Maxcine Williams photograph collection, 1928-1983
Title:
Maxcine Williams photograph collection, 1928-1983
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1716 slides (col.), 177 photographs (black and white, color), 3 scrapbooks
General Note:
Manuscripts form a separate collection, MS 88.
In the Alaska State Library, Historical Collections, P.O. Box 110571, Juneau, AK 99811-0571.
Abstract:
Though the bulk of the collection if from 1928-1940s, the collection extends to 1983. The collection contains many images of flowers, most are identified by their botanical name. In addition are images of the places in Alaska that Maxcine traveled to collecting flower specimens. The collection includes images of Ann Coleman, Ada "Bob" White Sharples, Lydia John-Hanson, Dr. J.P. Anderson, Mary Joyce, Dr. Eric Hult'en. A few pictures of the raising of the Str. Islander in 1934 are included. Fairbanks views include the Summit Roadhouse, Cushman Street, and the Curry Hotel. A number of 1929 U.S. Navy aerial photographs are also in the collection. A scrapbook documents her 1949 road trip with images of Lucile Stonehouse, Christine Keller, and Amy Rude and others. A newsletter from the Juneau Botanical Club (Nov. 1949) is included. A second scrapbook contains images of "Red" Williams, hunting trips, Ma Pullen, Amos Burg, Barrett Willoughby and others. Single images of Gov. Gruening in Hawaii, Nina Crumrine, and Anna Webster are in the collection. Most of the photographs are identified, however they are only partially numbered.
Corporate Subject:
Biographical/Historical Data:
Maxcine Williams (nee Morgan) was born in Roseburg, Oregon June 10, 1904. She married V.F. "Red" Williams in 1927 and in April of 1928 they sailed for Juneau. They lived in Fairbanks and Anchorage before returning to Juneau, where she went to work for Ordway's Photo Shop and learned photography. She became acquainted with Ada White Sharples, author of the first book on Alaska wild flowers and began taking black and white photographs of Alaskan plants and flowers. In April of 1932 she took over the retail portion of Juneau Florists (a partnership begun in 1917, by W.H. Case and J.P. Anderson) and became acquainted with Dr. Anderson. She also met Dr. Eric Hult'en, of Sweden (author of a number of books on Alaskan flora), while he was staying in Juneau. She joined a botany study group that met at the home of Dr. Anderson, that included Ann Coleman, Helen Johnson, Edith Tucker, Lucile Stonehouse. Bea Shepard, Claudia Kelsey and Christine Heller. The group formed the Juneau Botanical Club with an herbarium of over 4000 Alaskan flower specimens. In 1949, Maxcine, Lucile Stonehouse, Amy Rude and Christine Heller took a road trip over the Haines, Alcan, Steese and parts of the Richardson highways and collected over 1000 specimens, some which had never been identified. Red Williams had a number of jobs including a partnership in Juneau's Sportsman Barbershop. After his death in 1962, Maxcine and Aline Strutz of Anchorage traveled from Barrow to Attu over the next 15 summers, collecting specimens. (They were the first tourists to stay over in Attu.) Her first specimens were named by Dr. Hult'en and later by Dr. Stanley Welsh of Brigham Young University. Some of her specimens are held by the Botanical Museum in Stockholm as well as the Gray Herbarium at Harvard, the Smithsonian, University of AK, University of WA, University of OR, OR State University and Brigham Young. She published Alaska Wildflower Glimpses and many articles on flowers. She co-authored The Alaska-Yukon Wildflower Guide with Helen White. Maxcine died in 1983 in Eugene, Oregon.
Restrictions on Access:
The photographs and slides may be viewed, however, they may not be photocoopied.