Content Description

The Clarence Leroy Andrews papers consist largely of business and personal correspondence, and published and unpublished manuscripts. This collection is a reorganization of what was previously cataloged as Ax 508 and incorporates addenda received after 1969.

The correspondence, consisting of approximately 2,000 letters, is arranged alphabetically, with major correspondents assigned individual folders. Five folders of letters from Eskimo friends follow the bulk of the correspondence. The personal and business correspondence dates from the turn of the 1900s to 1948. Major correspondents include: William F. Baldwin, Hector Chevigny, James H. Condit, Carlyle Ellis, Ben Evans, Ernest F. Jessen, Myra McDonald, Andrew J. Montgomery, George Morlander, J. M. Somendike, and Peter H. Van der Sterre. Andrews had a short correspondence with, and received some poems from, children's book author Esther Birdsall Darling. Interfiled with Andrews' correspondence are the correspondence files of Walter Sheilds, W. T. Lopp, Walter H. Johnson, and James A. Maguire, which Andrews obtained

Following the Eskimo correspondence are the W. T. Lopp files, also obtained by Andrews. This material, including correspondence, relates to education in Alaska and the reindeer service from 1908-1939. The original order is indicated by three lists filed in the first folder (2/32). The letters have been reorganized in chorological order. See also, the William T. Lopp Papers, Ax 58.

Manuscripts are divided into book length, article length, and manuscripts by others. Each section is arranged alphabetically by title. In many instance, correspondence regarding a work can be found with that manuscript. Book length manuscripts in the collection, which may not be complete, include four of at least six published works: The Eskimo and His Reindeer in Alaska; Nuggets of Northland Verse, a collection of poems about Alaska, with commentary; Story of Alaska; Wrangell and the Gold of the Cassiar. Also included is Andrews' monumental but never-published translation work, The Life of Baranof. This is made up of a biography of Baranof, his and others' letters, and a history of the Kodiak Mission, all translated from Russian by Andrews. Andrews' table of contents for the work is filed in box 2, folder 65. The introduction to The Life of Baranof, in folder 2/65 and 2/66 is placed at the end of the work because Andrews apparently did not include it for publication. Research for the work and related correspondence follow the introduction folders. Of the article length manuscripts, Robert Kennicott may have been published. There is no indication whether or not any of the others were published. The subjects of most, if not all, of Andrews' manuscripts are Alaska and Eskimos.

The series manuscripts is composed mainly of histories and journals of exploration in North America. The poems by others may have been collected for inclusion in Nuggets of Northland Verse.

The rest of the collection contains material, collected by Andrews, on Eskimos and their way of life. The retellings of Eskimo myths and customs were written for Andrews, mostly by Eskimo women with whom his corresponded. The Education in Alaska section includes multi-page bulletins compiled for teachers in Alaska by the Bureau of Education, and memory books from several Eskimo schools.

The contents of the C. L. Andrews Library at Sheldon Jackson Junior College in Sitka, Alaska, are described in the library list. Following this are folder for financial information, including income tax forms, clippings, and miscellaneous items.

Approximately 1,500 photographs have been filed in the photograph collection. A card file index to these is available in the Special Collections reading room. Other collections of C. L. Andrews are scattered throughout Northwest repositories.