The papers of Mart Albert Howard, 1855-1926, consists of the correspondence, diaries, bills and receipts, legal documents and photographs which Howard, a Webster, Massachusetts, businessman, retained from his experience as a gold miner in the Klondike gold rush of 1897. Approximately two thirds of the collection are photographs taken by Howard or purchased from other Alaskan and Canadian photographers.
Most photographs are glass-mounted transparencies.
The Howard Papers were acquired by the Washington State University Library in 1958 from Howard's daughter in law, Mrs. Louis O. Howard. A preliminary register of the collection was prepared by Mary Avery in 1959. The papers were processed in 1973 by Lawrence R. Stark. He left from home in October of that year, taking a train to Portland, then on to Seattle where he outfitted for a trip to Alaska. Leaving Seattle in January 1898, he traveled north via coastal steamer to dyea, then across Chilkoot Pass and along inland waterways to his eventual destination at Dawson, Yukon Territory.