Title and statement of responsibility area
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A.K. Schellinger fonds
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- Source of title proper: Title is based on provenance of fonds.
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Physical description
271 photographs : 270 b&w prints, 1 col. print;6 postcards;6 pgs. of textual records
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Alfred Kirk Schellinger "Shelly" was born, June 12, 1887, and raised in De Ruyter, New York. In 1909, he obtained a degree in mining and geology from Stanford University. He came to Dawson City, Yukon in 1910 to work for Guggenheim's Yukon Gold Company, first as a gold assayer and melter and then as examining geologist and mining engineer at Keno in 1918. Schellinger staked the Keno claim on what became known as Keno Hill on July 29, 1919. In 1919, he became a superintendent at Keno Hill Mines Limited where he was in charge of operating the first prosperous silver production of 1920-1922. He was also a pioneer of flotation milling at the Wernecke camp on Keno Hill beginning in 1924, which lead to a successful fifty-year period of silver-rich lead sulfide production. He worked at Keno Hill Mines until 1930 when he became chief engineer at Treadwell Yukon Mining Corporation in Mayo. In 1941, he returned to Palo Alto, California where he worked as an aircraft machinist. His interests and activities included geological and mining exploration and mapping (in the Mayo-Keno area), and photography. His photographs of Dawson City were the first colour photographs produced of the area. He also introduced the first home radio receiver to the district in the early 1920s. He was married to Elsie, who moved to Dawson City in 1913. They had two sons, Ken born in 1915 and Joe born in 1918. Alfred Schellinger died in 1969 at the age of 82. Mount Schellinger was named after him in 1973.
Custodial history
The albums were originally donated to the Yukon Historical Society by A.K. Schellinger's son, Ken Schellinger. They were later removed by John Scott, friend of A.K. Schellinger, who donated them to the Yukon Archives in 1982. In 1996, Mr. Scott donated additional A.K. Schellinger photographs in his possession to the Yukon Archives.
Scope and content
The fonds consists of photographs taken by A.K. Schellinger and postcards he collected between 1897 and 1940. The albums primarily relate to silver mining operations in the Mayo - Keno Hill area and gold mining in the Dawson City - Klondike area. One of the album photographs is among the first colour photographs of Dawson City. It was taken in 1912 on lumiere colour plate and later re-photographed on Kodachrome and processed onto Kodacolor prints without artificial colouring. The remaining 58 photographs in the fonds were taken between 1898 and 1935. They depict Dawson City (1897-1899), Mount Freegold near Carmacks, sternwheelers, North Fork, Selwyn Creek, gold mining at Quartz Creek, Inspiration Point, the White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&YR) railway, sailing up the Inside Passage in 1912, and people including Bill Lingham, Jack Carpentier, Bill Forbes, Clyde Wann, Tom McKay, Joe Walsh, Joe Menzies and George Devore. There are also postcards of caribou herds, dogsleds, and one dogsled with a moose on it in front of a taxidermist's cabin. The textual records consist of a 2 page biographical sketch of A.K. Schellinger by his son Ken, and a 4 page "Forward" prepared by John Scott.
Notes area
Physical condition
Two hundred and thirteen (213) photographs are in two albums. The remaining 58 photographs are glued onto black paper.
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There are no donor-imposed restrictions on this material. General copyright or institutional or legal restrictions may apply.
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Finding aids
A brief description of each photograph in the albums is included in the Schellinger Photograph Collection Inventory #41.