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Alfred and Mae Bakken Slides and Memorabilia

Guide to the Alfred and Mae Bakken slides and memorabilia
1964-1977

Collection number: HMC-0589.
Creator:
Bakken, Alfred, 1911-1997.
Bakken, Mae Dahl, b. 1915.
Title: Alfred and Mae Bakken slides and memorabilia.
Dates: 1964-1977.
Volume of collection: 0.25 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Collection materials are in English.
Collection summary: Slides and other Alaska memorabilia collected by a couple who lived in Fairbanks.

Biographical note:
Alfred Bakken was born on a farm in Swift County, Minnesota in 1911. He worked as a housepainter and wallpaper hanger. Mae Dahl Bakken was born in Madelia, Minnesota in 1915. The couple moved to Fairbanks in 1965, where Alfred Bakken worked as a maintenance and boiler man for the Fairview Manor Apartments complex. They lived in Fairbanks until 1971, when they returned to Minnesota. In 1976, the Bakkens visited Alaska with their son and returned to Fairbanks in 1977 to work on upgrading the same apartment complex. The couple returned to Minnesota in the fall of 1977. Alfred Bakken died in Appleton, Minnesota in 1997.

Collection description:
The collection consists of 786 35mm color slides and other Alaska memorabilia collected by Alfred and Mae Bakken.  The slides depict the 1966 Minto Winter Carnival, the Fairbanks flood of 1967, the 1968 Fur Rendezvous in Anchorage, the Eskimo Museum in Fairbanks, the Eskimo Olympics in Fairbanks, the University of Alaska Museum in College, Banff National Park, Alberta, the Alaska Highway, the North American Championship Sled Dog Races, Fairbanks Golden Days Parades, the Susitna Lodge, damage from the 1964 Alaska earthquake in Anchorage, the Alaska Centennial Exposition in Fairbanks in 1967, Valdez, Haines, and the Inside Passage. There are also 150 commercial travel slides depicting various Alaskan subjects.

Other materials in the collection include postcards of scenes in Alaska, a copy of a photographic section of the newspaper, Jessen’s Weekly, concerning the Fairbanks flood in 1967, 5 photographs of the aurora borealis, souvenirs from the University of Alaska Museum, and four color art cards of oil paintings of Alaskan dogs by Josephine Crumrine.

Arrangement: The slides are arranged by original slide tray numbers created by the Bakkens.

Digitized copies: A selection of slides from this collection have been digitized and are available online on Alaska’s Digital Archives. Please consult an archivist for more information about ordering and use of digital copies.

Rights note: Archives does not own copyright to the commercial slides and publications in this collection.

Preferred citation: Alfred and Mae Bakken slides and memorabilia, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

Acquisition note: The collection was donated to the archives by Mae Bakken in 2002.

Processing information: This collection was arranged and described by Jeffrey Sinnott in 2002.  The guide to the collection was revised by Megan K. Friedel in 2010.

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