My Photo

"My Photo" is much more interesting than my own mug. It's William West Kirkby, the first Anglican missionary to reach the Yukon Territory (in 1859). He was from Lincolnshire and studied at Oxford. In 1861 Kirkby and two Canadian Indian guides canoed down the Mackenzie River, north toward the Arctic Ocean, then up the Peel River to Fort McPherson, and finally west via the Porcupine River to the Hudson's Bay Company post at Fort Yukon. In 1861 Fort Yukon was in Russian America. In 1867 Alaska (Russian America) was sold to the United States and later Fort Yukon was determined to be in Alaska and the Hudson's Bay Company was asked to leave. This CDV of Kirkby in his arctic outfit is one of my prized cartes. To have a CDV of a man who was on the Yukon River in 1861 in Russian America is quite exciting. I collect early photography that pertains to Alaska, especially cartes de visite and stereoviews. Here is a link to the back of the Kirkby carte:http://homepage.mac.com/alaskana/AHBWP/WilliamWestKirkbyCDVback.jpgDick Wood, Juneau, Alaska.
E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of British Photographic History to add comments!

Join British Photographic History

Blog Topics by Tags

Monthly Archives