Acquisition Note: Source: Walter A. Soboleff. The materials in the collection were donated to SHI by Walter A. Soboleff on Dec. 12, 2007. These papers were donated with Soboleff’s ANB materials, but since they were unconnected to ANB, they have been separated and arranged here.
Scope and Contents: This collection contains correspondence and papers of John Y. Benson and his wife Cora Benson of Klukwan, AK. The collection contains around 50 letters of correspondence spanning 1921 to 1926. Most correspondence is incoming to the Bensons which discusses an array of topics. Topics discussed included berry picking, berry selling, subsistence efforts, Christianity, employment, the trade of goods, Chilkat blanket weaving, the local economy, Alaska Native Brotherhood, local happenings in various Southeast Alaska towns, and family affairs. Much of the correspondence is from family and friends at Sitka, Juneau, and Wrangell. The materials in the collection have been arranged into incoming and outgoing correspondence and then chronologically. The last folder in the collection contains to papers relating to legal matters.
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