+----------------------------+------------------+---+-------------------+
| National Park Service      | Alaska Regional  |   | 240 W. 5th Avenue |
|                            | Office           |   |                   |
| U.S. Department of the     |                  |   | Anchorage, AK     |
| Interior                   | Use the complete |   | 99501             |
|                            | site name here   |   |                   |
|                            | (e.g. Palo Alto  |   | 907-644-3512      |
|                            | Battlefield      |   |                   |
|                            | Historic Site).  |   | 907-644-3816 fax  |
+----------------------------+------------------+---+-------------------+

![](media/image1.png){width="0.5597222222222222in"
height="0.7201388888888889in"}

**Alaska National Parks** News Release

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  Use a "short-hand" version of the site name here (e.g. Palo Alto
  Battlefield not Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Site).

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> April 26, 2007
>
> Collection Features Klondike Gold Rush, Skagway History
>
> An extraordinary, one of a kind collection of artifacts encompassing
> the Klondike Gold Rush and early 20^th^ Century life in historic
> Skagway will be protected and made available for public viewing and
> research through the collaboration of the owner and four Alaska
> partner organizations.
>
> The George and Edna Rapuzzi Collection, which was started a century
> ago by a Klondike Gold Rush stampeder, was purchased this week for \$1
> million by the Rasmuson Foundation. The Foundation will develop a plan
> to distribute the collection to the City of Skagway, the Alaska
> Natural History Association, and the National Park Service.
>
> The collection, which includes an estimated 450,000 items and five
> historic buildings, was started by Martin Itjen, a stampeder who later
> led Skagway's developing tourist trade. His longtime friend, George
> Rapuzzi, was a tourism promoter and tour guide, as well as a
> consummate collector in his own right. Together their collections came
> to be owned by Phyllis Brown, Rapuzzi's niece, who sold it this week.
>
> "This is an amazing accumulation of Alaska's history," said Klondike
> Gold Rush National Historical Park Superintendent Jim Corless. "The
> generous support of the Rasmuson Foundation is providing a fabulous
> opportunity to share with both visitors and Alaskans an important part
> of our nation's history through authentic objects in their original
> location."
>
> Among the stunning number of items in the collection are these:

-   The 1897 parlor that belonged to the famed Jefferson \"Soapy" Smith.
    After the gunfight which caused his death in 1898, the saloon became
    a restaurant and then the home of the Skagway Hook and Ladder
    Company. Martin Itjen acquired the building around 1935, remodeled
    it, and re-opened it as Jeff Smith's Parlor Museum. This landmark
    structure retains much of its 1898 appearance as Soapy Smith's
    headquarters.

-   The 1900 YMCA Gymnasium and Reading Room and Meyers Meat Market
    complex, later used as an automotive garage and still holding many
    automotive artifacts from the 1930s.

-   Martin Itjen's famous "Skagway Streetcar," a home-converted 1906
    Packard, used in early Skagway tours and still emblazoned with his
    marketing slogan "Nothing Like It In the World;"

-   The original silk banner of the Arctic Brotherhood, formed in 1899
    by stampeders to provide mutual assistance, friendship, and social
    interaction in the northern communities. The Arctic Brotherhood Hall
    is owned by the City of Skagway, now operating as visitor center for
    Skagway's 900,000 visitors each year.

-   Numerous objects representing Native Alaskan stories including
    Tlingit carvings and baskets and a unique "Native Packers for Hire"
    sign from the gold rush. The collection also holds scores of
    photographs, hotel registers and ship manifests that add depth,
    texture, and personality to the story already told by Skagway\'s
    historic architecture.

> The collection will be managed by the three Skagway partners, with a
> comprehensive inventory being the group's first priority. The plan is
> that the National Park Service, which has orchestrated the partners'
> purchase from Ms. Brown, will preserve and display items related to
> the Gold Rush era. The City of Skagway is contributing \$100,000
> toward the purchase, and will add to its museum collection those items
> that tell other city stories, including those of Native Alaskans,
> tourism, and its port. The Alaska Natural History Association will
> restore the Collection's World War II Commissary building and focus
> its Skagway operations there and partner with the City in exhibiting
> Skagway's WWII history.
>
> The Rasmuson Foundation was founded in 1955 to support projects of
> lasting impact for the public benefit of all Alaskans.