Katherine G. Kane manuscript, my twenty seven years in Alaska and the Aleutians, 1909-1943,
Title:
Katherine G. Kane manuscript, my twenty seven years in Alaska and the Aleutians, 1909-1943,
Physical Description:
0.25 linear ft.
Abstract:
The collection consists of a 255-page typescript manuscript written (probably in 1938) by Katherine G. Kane, titled My Twenty Seven Years in Alaska and the Aleutians. The text is illustrated with mounted photographs, including both snapshots and commercial images. Twelve additional photographs were enclosed in an accompanying envelope. The text contains transcriptions of correspondence, reports, and news articles pertaining to Kane's tenure in Alaska. The manuscript bears some penciled notes, possibly made by an editor to whom the manuscript had been offered for publication. Facing page 245 is a typescript poem, "I believe, " signed and dated "Carrie Jacobs-Bond, 1943." For table of contents and list of photographs, see Detailed Description of Collection.
Subject Term:
Added Author:
Biographical/Historical Data:
According to her autobiography, Katherine Gertrude Kane worked as a teacher and public health nurse in rural Alaska from 1913-1938. A native of Iowa, she received her teachers' training at Benedictine Academy in North Dakota and began her career as a teacher in Idaho. After her sister's death, she adopted her niece and began looking for more lucrative career options. Wanting to expand her skills, she entered a nurse training program at Providence Hospital in Spokane, Washington. She relocated to Alaska in 1913 and was offered a position as a teacher at Nushagak, but opted instead to stay for one year near Kenai Lake to help operate a hunting lodge. In 1914, she moved up to Talkeetna to establish a school for local Native children. In 1917, she transferred to Susitna Station, where she taught and then helped care for residents during an outbreak of influenza in 1918. In 1919, she moved again, to Kokrines on the Yukon River, where she taught for five years. After a short stint in Anchorage at Emard's, she relocated to Akutan in 1923, and taught in that village for five years. She spent four months in Koggiung in the Bristol Bay region before heading west again, to Atka in the Aleutian Islands. After one year, she transferred to Copper Center in Southcentral Alaska, spending another year establishing a school there. In 1931, she left for Alitak, or Akhiok, on Kodiak Island, remaining there until 1937. The memoir ends with her request for a one-year sabbatical from teaching and her return to Washington State.