By Ellen | December 2, 2011
[image title=”Walter Clark” size=”full” id=”927″ align=”right” alt=”Governor Walter E. Clark” ]Joseph Von Kowski was adjudged insane in Tanana on March 13, 1911 and admitted to Morningside Hospital on April 15, 1911. He only stayed at the hospital for a short time, escaping on July 15. He subsequently wrote a letter to the matron of the […]
By Ellen | December 2, 2011
Last month, Eric Cordingley sent an update on his search for Morningside Hospital patient burial sites. He’s using records from the National Archive 2 and the Oregon State Archives (death certificates) to identify the cemeteries. Unfortunately, the graves are difficult to locate because the cemeteries no longer have records of the burials. In October, Eric […]
By Ellen | November 18, 2011
Henry Waldo Coe and his partners (the Sanitarium Company) began providing mental health care to Alaskans in 1904. Prior to winning their first contract, they operated Crystal Springs Sanitarium which provided care to private-pay patients. The pictures below show how the hospital changed as it morphed into Morningside Hospital, going from private-pay patients to government […]
By Ellen | November 18, 2011
We’ve amassed a large collection of material from our research at the National Archives II in Maryland. The documents are primarily administrative correspondence between Morningside Hospital and administrators at the U S Department of the Interior Office of Territorial Affairs. These documents include information on patients (admissions, discharges, diagnoses, deaths, citizenship, assets, etc.), complaints and […]
By Ellen | October 14, 2011
Most of the patient information on the blog is from the National Archives II, in College Station, MD. The Department of the Interior (DOI) contracted with Morningside Hospital for the care of Alaskans judged to be “insane”. Morningside submitted monthly reports to the DOI that were essentially invoices, which also included patient admission and discharge […]
By Ellen | October 7, 2011
Eric Cordingley of the Friends of Multnomah Park Cemetery continues to look for Morningside Hospital patient burial sites. His search has expanded to include at least 5 cemeteries since his first discovery of patient graves at Multnomah Park. Last month he sent this report on his continued pursuit of the final resting places of Morningside […]
By Ellen | September 30, 2011
Terrence M. Cole’s book “Fighting for the Forty-Ninth Star: C.W. Snedden and the Crusade for Alaska Statehood” tells the story of how C.W. “Bill” Snedden, the long-time publisher of the Fairbanks Daily News Miner, used a small town newspaper to champion the fight for statehood. [image title=”49Star” size=”full” id=”800″ align=”left” ]One of the most fascinating […]
By Ellen | September 26, 2011
[image title=”Image_001″ size=”full” id=”789″ align=”left” ] Over the weekend, the Alaska Historical Society (AHS) recognized the Lost Alaskans project with their Pathfinder Award. We didn’t know we were being considered so this was a wonderful surprise for a chilly Monday morning. The annual AHS meeting was held in Valdez. Here’s information on the award […]
By Ellen | September 3, 2011
[image title=”cropped-132″ size=”large” id=”768″ align=”center” ] The Inmates of Willard: A Genealogy Resource This blog is in preparation of a new genealogy resource book soon to be published about the Willard Asylum for the Insane and the first generation of Willard Inmates. It was written with genealogy geeks in mind. It is for those who want to glimpse the […]
By Ellen | August 25, 2011
[image title=”nikiski churchjpg” size=”full” id=”761″ align=”right” ]Nanwalek resident Nancy Yeaton contacted me wondering if we had information on her grandparents, Ivor and Nancy Johnson. She said that they had breakdowns after watching helplessly as two of their children died in a horrific fire in Nikiski. After the fire, Ivor and Nancy were sent to Morningside […]
