By Zachary R. Jones, Archivist
Title: Walter A. Soboleff Papers, 1920-2009
ID: MS/007
Primary Creator: Alaska Native Brotherhoood
Other Creators: Alaska Native Sisterhood, Soboleff, Walter A. (1908-2011)
Extent: 39.0 Boxes
Date Acquired: 10/10/2008
Subjects: Alaska Native Brotherhood--History., Alaska Native Sisterhood--History., Haida Indians--History., Tlingit Indians--History.
Languages: English
This thirty-nine collection consists of the official records documenting the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) and Sisterhood (ANS) for nearly a century of its operation. This collection’s papers, the bulk those of the organization’s Grand Camp, its top administrative branch, begin in 1915 and consist of extensive correspondence, meeting minutes, and working files documenting a wide array of Alaska Native issues. Various ANB and ANS Camps (chapters) are also represented by correspondence and meeting minutes. While the bulk of the collection concerns the three tribes of Southeast Alaska, the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian, many Alaska Native groups are represented with ANB Camps (chapters) forming across Alaska during the 1930s and 1940s. Some of the issues, though not all, documented in the collection concern ANB and ANS addressing U.S. Federal Indian policy, boarding schools, fisheries legislation, aboriginal title/land tenure, subsistence, social issues, and civil rights. The collection also contains legal papers or those addressing Federal Indian policy, including the papers of William L. Paul Sr., such as concerning his work to have the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 amended to allow Alaska Natives to create IRA governments and papers concerning Paul’s work toward various cases, including Supreme Court case Tee-Hit-Ton v. United States.
The collection has been organized into three series; Series 1: Correspondence (13 boxes), Series 2: Meeting Minutes, Resolutions, and Programs (20 boxes), and Series 3: Working Files (6 boxes). Some files have been organized chronologically and topically, such as in Series 2, while in some portions of the collection the original order kept by ANB was retained, such as with Series 1, Boxes 7-10. It should also be noted that the materials in Series 1, Boxes 11-13 are primarily papers of a legal nature, being the correspondence and papers of ANB’s lawyers.
Researcher Note: Researchers should see other ANB and ANS collections held by SHI that connect to this collection, including the Curry-Weissbrodt Papers and the Hope/Hayes Papers. Researchers should also note that the William L. Paul Sr. Papers are archived at University of Washington, Seattle.
Alaska Native Brotherhood--History.
Alaska Native Sisterhood--History.
Haida Indians--History.
Tlingit Indians--History.
Repository: Sealaska Heritage Institute Archives
Acquisition Source: Walter A. Soboleff
Acquisition Method:
The materials in the collection were donated to SHI in various batches between the period of 2000 and 2008 by life-long member and ranking ANB official Walter A. Soboleff. Soboleff signed an official deed of gift for these materials on Dec. 12, 2007. Additional donations of ANB papers were made on Sept. 3, 2008 and Oct. 10, 2008 by Soboleff. Lastly, a three box donation of W. A. Soboleff’s papers were found in ANB Grand Camp’s offices, which were donated by Brad Fluetsch, ANB Grand President, on Dec. 2, 2008. Accession numbers 2007.005 and 2008.007.
Some periodicals from this collection have been separated and cataloged; these include issues of The Voice of Brotherhood and Tundra Times.
Preferred Citation: Mss 7, Series #, Box #, Fd #, Walter A. Soboleff Papers, Sealaska Heritage Institute Archives, Juneau, AK
Processing Information: Processed by: Zachary R. Jones, Archivist, on October 24, 2012.
Fd 1: Executive committee meeting minutes, loose, 1930s.
Fd 2: Executive committee meeting minutes, loose, 1940-1958.
Fd 3: Executive committee meeting minutes, Juneau, loose, 1959-1967.
Fd 4: Executive committee meeting minutes, 1968-1994.
Fd 5: Executive Committee meeting minutes, 1959-1964.
Fd 6: Executive Committee Meeting minutes, 1990-2005.
Fd 7: Grand Camp President’s Conference meeting minutes, 1991.
Fd 8: ANB Camp 13 (Yakutat) meeting minutes, 1922-1946.
Fd 9: ANS Camp 13 (Yakutat) meeting minutes, 1931-1947.
Fd 10: ANS Camp 2 (Juneau) meeting minutes, 1965, 1971.
Fd 1: Minutes of Juneau Camp # 2, ledger, 1939-1945.
Fd 2: Minutes of Juneau Camp # 2, ledger, 1941-1942.
Fd 3: Minutes of Juneau Camp # 2, ledger, 1945-1948.
Fd 4: Minutes of Juneau Camp # 2, ledger, 1948-1950.
Fd 5: Minutes of Juneau Camp # 2, loose, 1959.
Fd 6: Minutes of Juneau Camp # 13, ledger, 1942-1943.
Fd 7: Minutes of Juneau Camp # 2, loose, 1930s-1940s.
Fd 8: Minutes of Juneau Camp # 2, loose, 1952-1955
Fd 9: Minutes of Juneau Camp # 2, loose, 1956-1959.
Fd 10: Minutes of Juneau Camp # 2, loose, 1956-1959.
Fd 11: Minutes of Juneau Camp # 2, loose, 1960-1963.
Fd 12: Minutes of Juneau Camp # 2, loose, 1963-1967.
Fd 13: Minutes of Juneau Camp # 2, ledger, “Book 2”, 1971.
Fd 14: Minutes of Juneau Camp # 2, loose, 1970-1975.
Fd 15: Minutes of Juneau Camp # 2, loose, 1977-1979.
Fd 16: Minutes of Juneau Camp # 2, loose, 1980-1999.
Fd 1: Handwritten notes and meeting minutes from Grand Camp Conventions [?], 1950-1952.
Fd 2: Handwritten meeting minutes from Grand Camp Convention [?], 1952.
