PCA 330: Gus & Mathilda Johnson Nurmi Photograph Collection, ca. 1910Alaska State Library
Alaska State Library
Historical Collections
GUIDE TO COLLECTION
Nurmi, Gus & Mathilda Johnson
Gus & Mathilda Johnson Nurmi Photograph Collection, ca. 1910
PCA 330
56 b&w photographs / Processed by: India Spartz, July 1994(0.04 linear ft.) / Inventory by: Sandy Johnston, Feb. 2017
Updated by: Jacki Swearingen, Aug. 2017
ACQUISITION: The photographs were donated by Roberta Fraser Johnson, of Douglas, Alaska, daughter-in-law to Mathilda Johnson Nurmi. The photographs were discovered in a trunk owned by Gus and Mathilda Nurmi (Acc. No. 1991-48).
ACCESS: The photographs may be viewed. However because the photographs are fragile, they may not be photocopied.
COPYRIGHT: Request for permission to publish or reproduce material from the collection should be discussed with the Librarian.
PROCESSING: The photographs were numbered and placed in Mylar. They are housed in an acid free folder and an archival box.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Mrs. Nurmi was born in Finland in 1883. In 1902, Mrs. Nurmi came to Alaska to live with her cousin, Mr. George Oja. She married Charles Johnson in 1905 and had three children, Daisy, Leonard and Violet. In 1933, Charles Johnson died and she married Gustiv V. “Gus” Nurmi a year later. Gus was born in Finland in 1888. Mathilda worked for various businesses in Douglas including the Douglas Steam Laundry. Gus Nurmi was a fisherman and later worked as a carpenter for the Alaska Juneau Mine.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS NOTE
Photographs, circa 1910. Possibly gillnetters associated with Libby, McNeill, and Libby cannery at Taku Harbor. Subjects include Taku Harbor (Alaska), Taku Glacier, gillnetters, Alaska fishing, fishing boats, setting nets, repairing boats, cannery workers, fish netting, fishermen and families.
INVENTORY
1-5.[Gillnetters preparing/repairing nets]
6-9.[Floating barge dwellings- used as shelter from open boats?]
10.[Boat (probably the John.L.C.-Juneau,) seriously overloaded with passengers]
11-12.[Barge with 2 fishing boats tied to it “28LMcN&L42OK”, “44OKLMcN&LGIX”]
13.Fishing boat “47OK.LMcN&L28IX”.
14. “John.L.C.- Juneau” [cannery tender-tug] towing a barge and a fishing boat.
15. [Another view of #14]
16.Wheelhouse of John L.C. [outside view]
17.[Unidentified fishermen? in boat]
18.[Group of people-fisherman and family? in the bow of a boat]
19.[Boat at dock with load of passengers- probably the “John.L.C.”]
20.[Group of fish processor employees?- shown on dock]
21.[Passengers on stern of boat towing fishing boats]
22.[Fishing boat with 2 fisherman and several fish]
23-25.[Fishing boats being tied together, and being towed to fishing grounds]
26.[Unknown- double exposure photo]
27.[Group of fishing boats rafted together]
28. “Dana” near processing building.
29.[Boats being towed]
30.“Wanderer II”, “Kansas” [and other fish tenders? rafted together]
31.[Distant view of boats at cannery dock]
32.[Distant view of Libby, McNeill, and Libby cannery]
33-54. [Boats being towed, or being fished; Taku Glacier]
55.[Large unidentified ship]
56.“Pheasant” on the beach.
1