Alaska Commercial Company Records, 1895 - 1897 (MSS 234)

Extent: 0.25 Linear feet (1 archives box)

Digital Content

This collection has been digitized.

A small collection of business correspondence and records from the Alaska Commercial Company, a San Francisco trading firm concerned with the Alaskan fur trade in the late 19th century.

Historical Background

Alaska Commercial Company was a San Francisco firm which purchased the assets of the Russian-American Co. in 1867. The company supported the Alaskan fur trade by providing steamship transportation, general merchandising, and other commercial and financial services. The company had offices at Unalaska on Unalaska Island, at Unga on Unga Island, and at St. Michael on the west coast of Alaska in the Norton Sound.

Scope and Content of Collection

The collection contains a small body of business correspondence and records, including 34 letters written from early March to 12 October 1897 between agents Otto W. Carlson at Unga, R. T. Lying and James M. Wilson at St. Michael, and company representatives N. Gray and Rudolph Neumann at Unalaska. The letters contain orders for merchandise, accounts of fur pelts shipped, and general account information. Also included are 28 business documents, such as invoices, advice of drafts lists, inventories, and supply arrivals related to the Apollo Consolidated Mining Company.