Portland Post Card Co., Portland, Ore. and Seattle, Wash. (Made in Germany). Publisher's number 90560. [Color postcard. Bird’s eye view of street with capitol building in background, 1898? F.H. Nowell, photographer] .14 – Ellamar Mine, Alaska. Publ. by E.A. Hegg, Cordova, Alaska. [Photographic postcard. View of Ellamar Mining Company works with men pushing carts along rails at right, 1897?] .15 – 1403. Typical Alaska mining scene. [on verso:] Edward H. Mitchell, Publisher. San Francisco. [Color postcard. Bird’s eye view of mining operation at Alaska Perseverance Mine near Juneau, 1898?] .16 – 5612. Haines and Fort W.H. Seward, Alaska. W.R. Co. [on verso:] Haines and Fort W.H. Seward. Construc[tion on] Fort Wm. H. Seward, a U.S. military... commenced in 1903. Two companies of infantry are now stationed here. Haines was established soon after the discovery of placer gold in the Porcupine District, fifty miles northwest of this point. It has since been the base of supplies for this district, with the hope of some day becoming a railway terminal for one of the most logical routes to the interior of Alaska. [Color postcard. Bird’s eye view of Haines and Fort William H. Seward (later called Port Chilkoot), with ship in harbor.] .17 – 1425. Salmon traps in Alaskan waters. [on verso:] Edward H. Mitchell, Publisher. San Francisco. [Color postcard. View of fish tender at commercial fish trap, two men in small rowboat in right foreground] .18 – Moors Wharf, Skagway, Alaska. P.E. Kern, Skagway and Valdez, Alaska. No. 8 [Photographic postcard. View of docks, with ships docked at left and cattle in pens at right.] .19 – Skagway Alaska. A.B. Hall. U.S. Court House. Elks Hall. Mt. Dewey. [Photographic postcard. Five scenes of Skagway, arranged in center of postcard, 1898?] .20 – Denver Glacier. [on verso:] Near Skagway [Photographic postcard. Group of men and women standing on glacier, 1898?] .21 – Broadway. Skaguay [sic] Alaska. May 20th 1898. Photo by F.H. Nowell, 2203. [View of Broadway in the Skagway business district, with people on street and in horse-drawn wagons, dog lying in middle of street in foreground. Signs on buildings read: "Burkhard House. Headquarters Yukon Outfitters. Jos. Burkhard & Co.", "The Pillbox Drug Co.", "GG Allen, Tinsmith and Jobber", "Dyea Mercantile and Mining Co, Outfitters", "Getz and Donovan. Packers", "Boss Bakery", and "Skaguay News Office"] .22 – Skagway, 1903. [Two images forming a bird’s eye panorama of town] .23 – Skagway water front 1898.