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Otto Koenig (compiler?).

[Lot of real photo postcards documenting life at St. Michael, Alaska.]

Russian Mission [AKA St. Michael], Alaska, and other locales, 1910–1916. 84 (approx. 3” x 5.5”) real photo postcards. Some images identified on verso in manuscript and/or inscribed in the negative.

An evocative archive of real photo postcards capturing the coexistence of Russian settlers and native Alaskan peoples in St. Michael, Alaska as well as the Russian Mission there, a decade after the gold rush.

During the gold rush, St. Michael (later Russian Mission), Alaska served as an important gateway to the Alaskan interior via the Yukon River Delta. Up to 10,000 souls are estimated to have lived in St. Michael during the gold rush. The first Russian Orthodox mission in the Interior Alaska was established in St. Michael in 1851 by Alutiiq priest Jacob Netzuetov, whose mission was known as "Pokrovskaya Mission." By 1880, St. Michael consisted of unincorporated Inuit villages and the Russian Orthodox Mission itself (St. Michael was officially named Russian Mission in the early 1900s.) Fort St. Michael, a U.S. military post, was established in 1897. Following the gold rush, Russian Mission was home to just over 100 residents consisting of Creole (mixed Russian and Native), Inuit and other native people, and Whites. Many Alaska native Yup'ik people from the surrounding villages moved closer to St. Michael following the 1900 measles epidemic and the 1918 influenza.

This archive documents the coexistence of the Alaska natives and Russians settlers, as well as the broader St. Michael and Alaskan scene. Featured in the images are hunters and trappers (draped in furs, holding game and rifles); scenes along the Yukon River; an Indian Village located on a body of water; individual and group shots of native Alaska women holding their children; water transportation scenes; native Alaskan children in a classroom; portraits of Native Alaskan people and their homes; the interior of the Russian Church in St. Michael; dozens of people traveling via barge; group shots of settlers and Alaska native peoples posing together; exteriors of churches; herds of animals; various steamers; women on snowshoes; mining operations; Elk-drawn sleighs; “Bird’s eye of Bethel, Alaska”; the town of St. Michael and its people; ice fishing scenes; scenes of individuals roughing it in Alaska; candid portraits of indigenous Alaskan women; a group of miners sitting on a porch (one holding a camera), etc. Some images were taken near the city of Aniak, Alaska, as well as in the city of Mountain Village, Alaska, which is located on the Yukon River.

One photo pictures a group of sixteen Russian military officials (perhaps of the Navy) wearing Russian hats—some of the men appearing to be quite high-ranking. Another image (inscribed in the negative “Just before the show”) was taken at Christmas 1915 in St. Michael shows a group outside of a building: several men are playing guitar, a banjo, and women are fashionably dressed women. Children are dressed up for the merry occasion; one woman holds what appears to be a punch bowl, and an adolescent girl holds up a parrot. All are wearing hats that are possibly of Alaskan native origin. Another shot from the same event shows men playing music outside. A few images inscribed in the negative capture an oil tank house and a power plant belonging to “A.Y.M. Co.” which were damaged after a storm in Jan. 1916. Several images were taken around the Pacific Northwest, such as an image of Seattle’s Elks Band.

The sole used postcard is dated 25 Nov. 1912 and is addressed to one Mr. Koenig, Com’s. Sergt. at Ft. St. Michael. In a 1915 Army-Navy-Air Force Register and Defense Times, Otto Koenig is listed as a quartermaster sergeant who upon completion of his tour of duty in Alaska was to be sent to Seattle to report to the depot quartermaster. A Spanish-American War veteran, Koenig served in the Astor Battery which fought in the Philippines campaign of 1898 in the Philippines Islands. Given the thematic consistency of this group, as well as the presence of the one card addressed to Koenig at St,Michael, it seems likely that he assembled the group.

The first Russian-American Co. fur trading post in the Yukon River region was established in St. Michael in the 1830s to trade with the Yup’ik.

REFERENCES: Army-Navy-Air Force Register and Defense Times, Vol. 57 (1915); The United States Army and Navy Journal and Gazette (New York: 1909), p. 10.

CONDITION: Good, some wear at margins, but images intact.

Item #6035

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