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CHRISTINE A. HELLER (1907-1990). Papers; n.d., 1895, 1902, 1905, 1907, 1909-1910, 1916, 1920, 1924-1977, 1980-1982. 26.67 cu. ft. Inventory.
Christine Anderson Heller was born on March 27, 1907, in Utica, New York, and grew up in the House of the Good Shepherd, an Episcopalian children's home in Utica. She obtained a bachelor of science degree (1933), a master's degree (1937), and a doctorate in nutrition (with a minor in botany, 1952) from Cornell University. She was a nutritionist in New Mexico and also worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Sacramento, California, and the California Health Department before moving to Juneau in 1945. She worked as a nutritionist in Alaska in various positions until her retirement in 1965. She also occasionally taught university courses in nutrition. Christine Heller maintained her interest in botany in Alaska. She wrote two works on botany in Alaska, Edible and Poisonous Plants of Alaska and Wild Flowers of Alaska (with Margaret E. Heller).
The collection consists primarily of materials relating to Christine Heller's professional work as a nutritionist and to her work in botany. The papers are divided into eight series: personal papers; academic course work and teaching; professional correspondence, publications and speeches; papers relating to The Alaska Dietary Survey, 1956-1961; nutrition and food-related works; botany; artwork, photographs, postcards and film (a filmstrip); and maps and miscellaneous reference material. The most important materials are the data, notes, and drafts related to The Alaska Dietary Survey, 1956-1961 and the journal and photographs from the 1948 summer trip of the Coast Guard cutter Northwind to various villages in Alaska. There are also subject files on nutrition and food, a large collection of recipes, and Alaskan botanical specimens collected and pressed by her. The UAA Archives and Manuscripts Department also has the papers of Christine Heller's sister, Margaret Heller, who shared a house with her in Anchorage and participated in the publication and sale of Christine Heller's wildflower book.
The collection was presented to the archives by the estate of Margaret Heller in 1991.
HMC-0367