UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A new digital project, "Harriman Recollected: New Views of an 1899 Expedition to Alaska," makes accessible a handwritten diary and Indigenous artworks housed at Penn State’s Eberly Family Special Collections Library. The project presents research that sheds new light on the materials and their provenance and offers innovative pathways for thinking about, and teaching with, primary and historical sources and art within the larger framework of ethical collecting and stewardship within archives, libraries and museums.
As guiding principles, the project aims to emphasize Indigenous territorial ownership, refuse harmful terminology, and question assumptions of consent regarding the photographs taken during the expedition.
In 1989, the Special Collections library atPenn State University Libraries received a generous donation from an alum: a diary, two photograph albums and seven Indigenous artworks acquired by the donor's great-uncle George Nelson, the chaplain on board the Harriman Alaska Expedition of 1899. The expedition included such field-defining scientists as the preservationist John Muir and George Bird Grinnell, organizer of the first Audubon Society. Harriman, Nelson and their almost 50 companions embarked from Seattle, Washington on May 31, 1899, for the two-month cruise along the southeastern coast of Alaska and across the Bering Strait to Siberia. On this route, they traveled over the lands and waters of the Tsimshian, Tlingit, dAXunhyuu or Eyak, Alutiiq and Sugpiaq, Dena’ina, Unangax̂, Inupiaq, and Siberian Yupik.
From 2022 to 2024, Grace King, a doctoral student in English at Penn State, with support from the English Department and the Libraries, worked as a graduate assistant in Special Collections to transcribe Nelson’s diary, research the geographic and tribal origins of the artworks, collaborate with library colleagues to digitize, redescribe and rehouse parts of the collection, and organize events and conversations related to the project. "Harriman Recollected" narrates the story of the collection’s reinterpretation and redescription, contributing to an ongoing conversation about the opportunities and challenges of reparative description and curation practices.
In addition to providing access to the materials, the digital project offers new insights on industrial Alaska at the turn of the 20th century, the expedition’s looting of Gaash (Cape Fox), and the devastating legacy of Alaskan residential schools. The site also highlights Nelson’s drawings and descriptions of glaciers, which offer a historical record of climate change. Users can explore a story-map visualizing the expedition and a selection of teaching resources which guide instructors and their students in critical reflection on the collection and related resources.
For those in the vicinity of Penn State, the materials are available to view in the reading room or can be requested for use for teaching at the Eberly Family Special Collections Library.
Questions about "Harriman Recollected: New Views of an 1899 Expedition to Alaska," including inquiries regarding accessibility accommodations, should be directed to Clara Drummond, lead curator, at cjd86@psu.edu.
The Eberly Family Special Collections Library
The Eberly Family Special Collections Library at Penn State, located on the University Park campus, is home to more than 200,000 printed volumes, more than 25 million archival records and manuscripts, and more than one million photographs, maps, prints, and audio-visual items. The library offers primary source materials for a diverse community of researchers, from K-12 and Penn State students to scholars around the world. Its collections span a variety of subject disciplines, a sampling of which includes Utopian literature, science fiction, labor organization and representation, and local Centre County history. The Special Collections Library is home to the Penn State University Archives.