Visual Materials
Arthur L. Bell photographs of Alaska
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- Description
- A disbound album containing 179 photographs by photographer Arthur L. Bell documenting views, people, and events in and around Nome, Alaska, including Alaskan indigenous people, dog mushing, mining and dredging activities, ships and boats on the Bering Sea, winter sports activities, and town scenes. Photographs of indigenous peoples show them catching and cleaning fish, herding reindeer, and posing in front of an "Eskimo School" and igloos. The images of dog-racing include nine teams of dogs who competed in the 2nd All-Alaska Sweepstakes, the start and finish of that race, and the Hot Spring Race 1909. Photographs of mining activities show Little Creek, Wonder Creek, Dry Creek, Bourbon Creek, and the Nome District, among others. The ships and boats include several vessels pulled on shore for the winter, the wreck of the steamer "Sadie", and ships, including the "Corwin," offloading both in port and on the ice several miles out to sea. Winter activities also include horse racing, long distance foot races, sledding, skiing with a makeshift sail, and using an auto sled invented by W.A. Boice. The Nome photographs include the 4th of July parade and games, the Pioneer Parade, the Court House, the fire department working in winter, passengers being loaded onto a ship with a wire contraption, the wireless station, a captured brown bear. Some of the group photographs are labeled with the slang term "sourdough".

