AHS Blog

2019 AHS Awards: Request for Nominations

Do you know individuals and groups which have done a worthy project, made long-term contributions to local history, made historical materials better known, or written a book that has contributed to the understanding and preservation of Alaska’s history this past year? It is time to nominate these folks for recognition by the Alaska Historical Society with the annual awards it makes. The award categories are:

The Esther Billman Award of Excellence to a local or state historical society, museum, government agency, or other organization that has completed a project contributing to the preservation and understanding of Alaskan history.

The Evangeline Atwood Award to an individual for significant long-term contributions to Alaska state or local history.

The James H. Ducker Alaska Historian of the Year Award to an Alaska resident for publication of significant new material about Alaska’s past.

The Barbara Smith Pathfinder Award for indexing or preparing guides to Alaska historical material.

The Elva Scott Local Historical Society Award for special achievement of a local society or museum.

The Contributions to Alaska History Award to recognize singular and significant recent contributions to Alaska history.

Nominations are due by Wednesday, July 31, 2019. A nomination letter should describe the individual’s or the group’s contributions or details the project to be recognized. Please include supporting material, such as a copy of the publication, guide, or photographs. Nominations should be sent to William Schneider, AHS Awards Committee Chair, P.O. Box 100299, Anchorage, AK 99510, or submit by email to members@alaskahistoricalsociety.org.

For more information about AHS awards and a list of previous recipients

Call For Papers 2019 Conference

Awauq or Refuge Rock, off the southern shore of Kodiak Island. Photo courtesy of Sven Haakanson, Jr.

Facing Our History

Alaska Historical Society Annual Conference
September 25-28, 2019 in Kodiak, Alaska

Call for Papers

Many of the events subjected to historical inquiry may be interpreted in very different ways. While some historians may represent them as positive events to be celebrated, to others they involve conflict, domination, and destruction. The history of Kodiak Island involves many such events, including the subjugation of Alutiiq people in the Russian colonial period, the American military rule prior to statehood, the effects of the Aleutian Campaign of World War II, and the Exxon Valdez oil spill’s impact on fisheries. This year’s theme also recognizes the historian’s difficult task of documenting and interpreting past events objectively and openly, while recognizing that the resulting narrative may spark conflict with other people. Our goal must be to find cause for inspiration and learning in even the most disturbing history.

Our keynote speaker this year is Dr. Sven Haakanson, Jr. of the Burke Museum in Seattle, formerly of Kodiak’s Alutiiq Museum. Dr. Haakanson’s work includes uncovering the history of Awa’uq or Refuge Rock, the site of a 1784 massacre of perhaps thousands of Alutiiq people on the south end of Kodiak Island at the hands of Russian fur trader Grigory Shelikov’s armed men. Dr. Haakanson also directed the project that led to publication of Giinaquq, Like a Face: Sugpiaq Masks of the Kodiak Archipelago.

Please join us in Kodiak this September. As always, we welcome presentations on all Alaska history topics. Presentations are limited to 20 minutes, and all presenters must be registered for the conference. To submit a proposal, please send your presentation title, an abstract of no more than 100 words, and two sentences about yourself to Rachel Mason, Program Chair, rachel_mason@nps.gov. Proposals are due May 15, 2019.

Funding for State Office of History and Archaeology

On March 9, 2019, the Alaska Historical Commission passed a resolution requesting the Alaska State Legislature reinstate the $150,000 in required state General Fund Match money for the Historic Preservation Fund that is currently not included in Governor Dunleavy’s proposed FY20 capital budget. These funds are critical for operation of the State Office of History and Archaeology, and for distribution to local historic preservation and historic building renovation projects.

Click here to view AHC Resolution_3-8-2019

These funding decisions are made in the House and Senate Finance committees and their respective Natural Resources subcommittees. Committee members, in particular the chairs of each committee, need to hear from Alaskans who support the State Historic Preservation Office programs of the Office of History and Archaeology, and their mission to preserve our state’s physical and cultural heritage.

Here are the names and email addresses of committee members:

AK Senate Finance Committee – 31st Legislature (2019-2020)
Senator Bert Stedman (Co-Chair) Email: Senator.Bert.Stedman@akleg.gov
Senator Natasha von Imhof (Co-Chair) Email: Senator.Natasha.vonImhof@akleg.gov
Senator Click Bishop (member) Email: Senator.Click.Bishop@akleg.gov
Senator Lyman Hoffman (member) Email: Senator.Lyman.Hoffman@akleg.gov
Senator Peter Micciche (member) Email: Senator.Peter.Micciche@akleg.gov
Senator Mike Shower (member) Email: Senator.Mike.Shower@akleg.gov
Senator David Wilson (member) Email: Senator.David.Wilson@akleg.gov
Senator Donald Olson (member) Email: Senator.Donald.Olson@akleg.gov
Senator Bill Wielechowski (member) Email: Senator.Bill.Wielechowski@akleg.gov

AK Senate Natural Resources Committee (Finance Subcommittee) – 31st Legislature (2019-2020)
Senator Click Bishop (Chair) Email: Senator.Click.Bishop@akleg.gov
Senator Cathy Giessel (member) Email: Senator.Cathy.Giessel@akleg.gov
Senator Peter Micciche (member) Email: Senator.Peter.Micciche@akleg.gov
Senator Jesse Kiehl (member) Email: Senator.Jesse.Kiehl@akleg.gov

AK House Finance Committee – 31st Legislature (2019-2020)
Rep. Neal Foster (Co-Chair) Email: Representative.Neal.Foster@akleg.gov
Rep. Tammie Wilson (Co-Chair) Email: Representative.Tammie.Wilson@akleg.gov
Rep. Jennifer Johnston (Vice-Chair) Email: Representative.Jennifer.Johnston@akleg.gov
Rep. Dan Ortiz (member) Email: Representative.Dan.Ortiz@akleg.gov
Rep. Andy Josephson (member) Email: Representative.Andy.Josephson@akleg.gov
Rep. Gary Knopp (member) Email: Representative.Gary.Knopp@akleg.gov
Rep. Bart LeBon (member) Email: Representative.Bart.LeBon@akleg.gov
Rep. Cathy Tilton (member) Email: Representative.Cathy.Tilton@akleg.gov
Rep. Kelly Merrick (member) Email: Representative.Kelly.Merrick@akleg.gov
Rep. Colleen Sullivan-Leonard (member) Email: Representative.Colleen.Sullivan-Leonard@akleg.gov
Rep. Ben Carpenter (member) Email: Email: Representative.Ben.Carpenter@akleg.gov

AK House Natural Resources Committee (Finance Subcommittee) – 31st Legislature (2019-2020)
Rep. Gary Knopp (Chair) Email: Representative.Gary.Knopp@akleg.gov
Rep. John Lincoln (member) Email: Representative.John.Lincoln@akleg.gov
Rep. Geran Tarr (member) Email: Representative.Geran.Tarr@akleg.gov
Rep. Grier Hopkins (member) Email: Representative.Grier.Hopkins@akleg.gov
Rep. Sara Hannan (member) Email: Representative.Sara.Hannan@akleg.gov
Rep. Chris Tuck (member) Email: Representative.Chris.Tuck@akleg.gov
Rep. Ivy Spohnholz (member) Email: Representative.Ivy.Spohnholz@akleg.gov
Rep. Dave Talerico (member) Email: Representative.Dave.Talerico@akleg.gov
Rep. George Rauscher (member) Email: Representative.George.Rauscher@akleg.gov
Rep. Sara Rasmussen (member) Email: Representative.Sara.Rasmussen@akleg.gov
Rep. Kelly Merrick (member) Email: Representative.Kelly.Merrick@akleg.gov

National Visitation Survey

YOUR RESPONSE IS CRITICAL: The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) is conducting a national survey of institutions seeking information about in person visitation trends between the years of 2013-2018. Please take five minutes to complete this survey and pass along to any institutions who may be interested in participating. Results will be shared with participants in August of 2019.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AASLHVisitation

For more information, contact:

John Dichtl, PhD
President & CEO, American Association for State and Local History
2021 21st Ave S., Ste 320, Nashville, TN 37212
dichtl@aaslh.org
www.aaslh.org

The Life of Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher

By: Alyssa Lapka, history student at University of Alaska Anchorage

Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher, 1909. “The best picture of the Evanston years.” B2008.015.1.14.2. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad.

In honor of women’s history month and in commemoration of the centennial of the 19th Amendment, there’s no better time to recall the notable and accomplished life of Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher.

Here in Alaska, many have grown up in the Matanuska Valley with Hatcher Pass as a playground. One could easily locate an abundance of information about the mining history of the area, tales of Robert Lee Hatcher for whom the pass is named after, but few have written about his wife, Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher. Ms. Hatcher was among the most influential women in Alaska’s history.

Born in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin on January 2, 1867, Cornelia expressed an interested in journalism at a young age and realized the potential of the press as a tool for public advocacy. As a young girl, Cornelia submitted written complaints to the local paper after experiencing what she felt to be injustices from the other children. Cornelia also developed a strong aversion to alcohol and drunken behavior after having grown up around a grandfather who was often intoxicated. She recalled how his behavior ruined family holidays: “If she could prevent it ‘no other child should ever weep over the loss of Christmas joy due to a muddled brain and an unsteady step.’”¹ Here we see how Hatcher’s childhood formed her belief in temperance and shaped her role as an activist.

At the age of 12, Cornelia took a job as a typesetter for a small paper in Wisconsin. Later she worked for The Expositor and The Independent, two other local papers in Wisconsin. By the time she was twenty, Cornelia worked her way up to become a proofreader. The paper’s editor put her in charge of some investigations as well. On June 27, 1888, Cornelia married John H. Jewett; a year later she gave birth to her daughter, Hazel. Though her marriage with Jewett did not last, she remained close to Hazel throughout her life. She later moved to Chicago to continue work as a journalist. There she joined the staff of The Union Signal, an official organ of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.). By 1902 Cornelia worked as the managing editor for the paper.

Seven years later, Cornelia had developed some wanderlust and looked west for adventure. She attended the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle with her associate in the W.C.T.U, Jennie M. Kemp. Following her stay in Seattle, Cornelia set off on a two-month tour of the Northwest, including an ambitious three-week trip to Alaska. Cornelia relayed her impressions of the expansive territory as a representative of the temperance union:

The population of Alaska is like the shifting sand, and two-thirds of the inhabitants are men, either unmarried or whose families have been left behind in ‘the states.’ Removed from the restraining influences of the home, and beset on every hand by the temptations of the saloon, the brothel and the gambling den, man speedily reverts to semi-barbarism and ceases to struggle for the better things of life. It is such men that the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, working with the missionaries of the church, aims to reach. Our representative expresses the greatest gratification over the response of the men to her efforts, and their eager desire to assist in the work when they comprehend its scope.²

The experience proved formative for Cornelia, and she soon decided to relocate to Alaska. As Cornelia stated in the Union Signal stated: she had a “desire for further information concerning the country and its future, as well as a conviction of the great need and opportunity there afforded for temperance work.”³ In addition, Cornelia believed that a more active lifestyle might ameliorate the severe neuritis in her arm and shoulder.⁴

In 1910, Cornelia took up residence with the family of a Methodist preacher, Louis H. Pedersen, in Seward and served as Alaska’s National W.C.T.U. representative. Cornelia traveled along Alaska’s coasts and lectured on the topic of temperance. One reporter who heard her public performance on the evils of drink claimed, “It was a strong appeal on behalf of the cause of temperance, and so deep an impression did Mrs. Jewett make that at the close she was importuned to return to Cordova, make a similar talk and organize a branch of the National Women’s Christian Temperance Union… She is one of the most active and effective women in the country in her particular work.”⁵ Soon after, Cornelia organized three W.C.T.U. chapters in Ketchikan, Skagway, and Seward, as well as with the Loyal Temperance Legion, a branch of the W.C.T.U. for children.⁶

Having a sense of accomplishment and not one to stay in one place for too long, Cornelia left Alaska for Tacoma in 1911, but her experience in the North was far from over. During her brief stay Alaska, Cornelia Jewett met a miner named Robert Lee Hatcher in the Matanuska Valley. The young journalist apparently left quite the impression on Hatcher; he soon followed her to Tacoma with the idea of marrying her. For her part, Cornelia was drawn to Robert and later claimed that he was perhaps the only man in Alaska who did not smoke, drink, chew, swear, or gamble. The two married on March 5, 1911, and Cornelia Templeton Jewett took Hatcher as her surname.⁷

Cornelia returned to Alaska the winter of 1912 to join her husband. They wintered not far from Knik in the area now known as Hatcher Pass. During these years, Cornelia Hatcher grew still more active in the suffrage and temperance movements. In 1913, she proclaimed her belief that women should be free to vote for representatives in Alaska’s Territorial Legislature. Cornelia authored a petition for the legislature to grant women the vote.

She later recalled an instance when her advocacy for suffrage led her into a conflict with a male inn keeper. Frank Cannon, the man who ran the Knik Road House, confessed to Cornelia, “You see, I have always had an ideal of women… I feel that it would be unwomanly for them to vote.” Cornelia provided a rebuttal: “About the 8,000,000 women who have had to get down off a pedestal and hunt for a job;” they should be able to participate in democracy. Frank Cannon claimed that Cornelia Hatcher was exceptional in her intelligence, but most women could not be trusted with the vote. Cornelia, not content with Frank’s response, reminded the innkeeper, “There are thousands of women like me who are honestly interested in their government and believe that they should have an equal voice in its affairs… You insist that I am intelligent enough to vote so I am asking you to ask the Alaska Legislature to give me that privilege.” Frank Cannon finally conceded and signed the petition.⁸

Cornelia Hatcher 2,000 feet up on Mt. Seward, Alaska, August 2nd, 1909. B2008.015.1.12.2. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad,

According to the Alaska Daily Empire, the Knik petition Hatcher organized was one of the very first to be received by the new territorial legislature. Within months, Alaska’s representatives fashioned a bill based on petitions they received. The petition proposed women would have the right to vote in territorial elections. Cornelia Hatcher took great pride in the fact that women’s suffrage was the first bill passed into law by the first Alaska Legislature, six years before the United States passed the 19th amendment.⁹

Between 1913 and 1924, Hatcher served as president of the Alaska territorial W.C.T.U.¹⁰ Thanks in part to her advocacy, the Alaska legislature passed a law that made women eligible for jury service in the territory by 1923. Cornelia Hatcher celebrated the “recognition of [men and women’s] share in civic government,” but she also recognized that full equality remained elusive. “True comradeship between the men and women of Alaska,” Cornelia wrote, would be more convincing if “women would share adequately in property accumulated after marriage.”¹¹

In addition to her advocacy for women’s rights in Alaska, Cornelia remained active in the prohibition movement. The Oregon Sunday Journal claimed that Cornelia Hatcher was responsible for “the first and only prohibition map that has ever been made of this country.” For over two years, Cornelia cobbled together a listing towns, cities, and counties that banned, to one extent or another, alcohol consumption and production.¹²

Citizens of Knik standing in front of the Pioneer Roadhouse at Knik, Alaska. B2008.015.1.33. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad,

Cornelia traveled over five thousand miles throughout Alaska to campaign for prohibition. Alaska’s W.C.T.U. sent Hatcher along the Yukon River up the Tanana River to Fairbanks and to Nome. Her trip carried “her the length of the Yukon river and out through the Bering Sea. She visited all the Unions in the southeast part of the territory enroute and reached Skagway June 8. From there she proceeded to Dawson where she assisted in the fight to put the Yukon Territory dry.” Throughout her travels representatives from the California Liquor Dealers followed her to provide a rebuttal to keep Alaska wet. Still, her efforts paid off as the people of Alaska voted for prohibition by a two-to-one margin in 1918. According to her daughter, Hazel, Cornelia Hatcher was “the little lady who made Alaska dry.”¹³

Due to Alaska’s territorial status, the bill had to pass through congress before it could become law. Cornelia Hatcher traveled to Washington, D.C. where she addressed the Committee of the Territories in the U.S. Senate. In a letter addressed to her ‘Alaska Comrades,’ she informed them that the “prohibition bill passed the Senate January 29, received the favorable consideration of the House February 2 and was signed by President Woodrow Wilson February 8.”¹⁴ A constitutional amendment soon followed and received ratification in December 1917; the implementation and enforcement of Prohibition went into effect on January 17, 1920.

Hatcher received national attention as a passionate advocate for prohibition. The Seattle Post Intelligencer relayed that Cornelia deserved “credit for being the best and most successful promoter of legislation who has come to this capitol [DC] in years.”¹⁵ Another newspaper of reported that she made “the most powerful argument in favor of the passage of the measure ever heard on the subject of temperance in the national capital.”¹⁶ As further evidence of her success, Cornelia received the pen President Wilson used to sign the prohibition bill into law.¹⁷

Hatcher’s Home at Gold Mint Mining Company, 1921-22. B2008.015.1.31.3. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad.

While advocating for prohibition, Cornelia Hatcher also pointed out the flaws in Alaska’s nascent educational system. Though she staunchly believed in nationwide prohibition, she also recognized that Alaska stood to lose much of its education funding as a result of the 20th Amendment. The Alaska Fund, as it was known in congress, collected revenue from liquor licenses and disbursed some of these funds for education in the territory. The schools in Alaska already lacked adequate funding and any additional decrease would be detrimental. To ensure Alaska schools received funding, Cornelia Hatcher lobbied for an appropriation of “$100,000, to be expended solely for the establishment and maintenance of public schools in Alaska, to be expended under the direction of the authority now having the disposition of the ‘Alaska fund.’”¹⁸ Though the bill failed, congress passed a smaller appropriation for education in Alaska.

In 1922 Cornelia left Alaska once again. After several months in San Diego, she moved to Long Beach where she opened a beauty shop. She joined several local clubs and organizations and accomplished much in the short time she spent in southern California. From 1927 to 1929 she served as president of the Business and Professional Women’s Club of Long Beach. Membership in the Long Beach Women’s Clun tripled during Cornelia Hatcher’s time in office. She also served as the president of the Woman’s City Club in Long Beach from 1929-1930.²⁰ In 1930 she moved to Washington, D.C. upon receiving an offer from an old friend, Lenna Lowe Yost, the Director of the Women’s Division of the Republican Party. She joined Yost’s staff as a research secretary.²¹

Cornelia Hatcher while living in Long Beach, California and running the Colonial Beauty Shop. B2008.015.2.5.1.Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad,

In 1935, even though she had not lived in Alaska for over ten years, Cornelia remained an associate member of the Alaska Woman’s Club based out of Juneau. The Alaskan women asked Cornelia to represent the club at the convention of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs in Detroit, Michigan. At the convention she lobbied have the Alaska club classified as a state federation instead of a foreign federation. After Cornelia’s moving speech, the federation voted to make the Alaska club an affiliate of the state federation.²² This was the last service Cornelia did for Alaska. She and her daughter, Hazel, then moved back to Chicago where she renewed her affiliation with the Illinois Women’s Press Association. In 1942, on her seventy-fifth birthday, the association named her an Honorary Life Member. Cornelia relocated a final time with her daughter and granddaughter, this time to Arkansas. On May 5, 1953 Cornelia Hatcher passed away in the small town of Altus.²³

Cornelia Hatcher accomplished much during her lifetime. From her leadership positions in organizations and clubs devoted to women’s rights to her advocacy for prohibition to her career as a writer and journalist, Cornelia’s drive for social change boosted the profile of women across Alaska and elsewhere. There’s no better time to reflect on her achievements than now as we commemorate the centenary of the 18th and 19th Amendments to the United States constitution and their impact upon Alaska.

 Alyssa Lapka from Palmer, Alaska, is attending the University of Alaska Anchorage, and plans to  graduate with a bachelor’s degree in history and minor in literature in spring, 2019. Lapka spent the fall 2018 semester interning for the Atwood Resource Center in the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center.

Thank you to Sara Piasecki, Archivist, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, for assistance with the photographic research, and Ian Hartman, Professor of History, University of Alaska Anchorage.

Endnotes:

1. Emma Kidd Hulburt “Presenting the Union Signal and Some Workers Past and Present,” The Union Signal, February 14, 1948 and Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad, B2008.015.2.34.
2. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad, B2008.015.1.10-11.
3. The Union Signal, March 31, 1910. https://archive.org/details/unionsignaljourn36woma/page/n237
4. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad, B2008.015.1.16
5. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad, B2008.015.1.18.
6. Cornelia Templeton Jewett, “W.C.T.U. Work in Alaska,” The Union Signal, January 5, 1911. https://archive.org/details/unionsignaljourn37woma/page/n9
7. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad, B2008.015.2.25.
8. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad, B2008.015.1.33 and “Shoup’s Suffrage Bill Passes,” The Alaska Daily Empire, March 14, 1913, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020657/1913-03-14/ed-1/seq-1/.
9. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad, B2008.015.1.33 and “Shoup’s Suffrage Bill Passes,” The Alaska Daily Empire, March 14, 1913, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020657/1913-03-14/ed-1/seq-1/.
10. Emma Kidd Hulburt “Presenting the Union Signal and Some Workers Past and Present,” The Union Signal, February 14, 1948.
11. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad, B2008.015.1.40.
12. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad, B2008.015.1.14.
13. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad, B2008.015.1.24.
14. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad, B2008.015.1.26.
15. Ashmun Brown, “Seattle Woman puts Through Bone Dry Measure for Alaska,” The Post-Intelligencer, Seattle, WA, Saturday, February 3, 1917.
16. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad, B2008.015.1.25.
17. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad, B2008.015.1.26.
18. “Prohibition in Alaska Hearing Before the Committee on Territories United States Senate” S.7963, 64th Cong., 2nd sess. January 26, 1917. Washington Government Printing Office 1917.
19. Cornelia Templeton Hatcher, “Alaska Legislature Makes Fine Record on Enactment of Progressive Measures,” The Union Signal, June 7, 1917, https://archive.org/details/unionsignaljourn43woma/page/n361.
20. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad, B2008.015.2.1.
21. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad, B2008.015.1.34.
22. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad, B2008.015.1.34.
23. Cornelia Templeton Jewett Hatcher Papers; Anchorage Museum, Gift of Robin Rustad, B2008.015.2.31.