The Richard Harris family portrait is an interesting example of how captioning might lead a viewer astray as to the familial relationships displayed. The original caption written on the back of this photograph reads “R. T. Harris and family, 1889.” But is it Richard Harris’s family? Not everyone in the portrait is related to him: one of the women is his wife, the other is her sister. Perhaps the family relationship should be captioned: “Kitty Harris and family, 1889.”
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Juneau, 1889. Kitty Harris, her husband Richard Tighe Harris, her sister Jennie Starr,
and Kitty’s two sons, William J. and Richard T. Jr. pose for this family portrait in
front of their home . Kitty, a Tlingit, grew up in Hoonah.
[Richard Tighe Harris Family papers, HMC-0131]
All photographs taken from the holdings of the
UAA/APU Consortium
Library’s Archives and Special Collections Department.
© 2005
Consortium Library
University of Alaska Anchorage
3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, AK 99508.