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Alaska's daughter: an Eskimo memoir of the early twentieth century

Date

2004

Authors

Pinson, Elizabeth Bernhardt, author
Utah State University Press, publisher

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Abstract

Elizabeth B. Pinson shares with us her memories of Alaska's emergence into a new and modern era, bearing witness to history in the early twentieth century as she recalls it. She draws us into her world as a young girl of mixed ethnicity, with a mother whose Eskimo family had resided on the Seward Peninsula for generations and a father of German heritage. Growing up in and near the tiny village of Teller on the Bering Strait, Elizabeth at the age of six, despite a harrowing, long midwinter sled ride to rescue her, lost both her legs to frostbite when her grandparents, with whom she was spending the winter in their traditional Eskimo home, died in the 1918 influenza epidemic. Fitted with artificial legs financed by an eastern benefactor, Elizabeth kept journals of her struggles, triumphs, and adventures, recording her impressions of the changing world around her and experiences with the motley characters she met. These included Roald Amundsen, whose dirigible landed in Teller after crossing the Arctic Circle the ill-fated 1921 British colonists of Wrangel Island in the Arctic trading ship captains and crews prospectors doomed aviators and native reindeer herders. Elizabeth moved on to boarding school, marriage, and the state of Washington, where she compiled her records into this memoir and where, at age ninety-two, she now lives.--Provided by publisher.

Description

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Rights Access

Access is limited to the Adams State University, Colorado State University, Colorado State University Pueblo, Community College of Denver, Fort Lewis College, Metropolitan State University Denver, Regis University, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, University of Denver, University of Northern Colorado, University of Wyoming, Utah State University and Western Colorado University communities only.

Subject

Inupiat women -- Alaska -- Teller -- Biography
Inupiat women -- Alaska -- Teller -- Social conditions
Inupiat -- Alaska -- Teller -- Social life and customs
Teller (Alaska) -- History
Teller (Alaska) -- Social life and customs
Pinson, Elizabeth Bernhardt, 1912-

Citation

Associated Publications