Lantern slides, probably largely collected by Joseph Stanley-Brown while stationed at Dutch Harbor in charge of the Pribilof Island seal fisheries, from 1890-1898. Images of Alaska include scenery, towns, seal hunting and preparation, fishing, whaling, boats, churches, livestock, Inuit and Aleut people, and the Chilkoot Pass and images relating to the Klondike gold rush. There are also slides of related maps and charts, and images of buildings in Washington, DC, exhibits at the Smithsonian Institutuion, and cowboys, possibly on the Great Plains. Some lantern slides have labels from "E. H. Harriman, 1 E. 55th Street, New York."
Biographical/Historical note:
Born in Washington, DC, Joseph Stanley-Brown (1858-1941) served as private secretary to President James A. Garfield and to President Chester A. Arthur after Garfield's assassination. In 1882, he joined the US Geological Survey and was appointed Assistant Geologist (1888-1889). Stanley-Brown was appointed in 1891 by the Secretary of the Treasury to investigate conditions in the seal industry on the Pribilof islands, which was a contentious issue between the United States and Great Britain. He represented the United States as secretary to the Bering Sea Joint Commission and to commissioners at the Fur Seal Tribunal of Arbitration, Paris, France. He later became a superintendent and leaseholder for the North American Commercial Companyʹs government-regulated sealing activities on the Pribilofs and Unalaska, and worked with several railroad companies.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 54
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional photographs collected by Joseph Stanley Brown held in National Anthropological Archives in the Department of Anthropology Records (Manuscript and Pamphlet File), Photo Lot 24, and Photo Lot 37.
The Smithsonian Institution Archives hold Joseph Stanley-Brown correspondence in the Frederick William True Papers, circa 1886-1910.
Additional lantern slides collected by Stanley-Brown and donated as part of USNM ACC 165342 held in National Museum of American History, Archives Center in the Division of Cultural History Lantern Slides and Stereographs.
The Library of Congress holds Joseph Stanley-Brown papers, 1730-1941.