Nov 21 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2687 -
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Sale 2687 - Lot 2

Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(ALASKA.) Group of attractive photo albums showing life and scenery in and around Cordova. Approximately 600 photos in 6 albums, all in original limp cloth bindings; some with good captioning, generally minor wear. Cordova, AK and elsewhere, 1903-1928 and undated
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Additional Details

These six Alaska albums share a common provenance, and most or all of them seem to trace to the Smith family of Aberdeen, WA which visited Alaska circa 1905 and then moved circa 1915 to Cordova, AK, a copper-mining town on a remote region of the coast southeast of Anchorage. Three of the albums have images initialed JS or JCS, apparently John Cunningham Smith (1865-1942); two were apparently kept by his daughter Edith Catherine Smith (1908-2002) while a student in Cordova in the 1920s.

1. 100 photos on 50 album leaves. Starts with a 1903 view of Aberdeen, WA ("before the fire; all the buildings on the right were destroyed"). Much of the album shows Aberdeen, and hunting and camping in Washington; in the middle are shots from a trip to Alaska, including Valdez, Sitka, Skagway, "Al Gagner's Camp," Resurrection Bay, and more. Some are initialed "JS" (John Cunningham Smith?). 1903-1906 and undated.

2. Plain cover with small hole on front; 159 photographs on 44 album leaves, plus 8 more loose in a rear pocket. Similar in style and content to the next album, with several shots of high school basketball players, and one of a Navy baseball team in Cordova with players all identified. 1921-1924.

3. The largest of the albums, with sheet size 7 x 10 inches. 177 photographs on 25 album leaves. A few of the photos are captioned. It was apparently compiled by Edith Catherine Smith (1908-2002), a young woman at Cordova High School; two show the school's girl's basketball team, and three show musicians. 1924-1926 and undated.

4. Album headed in faint embossed red "Fotografs"; 39 photographs on 19 leaves, some captioned on recto, some on verso signed "JCS" (Catherine's father John Cunningham Smith (1865-1942). Well-executed views of Mt. McKinley, Cordova and nearby Eyak Lake, and more. 1927-1928 and undated.

5. Album titled "Photographs" in gilt; 88 photos on 46 album leaves. Similar in style and content to the previous album, but entirely uncaptioned.

6. Album headed with large gilt "Photographs"; 39 photos on 39 leaves, many with poetic captions facing, some captioned in negative. The identified scenes are from Skagway and nearby Haines, Klukwan, and Chilkoot Pass, with a few at the end from Whitehorse, Yukon; and Cordova. Undated.

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