Sarah Bishop Brigham papers, 1897-1907.

0.84 linear ft. (2 boxes) + 2 portfolios

English

Purchased from Morrill and Son on the William Robertson Coe Fund, 1956.

Sarah Bishop Brigham and her husband, Dr. C. O. Brigham, of Rutland, Vermont, travelled to Alaska in 1898 with the Vermont Klondike Expedition. Dr. Brigham died of an illness at Golovin Bay in December, 1898. Mrs. Brigham taught in the school run by the Swedish mission at Golovin Bay until the journey home was possible in July of 1899.

The papers consist primarily of a memoir by Mrs. Brigham about her experiences in Alaska, much of it drafted while she was still at Golovin Bay in the spring of 1899. It describes the Brighams' journey, the Golovin Bay Mission, Eskimo culture, the gold rush at Cape Nome, the communities of Unalaska, St. Michael, and "Anvil City" [Nome], the Alaska mail service, observations of reindeer, and various people Mrs. Brigham knew during her year there. The papers also include correspondence, some of it regarding mining claims owned by Mrs. Brigham; receipts and ephemera, including a program from and sketch of the Jesse Lee Home in Unalaska; newspaper clippings; drawings; and 38 photographs. Over half the photographs are of the mission community at Golovin Bay, many of them taken by the missionary P. H. Anderson; also present are several photos of miners at Nome, one of workers on the Alaska Railroad, two by Winter and Pond of a mine at Douglas, and studio portraits of Dr. and Mrs. Brigham taken in Burlington, Vermont, some years before their Alaska trip.

June 01, 2002

Sarah Bishop Brigham Papers. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Sarah Bishop Brigham Papers. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Missionaries Alaska.