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HANS AND MARGARET HAFEMEISTER. Papers; 1943-1995. 2 cu. ft. Inventory.
Hans Hafemeister was born July 24, 1894, in Germany. At the age of 12 or 13 he left Germany and joined the Merchant Marine, coming to America in 1914. In 1919, he came to Alaska and worked as a machinist at a Juneau gold mine. During World War II he was employed by the Army Corps of Engineers on Kiska in the Aleutian Islands. Married once before and widowed, he married again in 1946. He and his wife, Margaret, moved to Seward in 1948, where they lived until 1983. While in Seward, Hans Hafemeister worked as a machinist and heavy mechanic and served on the Seward City Council (1960-1961). He retired in 1963. Margaret Pielage Hafemeister came to Alaska from New Jersey in late 1944 to work for the Territorial Department of Public Welfare as the Welfare Representative for District III, which included the Matanuska Valley, Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula, Kodiak, the Alaska Peninsula, and the Aleutian Chain. In 1948, she resigned her position to move to Seward. In 1951, Margaret Hafemeister became the first Welfare Representative in the newly opened Kenai Peninsula District Office of the Territorial Department of Public Welfare, a position she held until her retirement in 1972. Margaret Hafemeister died in Anchorage in 1995.
The collection is divided into two parts. The first part consists of Hans Hafemeister's diaries for the years 1943, 1950, and 1952-1979, along with his obituary and death certificate. The diaries concern his experiences on the Aleutian Island of Kiska during World War II, his life in Seward, and his travels. The second part consists of Margaret Hafemeister's papers, three reels of 16mm color motion picture film, and related video cassette tapes. The papers consist of biographical materials including an autobiographical account (with photographs) of her trip to Alaska in 1944 and her activities as a social worker in the state; papers relating to her work in Seward following the 1964 Earthquake; miscellaneous papers; and a reminiscence of her 1947 trip aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Wachusetts to coastal villages in southern Alaska as a social worker. The motion picture film was taken by Margaret Hafemeister during her 1947 trip and includes views of various coastal and island towns and villages in Southern Alaska, the Pribilof Islands, the Aleutian Islands, and Prince William Sound.
The collection was presented to the archives by Margaret Hafemeister in 1984. Additional materials were acquired in 1985, 1989, 1995 and 2003. A deed of gift was signed in 1986.
HMC-0126
JAS (12/2004)