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CHARLES S. HARVARD. Papers; 1901, 1906, 1909-1971, 1975. 4.3 cu. ft. Inventory.
Charles Seaton Harvard was born on October 28, 1892, in Medway Station, Hamilton County, Kansas to Daniel Earl Harvard and Emma Thompson Hughes. Between 1911 and 1912, he worked as a computer for Bixby and White in Los Angeles. His railroad career began in 1912 when he was employed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company as an engineer where he worked until joining the Merchant Marine. Mr. Harvard served on the Crissfield, the Valdez, the Alice Cooke, the Explorer, the Burnside and other ships sailing to various ports in the Pacific. He became a certified lifeboat man and able seaman. By 1928, Mr. Harvard moved from his home in Seattle, Washington to Anchorage, Alaska. From 1934 to 1945 he was employed as engineer on construction for the Alaska Railroad where he achieved the rank of Resident Engineer in Alaska. After retiring from the railroad, Mr. Harvard pursued his interests in elevations and tides in the Anchorage area. During the late 1950s through the early 1970s, Mr. Harvard attended classes at Anchorage Community College where he earned his high school equivalency in 1962 at the age of 69. Mr. Harvard continued to live in Alaska until his death in the Anchorage Extended Care Facility on November 16, 1979. Mr. Harvard was 87.
This collection contains biographic materials; correspondence; ledger and field books containing Mr. Harvard's railroad and tide notes, diagrams and maps of Anchorage, and tables of mathematical functions; maps from the Alaska Railroad; a series dedicated to Harvard's hobbies including the Anchorage Platting Board, the Anchorage Mapping and Surveying Conference, engineering, and the tides; notes and homework from his courses at Anchorage Community College; and a sample of Harvard's large collection of publications relating to engineering, the tides, railroad construction, mining, measurement systems and surveying.
The collection was presented to the archives by Joe L. Hayes in 1994. A deed of gift was signed in 1995. Additional materials were presented to the archives by Alice Chase, trustee of the Marilynn S. Barks Estate, in 2005.
HMC-0425
JAS (8/2005)