• Due to renovations to our vault, the majority of our collections are currently inaccessible. Access to collections may be limited until May 2024. Please contact us for more information.

Frederick A. Milan papers.

Guide to the Frederick A. Milan papers
circa 1870-1995, bulk 1942-1995

Collection number: HMC-0687.
Creator: Milan, Frederick A.
Title: Frederick A. Milan papers.
Dates: circa 1870-1995, bulk 1942-1995.
Volume of collection: 8.0 cubic feet and 4.44 GB.
Language of materials: Collection materials are in English, Sami, Swedish, and Inupiat.
Collection summary: Papers of an anthropologist, linguist, and human physiologist who worked in Alaska and other Arctic regions.

Biographical note:
Frederick A. Milan was born in 1924 and grew up in Waltham, Massachusetts. In 1948, he enrolled at the University of Alaska, where he received a B.A. in anthropology and linguistics in 1952. In 1959, he received an M.S. in anthropology from the University of Wisconsin Madison. In 1962, Milan received a Ph.D. in physical anthropology with a linguistics minor, also from the University of Wisconsin Madison. During his studies at the University of Alaska, Milan worked as an assistant on the Harvard Peabody Museum’s anthropological expedition to the Aleutian Islands in 1949 and as an archaeological assistant at Deering and Kodiak during the summers of 1950 and 1952. In 1953, Milan began studying the effects of cold exposure, first at the U.S. Air Force Arctic Aeromedical Laboratory (where he also participated in the Mount Wrangell Research Project in 1954) and at the International Geophysical Year Little America Base in Antarctica in 1956-1957. In 1957 and 1959, he also participated in physiological studies of temperature regulation in native peoples of Australia and Chile. Beginning in the 1960s, Milan became involved in the physiological study of northern peoples and was appointed chairman of the Eskimo Study Program. The results of this study were published in 1980 as The Human Biology of Circumpolar Populations, edited by Milan. He was also instrumental in establishing, with C. Earl Albrecht and others, the International Symposium on Circumpolar Health in 1967 and served as president and board member of the American Society for Circumpolar Health. In later years, Milan was Professor of Human Ecology and Anthropology at University of Alaska Fairbanks. Frederick Milan died in 1995.

Collection description:
This collection contains papers relating to Frederick A. Milan’s work as an archaeologist, anthropologist, linguist, and human physiologist, mostly in Alaska and other Arctic regions. These papers include study data and photographs, maps, notes, field notebooks, grants and proposals, Alaska Native genealogies, word lists, audiotapes, and moving image film.

Arrangement: The materials in this collection are arranged in the order in which they arrived at the Archives.

Digitized copies: Selected video, audio, and films have been digitized, some of which are available on Alaska’s Digital Archives.  For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.

Digitization was made possible by a Recordings at Risk grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant program is made possible by funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Access restrictions: Materials in the collection may be subject to privacy restrictions. Folders with known restricted materials are indicated in the container list below. Other folders that are not marked restricted may still contain sensitive materials. Requests to use the material must be made in advance of a research visit. Because the collection contains potentially culturally and personally sensitive information, prior to access all researchers must sign an archives-provided forming agreeing to abide by the American Anthropological Association’s Code of Ethics in using this collection.

Use restrictions: Photographs containing images of patients or human subjects taken for scientific studies may not be duplicated.

Rights note: Archives has copyright to materials created by Frederick Milan. The collection contains materials not created by Milan, which may be subject to copyright restrictions.

Preferred citation: Frederick A. Milan papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

Separated materials: 1 cubic foot of publications were removed in February 2011 to the Rare Books collection.

Related materials: Refer to the research guides to “Anthropology collections” and “Health and medicine-related collections” for related archival collections in Archives and Special Collections.

Acquisition note: This collection was donated to the Archives in 2004 by Leda Milan, Frederick Milan’s wife.

Processing information: Some materials were re-foldered and boxed by Jeffrey Sinnott prior to 2006. Megan K. Friedel wrote an initial description of the collection in 2011, with further description added by Veronica Denison in 2018. Whenever possible original folder titles were retained. Becky Butler provided additional description when audiovisual materials were digitized in 2019.

Container list:

Box/Folder Description Dates
1/1-2 Arctic anthropology: Notes, schoolwork, and papers, including archaeology at Karluk, Alaska Native word lists, and ground temperature studies undated, 1951-1964
1/3 Class notes and course work: Advanced Physical Anthropology and Introduction to Human Biology circa 1959-1970
1/4-5 Advanced Physical Anthropology: Notes and coursework 1953
1/6 People of South East Asia 438 class notebook 1952
1/7 Anaktuvuk Pass genealogical record circa 1975
1/8 Relationships of Pt. Hope 1970
1/9 Sami words from Kurravaara undated
1/10 Words collected at Karluk 1954 September
1/11 House temperature measurements, Wainwright 1955
1/12 Gambell and Saint Lawrence field notebook, includes Inupiat word lists 1956
1/13 “Health, performance and genetics in the Arctic” reports and papers 1969
1/14 Chile field book 1954
1/15 11th International Symposium on Circumpolar Health notes 1978
1/16 Little America Station, Antarctica field book circa 1958
1/17 Field book: Wainwright, Alaska and Sweden, includes Sami, Norse, and Finnish word comparisons undated
1/18 “The effect of a year in the Antarctic on human thermal and metabolic responses to an acute standardized cold stress” by Frederick A. Milan, Robert W. Elsner, and Kaare Rodahl, Arctic Aeromedical Laboratory, Fort Wainwright, Alaska 1961
1/19 Medical Science 511: Regional Anatomy: Notes 1977-1978
1/20 Medical Science 511: Regional Anatomy: Exams, articles 1977-1978
1/21 Danish Class notebook 1954-1955
1/22 “Proposal for research contract between the United States Air Force and the University of Oregon Medical School, Departments of Radiology and Medicine” circa 1958
1/23 Lulea 1977: Reindeer herder study in Sweden 1965, 1976-1978
1/24 RESTRICTED: Chemawa Indian School Study 1963
1/25 Koniag-Karluk: Kanyag word lists and translations 1952
1/26 “The Alaska gateway viewed from the Aleutian Islands” by William S. Laughlin undated
1/27 Linguistics 411 class notebook 1953
1/28 Class notebook [probably for a linguistics class] undated
1/29 Class notebook: History and structure of Scandinavian languages 1961-1962
1/30 Arctic Archaeology class notebook 1949
1/31 Peoples of Oceania class notebook and papers 1959
1/32 Alaska Native radiology (x-ray) study data circa 1955-1968
1/33 RESTRICTED: Alaska Native anthropometry and medical information study data (includes Harvard University anthropometry study data) circa 1951-1958
1/34 Burmese Kammavaca: Correspondence and information 1942-1980
1/35-36 Barrow genealogy circa 1964
1/37 Fred Milan’s genealogy 1985
1/38 RESTRICTED: Wain. [Wainwright] economics in dollars circa 1952-1955
1/39 Lapes: Research and Milan’s articles relating to reindeer herders in Scandinavia; “The human ecology of caribou hunters and reindeer herders in Alaska and Scandinavia” by Milan circa 1955-1979
1/40 Sami language, studies of Sami 1947-1974
1/41 Milan family correspondence and genealogy circa 1973-1986
1/42 1969 Alaska Native study subject list 1969
2/1 RESTRICTED: Wainwright village list 1968
2/2 RESTRICTED: Rennie’s Analysis of 55-58: EKGs done under Wainwright study by Donald Rennie, M.D. of SUNY Buffalo, also includes Wainwright study information circa 1952-1969
2/3 Alaska Native cardiovascular study data circa 1952-1960
2/4 RESTRICTED: Wainwright and Point Hope study data, grant proposal for radiographic examinations in Point Hope, Wainwright, Gambell, and Point Lay; Anaktuvuk Pass W.N. Irving’s study data and report; Health comparison data of Alaska Natives 1950-1968
2/5 Greenland languages notebook undated
2/6 Photographic copies of sketches created by V. Perfilieff, sent to Milan by Laurence Irving 1973
2/7 Notebook from trip to Scandinavia 1977
2/8 RESTRICTED: Anaktuvuk Pass bone/x-ray study 1958
2/9 RESTRICTED: Old Harbor, Kodiak Island skin folds study data 1958-1960
2/10 Draft grant proposals 1981-1982
2/11 St. Lawrence Island survival environment study 1963
2/12 Inupiaq: Inupiat language file, includes lecture and audio tape notes; Hymns in Inupiat undated, 1972
2/13 Sixth International Symposium on Circumpolar Health: Letters from potential participants, planning information, presentation abstracts 1983-1984
2/14 “Archaeological investigations at Karluk on Kodiak Island. March 10, 1953” by Frederick Milan; “Ethnographic sketches of the people of Russian America” by Heinr. Joh. Holmberg and translated by Milan; Karluk research and reading notes undated, 1953
2/15 Wainwright material culture circa 1955
2/16,

Oversize folder

Inari Lapps: “Demographic studies on the Inari Lapps in Finland with special reference to their geneaology” by Camilla von Bonsdorff, Johan Fellman, and Thord Lewin; “Marriage pattern of the Skolt Lapps in Northern Finald” by Thord Lewin; “Natality of the Skolt Lapps” by Thord Lewin, Hans W. Jurgens, W. Lehmann, and Jerzy Skrobak-Kaczynski; Annotated map [Note: the map was moved to the oversize folder] circa 1974
2/17 Lapp photos: Photographs of Sami, buildings, houses, and scenery undated, 1956
2/18,

Oversize folder

Lapp notes: Notes and articles on the Sami, reading lists, research, annotated map [Note: the map was moved to the oversize folder] 1954-1977
2/19 Anchorage annexation and migration data for 1960-1970; Inter-racial household list 1946-1974
2/20 1954 Arctic Aeromedical Laboratory Yukon River Expedition reports; “Observations of hypothermia and cold injury experiments carried out on humans in Dachau Concentration Camp” by D.R. Webster and W.J. Pirozynski with annotations; Arctic Aeromedical Nutritional Survey at Anaktuvuk Pass; “Oxygen consumption and body temperature of Eskimos during sleep” by Frederick Milan and Eugene Evonuk; “Some aspects of traditional medical cures among the Alaska Athabascans of the Yukon River Region” by Ginger A. Carroll 1954-1971
2/21 RESTRICTED: Arctic Aeromedical Laboratory physical examinations and clinical summary of Alaska Natives 1955-1956
2/22 Somatotypes-Health: Sami research and notes, Uralic languages notes undated
2/23 Greenland: Culture and health 1950-1983
2/24 Lapp fieldwork: Talma population data, field diary undated, 1956
2/25 Lappish customary law articles and notes undated
2/26 Nutrition of Alaska Natives in the Arctic: Research, notes, articles undated
2/27 Alaska Native language notes undated
2/28 Wainwright hand drawn village maps, language lists 1955
2/29 Old Harbor linguistic notes undated
2/30 Gambell filed notes, Inupiat word lists undated, 1956
2/31-32 Human Evolution course book and notes 1962
2/33 Lapp articles: Research and articles on the Sami undated, 1977
2/34 RESTRICTED: Wainwright x-ray study, data code sheets for Dotter [Dr. Charles Dotter] Eskimo Study 1956-1958
2/35 Notes on reindeer and genetics undated
2/36 RESTRICTED: 1966 Barrow census 1966, 1971
2/37 RESTRICTED: Cold exposure study data 1957
2/38 Pt. Hope genealogical record of Eskimo families Edna MacLean undated
2/39 Wainwright genealogical records of Eskimo families Edna MacLean undated
2/40 Health notes; Chart: Survival times in cold water with various combinations of clothing and equipment; Notes on Adélie Penguins undated
2/41 Correspondence with Alan Swedlund regarding life table for 328 Nubians calculations 1977
2/42 Pete Scholander seminar notes 1978
2/43 RESTRICTED: “Pedigree analysis of sucrose intolerance among Native Alaskans” by Robert Meier, Harold Draper, and Fred Milan. Includes photographs of cleft lip patients 1968, circa 1989
2/44 “Phylctenular eye disease in Alaska” undated
2/45,

Oversize folder

Trip to Sweden notes regarding reindeer herding, annotated map [Note: the map was moved to the oversize folder] 1977
2/46 Photographs and news clippings regarding Milan [Removed from album] circa 1947-1995
2/47 Wainwright photographs 1968
2/48 Draft: “Report on visits to three Alaska Pioneer’s homes: Sitka, Anchorage, and Palmer (9-12 June 1981)” by Frederick Milan 1981
2/49 Correspondence and articles regarding Milan’s life 1993, 1995
2/50 Photocopies of Milan’s degrees, awards, certificates; CV; Albrecht-Milan Foundation information undated, 1983-1995
2/51 “Evaluation of a Holistic Health Program at the Fairbanks’ Pioneers Home” by Fred Milan, P.O. Nice, and P. Tallas 1981
2/52 Notes on Emperor Penguin 1957
2/53 “My Memoirs” by Fred Milan undated
2/54 Albrecht-Milan Foundation: Mission, by-laws, Articles of Incorporation 1991
2/55 Notes: Cardiology undated
2/56 RESTRICTED: X-ray master list of Alaska patients 1955-1958
2/57 Cold water research; Articles related to Alaska Native and Sami physiology; High latitude land use policies; Subsistence in Alaska; undated, 1964-1981
2/58-61 Aerial photographs taken between Scott Point and Goon, Goon to NASA Nunavik to Point Barrow 1968
2/62 Photographs: Skiing undated
2/63 Photographs: Possibly Australia circa 1959
3/1-28 Photographic slides: filed by year 1943-1982
3/29 Photographic slides: groups and unidentified Undated
3/30 Photographic slides: Antarctica and New Zealand 1957-1958
3/31 Photographic slides: South America 1959
3/32 Numbered presentation slides Undated
3/33 Winter survival and insulated raft slides 1962-1966
3/34 Studies of survival in cold water presentation slides Undated
3/35 Frostbite slides Undated
3/36 Presentation slides Undated
3/37 Glass and presentation slides Undated
3/38 Lapps slides Undated
3/39 RESTRICTED: photographic slides Undated
4/1-3 Photographs of Wainwright 1968
4/4-17 Photographs of Wainwright, Barrow, and Point Hope study subjects undated, 1968
5/1 RESTRICTED: Medical information of subjects circa 1958
5/2 Inupiat word lists undated
5/3 Copies of American Field Service letters, membership certificates, appointment to Professor of Human Ecology and Anthropology at UAF, transcripts, participation in Mt. McKinley [Denali] rescues, aircraft repair bills undated
5/4 Copies of news clippings about Milan or in which Milan was mentioned, and photographs undated
5/5-9 Photographs and postcards: Boston; Milan family; Antarctica; Kotzebue, Wrangell, Juneau, Taku Glacier, Barter Island, Resolute Bay, Kaktovik, and other places in Alaska; cold water studies; New Zealand; skiing; Chile circa 1870-1980
6 Photographs, includes negatives of Wainwright, Barrow, and Point Hope study subjects and the Milan family undated
7 Eskimo study data IBM tabulations circa 1958
8 Glass plate negatives: Alaska Natives; Cold injury study photographs; Tests of life rafts etc. at Kodiak NS March 1966 [Title taken from negative box lid] 1957
9/1 1/4 inch audio reel: For Inupiaq Ukaluni (Mildred Leavitt & DH Webster). Recording of a man and woman speaking Inupiat, possibly reading from a children’s reader. undated
9/2 1/4 inch audio reels: Health, Disease & Behavior – The International Study of Eskimos. Session 2. Arranged by David Hughes; Chairman: F. Milan. Recording of conference presentations discussing the dentition growth statistics of various Eskimo groups (Dr. Dahlberg), the physical fitness and respiratory function of Wainwright Eskimos (Dr. D. Rennie), the cardiovascular health of Wainwright Eskimos (Dr. D. Rice), the growth of Wainwright Eskimo children (Dr. Paul L. Jamison), and the circadian and circannual rhythms in Wainwright Eskimos (Dr. J. Bohlen). 1969
9/3 1/4 inch audio reels: Health, Disease & Behavior – The International Study of Eskimos. Session 1. Arranged by David Hughes; Chairman: F. Milan. Recording of conference presentations discussing the heights and growth spurts of Eskimos, health reports on the residents of Igloolik and Hall Beach for the International Study of Eskimos (Dr. Jack Hildes), cultural impacts on Alaska Native dentition (Dr. John Mayhall), growth and development in the Iglulik people (Dr. Joann de Peña), and the physical working capacity of indigenous children (Dr. Kemper [?]). 1969
9/4 16mm film: PT Barrow Whole Body. Chlorimeter Eskimos, Hannon 1960. Silent film recording of Arctic Research Laboratory facility in Barrow, Alaska. Film depicts physical examinations of a test subject and a water immersion experiment. RESTRICTED: Identifiable human subject. 1960
9/5 16mm film: Arctic Aeromedical Lab, USAF, “Cold Case.” Silent film recording of a man in flight gear using survival equipment and building a shelter in the snow. The film also depicts the Arctic Aeromedical Laboratory facility and a researcher fitting a test subject with biometric equipment. RESTRICTED: Identifiable human subject. undated
9/6 16mm film: RAMS Nov. ’66. Silent film recording of four men collecting firewood, building a bonfire, and building snow huts on a frozen lake in a forest. 1966
9/7 16mm film: Pre-run & Tracking; Edited & print – Mukluks MPU 329-621 04/23/1965. Silent film recording depicting a man in an Air Force uniform fitting a test dummy with warm socks and boots labelled “Arctic Aero Medical Research Lab.” The dummy is then placed in a plane crash simulator, ejected into the air, and crash-landed using a parachute. 1965 April 23
9/8 16mm film: Vapor Barrier, Tracking & Post-run, Edited: Vapor Barrier Boots, 04/23/1965. Silent film recording depicting a man in an Air Force uniform fitting a test dummy with vapor barrier [bunny] boots labelled “Arctic Aeromedical Research Lab.” The dummy is then placed in a plane crash simulator, ejected into the air, and crash-landed using a parachute. 1965 April 23
9/9 16mm film: Cold Water Immersion, Raft in Cold Chamber. Silent film recording of two Air Force researchers fitting a test subject with biometric equipment and cold water survival gear. The subject is then placed in a pull with a raft and instructed to get in the raft and put on gloves. The researchers then remove the subject from the pool, remove his gear, and place him in another pool. RESTRICTED: Identifiable human subject. undated
9/10 16mm film: Building a Snow Hut, December 1964. Silent film recording of a man building a snow hut on a frozen lake. 1964 December
9/11 Audiocassette recording of lectures at the 6th International Symposium on Circumpolar Health. Dr. Frederick Milan serves as the Master of Ceremonies. Topics include the Hepatitis B virus, its relation to liver cancer, and its prevention (Dr. Baruch Blumberg); the relationship between the Alaska Public Health Association, University of Alaska Anchorage, Alaska Board of Consultants for Health and Social Services, and the U.S.S.R. (Dr. Lydia Novak, in Russian through a translator); the symposium’s opening (Dr. Wayne Meyers), the Public Health Service and the Alaska Native Council (Dr. Bernard Kelly and Dr. Faye Abdellah); Arctic health services research and delivery (Dr. John Robert Pugh); the relationship between Arctic health research and the environment (UA President Jay Barton II); the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (Dr. Dalee Sambo); and the Hepatitis B virus, its relation to liver cancer, and its prevention (Dr. Baruch Blumberg). 1984
9/12 Audiocassette recording of lectures at the 6th International Symposium on Circumpolar Health. Topics include the approaches of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland in engaging indigenous peoples in their oral healthcare (Dr. John T. Mayhall) and paleo-pathological investigations of 500-year-old Eskimo mummies (Dr. Hart Hanson). 1984
9/13 Audiocassette recording of lectures at the 6th International Symposium on Circumpolar Health. Dr. Brian McMahon and Dr. William Mills serve as hosts. Topics include persistent viral infections (Dr. Peter Skinholz [?]) and the human physiological capacity to adapt to temperature (Dr. Jacques LeBlanc). 1984
9/14 Audiocassette recording of a lecture at the 6th International Symposium on Circumpolar Health. Dr. Wayne Meyers acts as host. Topics include global population growth and its impact on health (Dr. Sripati Chandrasekhar) and the unique population research potentials in Iceland (Dr. Pedersdatter). 1984
9/15 Audiocassette recording of lectures at the 6th International Symposium on Circumpolar Health. Topics include recent research projects on clean water delivery and disposal in Alberta (unidentified speaker) and acculturation and mental health in circumpolar regions (Dr. John Barry). 1984
9/16 Audiocassette recording of lectures at the 6th International Symposium on Circumpolar Health. Peggy McMahon and Dr. Cindy Scherer act as hosts. Topics include descriptive and analytical epidemiology (unknown speaker); health care delivery options for remote patients (Dr. Sixton Haroldson [?]). 1984
9/17 Audiocassette recording of a lecture at the 6th International Symposium on Circumpolar Health. The lecture discusses public health issues in the U.S. and their relation to Arctic health associations (Dr. Victor Sidel). 1984
9/18 Audiocassette recording of a lecture at the 6th International Symposium on Circumpolar Health. The lecture discusses iron deficiency in Alaska Natives, its possible causes, and prevention (Dr. Leif Hallberg) and healthcare based in indigenous knowledge and the Spirit Movement started by traditional Inupiaq healer Della Keats, Nina Dahl, and Bertha Jennings in Kotzebue (unknown speaker). 1984
9/19 Audiocassette recording of a lecture at the 6th International Symposium on Circumpolar Health. Dr. Burns acts as host. Topics include the circumpolar health movement and Inuit health history (Dr. Otto Schaefer); health research in Siberia (Dr. Yuri Nikitin, in Russian through a translator); Arctic health research trends and challenges (Dr. Han Maurice [?]); and the coordination of health research in the Nordic countries (Dr. Per-Ola Granberg). 1984
9/20 Audiocassette recording of Milan’s travel diary on a trip to Barrow. Topics described include the flight from Fairbanks to join Ralph Eluska and Jerry Gilliland in Barrow; an interaction with John Aktovuk [?] on the plane; meeting Jacob Adams and other members of Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission; attending a church service led by Reverend Armstrong; visiting with Dan Saunders, the director of the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory, Charlie Edwards, a Hungarian named Otto,  an unknown family in Mr. Edwardsen’s house, and Ella and Josephine (hotel employees); the village’s response to whaling rights efforts; the high rates of white people and obesity in town; and how Inupiaq phrases sound on tape. 1980 February 17
9/21-26 Audiocassettes: Swedish language class undated
Box 10 RESTRICTED: Eskimo study index cards circa 1955-1960
Box 11 Index cards of Alaska Native study subjects circa 1955-1960
Map tubes 1-2 Genealogical charts, and maps of cemeteries, archaeological sites, and other areas undated
Oversize folder Hand-drawn map of Wainwright, Alaska 1969

 

Comments are closed.