UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER. “How the Octopus Was Caught” from “Harriman Alaska Expedition: Chronicles and Souvenirs.” Harriman Alaska Expedition. May to August 1899

This page is from the private souvenir album created collectively by the members of the scientific expedition along the Alaskan coast, funded and accompanied by railroad magnate Edward H. Harriman in the summer of 1899. The album includes maps, photographs, paintings, poems, song lyrics, and prose, reflecting participants’ experience of the beauty of the scenery, their perceptions of wildlife, of Native peoples and customs, their scientific field observations, interpersonal relationships, and patriotic celebrations on the Fourth of July.