Alaska Archeological Expeditions
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Hrdlička, Aleš, 1869-1943
setName: label: See more items in
content: Aleš Hrdlička papers
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 4.75 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1912-1938
label: Date
content: bulk 1926-1938
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.1974-31, Series 9
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Titles in quotation marks are Hrdlička's own.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: This series includes diaries, correspondence, notes, maps, anthropometric and osteometric measurements, reprints, manuscripts, and printed material related to fieldwork done in Alaska by Hrdlička and others. Of special interest is the material collected by Riley Moore on his 1912 trip to St. Lawrence Island for the Panama-California Exposition. Hrdlička made ten trips to Alaska between 1926 and 1938. On the first trip, sponsored by the Bureau of American Ethnology, he was to conduct an anthropological and archeological survey of Alaska. Other commitments kept Hrdlička from returning until 1929 when he again was sponsored by the B.A.E.; Hrdlička's purpose on this trip, as it would be on future trips, was to learn as much as possible about the Indians and Eskimos (including anthropometric measurements), to trace old settlements and migration paths, and to collect important skeletal and archeological material. In the summer of 1930, Hrdlička made two trips along the Kuskokwim River and in 1931, his work extended to the Nushagak River, the Molchatna River, the Wood River, Bristol Bay, the Kvichak River, parts of the Iliamna Lake region, and Uyak Bay of Kodiak Island. It was at this later stop that Hrdlička discovered the Jones Point (also referred to as Our Point) site in Uyak Bay. Hrdlička was aided on this trip by B.R. Hart and Gordon Jones of the Alaska Packers Association; A.W. Shiels, F. Daly, A.D. Daly, and A.S. Foster of the Pacific American Fisheries; and Laura Jones, Gordon's wife. Hrdlička retured to the Jones Point site in 1932, 1934, 1935, and for most of 1936. Besides excavating there in 1932, Hrdlička performed trial excavations at Chief's Point and other sites, and an archeological survey of Kodiak Island. He was aided again by B.R. Hart and Gordon and Laura Jones. Hrdlička returned in 1934 with a volunteer student crew, receiving in addition the help of Hart and the Joneses. That year Hrdlička added a brief Survey of the Cooks Inlet region and the mainland opposite Kodiak Island at Jones Point. The 1935 work was done exclusively at Jones Point. Hrdlička was helped again by Gordon Jones and a crew of volunteer professors and students. Four volunteers, in addition to the Joneses, accompanied Hrdlička in 1936. Excavations were carried out at Jones Point until late June. The remainder of 1936 was spent excavating at Dutch Harbor and Unalaska Island; on Atka, Kiska, Attu, Little Kiska, and Large Kiska islands; and in a mummy cave of Kagamil Island in the Four Mountain Group. Hrdlička concentrated on the Aleutian Islands and the Commander Islands for his Alaska expeditions in 1937 and 1938. In 1937 with six volunteer students, Hrdlička explored Unalaska Island and the Four Mountain Group, Attu Island, the Commander Islands, Agatu Island, Tanaga Island, Ilak Island, Adak Island, Umnak Island, and Shiprock Island. For the 1938 trip, Hrdlička purposed to collect data on pre-Aleut people, to determine if the Commander Islands served as a second land bridge, and to re-examine the burial caves and search for other such caves. He took several student volunteers. Exploration was carried out on Shiprock Island, Sviechnikov Harbor on Amlia Island, Ilak Island, Amchitka Island, Umnak Island (Nikolski village), the Commander Islands (Sarania Bay and Korabelni Bay), the Four Mountain Group, Bogoslav Island, and Amoknak Island.

See Series 37: Photographs, "Alaska Field Views" for additional materials, including illustrations used in Hrdlička's publications on Alaska. See Series 3: Correspondence,  "Alaskan Reports", "Botsford, James W.", "Cary, Francis", "Cowper, Harold W., Jr.", "Erskine, John", "Erstein, Richard", "Hart, B.R.", "Jones, Gordon and Laura", "Parkes, George A." (Governor of Alaska), and "WI-WIL" for Edwin W. Wicht for letters about the Alaska expeditions. See Series 3: Correspondence, "Barton, Joe", "Bell, Earl H.", "Connor, Sydney",  "Corner, George",  "Gebhardt, Paul",  "Guggenheim, Paul",  "Heizer, Robert F.", "Laughlin, William S.", "MacRae, Thurman", "May, Alan G.", "McKee, Charles Bradford", "Osborne, Matthew F. Maury", "Seashore, Stanley E.", "Seib, George A.", "Weber, Tom", "Wineman, Walter",  "Zarbell, Ivar H.", and "Zickefoose, Harold E." for correspondence with Hrdlička's volunteer professors and students. A map of Norton Sound and Seward Peninsula sites is in the  Henry Bascom Collins papers.