Item #568 ALASKA PHOTO ALBUM KEPT BY A WOMAN 1951-1953
ALASKA PHOTO ALBUM KEPT BY A WOMAN 1951-1953
ALASKA PHOTO ALBUM KEPT BY A WOMAN 1951-1953
ALASKA PHOTO ALBUM KEPT BY A WOMAN 1951-1953
ALASKA PHOTO ALBUM KEPT BY A WOMAN 1951-1953
ALASKA PHOTO ALBUM KEPT BY A WOMAN 1951-1953
ALASKA PHOTO ALBUM KEPT BY A WOMAN 1951-1953
ALASKA PHOTO ALBUM KEPT BY A WOMAN 1951-1953
ALASKA PHOTO ALBUM KEPT BY A WOMAN 1951-1953
ALASKA PHOTO ALBUM KEPT BY A WOMAN 1951-1953
ALASKA PHOTO ALBUM KEPT BY A WOMAN 1951-1953
ALASKA PHOTO ALBUM KEPT BY A WOMAN 1951-1953

ALASKA PHOTO ALBUM KEPT BY A WOMAN 1951-1953

Item #568

14.75 x 9.5” brown suede photo album with painted illustrations of sled dogs and a totem pole on the cover, along with a poem about Alaska. The album on the cover reads:

Where The North Begins
Oh give me the tang of the bracing air,
The woods, the birds and the tall trees there;
The babbling brooks with their speckled trout,
Lakes teeming with fish, Indians trapping about;
The bounding deer and the scenery grand,
Mirrored in waters o’er golden sand,
All these are singing natures hymns,
Up where the North begins.

The album appears to have been put together by Inez Morningstar between 1951 and 1954 while living on an Air Force Base in Alaska. According to an online search, Morningstar was employed in the Civil Service in Anchorage. At the front of the album there are handwritten poems about Alaska and a list of clubs visited and places seen; these are written in a white pen that rubbed off on some other pages. There are over 120 photos with around 82 black and white photos and 40 Kodacolor photos of Alaska measuring between 3 x 4.25” and 9.25 x 8.5”. They are held to the page with corner tabs and accompanied by annotations. The photos show the views in various parts of Alaska and there are some especially stunning photos of Mt. McKinley and the Matanuska Glacier. There are a couple of interesting photos of what appears to be a burning building, and some adorable photos of husky dogs. A woman who must be Inez is frequently pictured in the Kodacolor photos which make up most of the back half of this partially filled album. Along with photos there are around 16 cards in envelopes taped into the album, theater and ball programs, and a copy of the Sourdough Sentinel. There is also an Elmendorf Air Force Base Officers’ Mess card and pamphlets from United Air Lines. Around 8 photos appear to be missing. In the back of the album there is a loose photo, a folded poster for “An Engineer’s Nightmare: A Progress Chart”, a New Year card, and a poem which is an official U.S. Air Force photo. The corner of one page is torn.

Example letter from album:
Letter from Bob to “Nez” (Sep. 13, 1952)
Hi “Nez”—
How in the world are you?? And how are things in the great far Northlands? Hope everything is fine and that you’re 3 inches shorter. Was your trip to Fairbanks successful—wrong word—pleasant? Tell me all about it. Had a real confused trip coming back here—went to McChord, the bars were closed because it was Sun, so went to Good Falls Mont, met a fellow I knew in WWII and we fought it all over again. Finally got out of there, but ended up in Dayton Ohio—That was a mistake!! Got to K.C. on Thur. and Bill didn’t go to the hospital til Sun. He sure was good about it—real proud of him—The surgeon was too. He suffered no complication and recovered quite rapidly, but the Surgeon won’t make a statement as to the success of the operation until he puts him thru a series of tests. That will be in a couple of weeks, after the scar tissue is not so prominent. It was a major operation and the Surgeon insisted a very delicate one, as he reached into my billfold. Maybe it was because everything went so smoothly, but it didn’t seem quite that serious to me.
Say how do you like my stationary? Pretty fancy! My pen is even out of ink—anyway you’re lucky to get this today—it’s miserably hot and dusty here—the weather is lousy! Denver has had its first snow already. Going to drive out there one of these weekends and case the place for you. Your picture in the movies came out fine (I think I told you) just as beautiful as you are, and you have many ardent admirers around here already—it’s a shame I didn’t get your face!
I’m assigned to Forbes AFB. THE CITY IS DRY!!? It’s a one horse country town. The base was just reactivated and the farmers had been filling the hangers full of wheat for lack of storage space. The AF had to dig it out to make room for the planes. I have a BOQ room overlooking the tracks of—it must be the Wallach Commonhall—it whistles and stops about every hour all nite. The big attraction now is a FAIR! (Livestock show and farm implement display) ISN’T THAT SIMPLY WILD?!!!
My address is Box 444
Forbes AFB
Kansas
So sit down and write me all the news.
Always,
Bob
P.S. Checked the secretary to the AIO, OIC—she’s short, but sad, tsk, tsk, very sad.
B.

Poem by The Friendless One
I have been A.I.O a long time
Too long as a matter of fact
I have been pleasing and
Displeasing ever since.
I have been cussed and discussed
Talked to and looked to
Robbed, held up and screwed up
If anything is going to happen
It will happen here
I am always caught in between
I have been filed, riled and
Defiled. Cased and braced,
Framed and defamed
The job is easy
All that is necessary is
To accept the impossible
Do without the indispensable
And bear the interoperable
The only reason I am staying
Here, is to see
What the hell is going to
Happen next.
The Friendless One.

Price: $395.00

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