Sources &
Resources

Cartographic sources

Historical Maps

• Map 1890 Census map of southeast Alaska, 1890

  Leventhal Map & Education Center, Boston Public Library. High-resolution scan of the U.S. Census Bureau map documenting settlements, canneries, and geographic features of the Alaska panhandle at the time of the 1890 census. Includes Taku Harbor and the cannery. ARK: ark:/50959/3f4635632

• Map David Rumsey Map Collection — Alaska

  Searchable archive of historical maps including nineteenth-century coastal surveys of southeast Alaska. Search “Taku” or “Taku Inlet” for relevant charts.

• Map Library of Congress Geography and Map Division

  Historical USGS and Coast Survey charts for the Alaska coast, including Taku Inlet surveys from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Archival sources

Primary Source Archives

• Archive HBC Hudson’s Bay Company Heritage

  The HBC archive, held at the Archives of Manitoba, includes post journals, correspondence, and account books from the company’s Alaska coast operations in the 1840s. Fort Durham (also called Fort Taku in some documents) records may be found under the Columbia District correspondence.

• Archive University of Alaska Fairbanks — Alaska & Polar Regions Collections

  The UAF Rasmuson Library holds extensive Alaska historical collections including cannery records, missionary papers, and early territorial-era documents relating to southeast Alaska.

• Archive Alaska State Library Historical Collections

  Photographs, documents, and records relating to southeast Alaska history, including the cannery industry and missionary period.

• Archive Presbyterian Historical Society

  Records of the Presbyterian Church’s Alaska mission work, including Sheldon Jackson’s correspondence and reports from mission stations in southeast Alaska.

Secondary literature

Further Reading

• Book HBC Galbraith, John S. The Hudson’s Bay Company as an Imperial Factor, 1821–1869. University of California Press, 1957.

  Standard history of HBC operations in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska coast, including the Russian lease period and the establishment of coastal posts.

• Book Tlingit Dauenhauer, Nora Marks, and Richard Dauenhauer, eds. Haa Shuká, Our Ancestors: Tlingit Oral Narratives. University of Washington Press, 1987.

  Primary collection of Tlingit oral literature and historical narrative, essential context for the human geography of southeast Alaska.

• Book Cannery Newell, Dianne. Tangled Webs of History: Indians and the Law in Canada’s Pacific Coast Fisheries. University of Toronto Press, 1993.

  Though focused on Canada, provides essential comparative context for Indigenous labor and rights in the Pacific salmon cannery industry.

• Book Alaska Andrews, Clarence L. The Story of Alaska. Caxton Printers, 1938.

  Early general history of Alaska with coverage of the Russian-American period, American acquisition, and early territorial era. Available in digital form through HathiTrust.

• Article Mission Coleman, Michael C. “Problematic Panacea: Presbyterian Missionaries and the Alaska Native Problem, 1877–1893.” Pacific Historical Review 62, no. 4 (1993): 415–439.

  Analysis of the Presbyterian missionary project in Alaska and its relationship to Indigenous communities and federal policy.

Current management

Alaska State Parks

• Agency Taku Harbor State Marine Park — Alaska DNR

  Official park page with current information on facilities, access, and management. Note: facilities are minimal; no camping infrastructure or potable water.

• Conditions National Weather Service — Juneau

  Marine forecasts for Taku Inlet and the surrounding waters. Taku outflow winds can make the inlet hazardous with little warning. Check forecasts before transit.

Downloads

Documents

Downloadable documents will be added here as the project develops. Files are in PDF format.

• PDF Fort Durham: site history and source review

  Coming soon. A summary of documentary and cartographic evidence for the location and history of Fort Durham at Taku Harbor.

• PDF Interpretive wayside sign — Taku Harbor State Marine Park

  Coming soon. Final design of the historical interpretive sign for the park, incorporating drone photography and pen-and-ink illustration.