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MICHAEL A. HEALY. Papers; 1865-1895. 3 reels, microfilm. Inventory.
Michael A. Healy was an officer in the United States Revenue Cutter Service. He joined the service in 1865 and often served in Alaskan waters between 1882 and 1893. In 1882, he was on board the steamer Thomas Corwin and later on the cutter Bear. Among the places he visited were Unalaska, St. Michael, Point Barrow, San Francisco, Sitka, Point Hope, Port Townsend, St. George Island, Kotzebue, and Siberia.
This collection was acquired from two different sources. The first group of papers on the first reel of microfilm was acquired from the Stranton Library of Sheldon Jackson College, Sitka. It contains Healy's oath of office; 14 letters and reports which he sent mainly to the Secretary of the Treasury; 52 letters, receipts and other documents, which he received from various people including the Secretary of the Treasury, the U.S. Commissioner at Unalaska, the U.S. Marshal at Sitka; and records of vessels boarded by the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service and British vessels. The second and third reels of microfilm were acquired from the Huntington Library, California. The second reel contains the diary and notes of Healy's adopted son, Fred Healy, kept during his voyage in the Aleutian Islands with his father in 1883; Michael Healy's letter book containing correspondence with various Treasury Department and Revenue Cutter Service officials, 1885-1887; a testimony to Captain Healy from the masters and owners of the North Pacific Whaling Fleet, 1889; letters of testimony and commendation from various sources concerning his rescue work in the arctic; miscellaneous certificates; his scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings, articles and reports concerning himself and Alaska. The last reel contains photographs of ships and crews in Alaska and Alaskan coastal villages. They primarily date from 1881-1886.
The first reel in this collection was filmed by the Alaska State Library from original materials in the Stranton Library of Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, Alaska. It was acquired by the UAA Library in 1980 and deposited in the Archives and Manuscripts Department that same year. Additional materials were acquired by the Archives and Special Collections Department from the Huntington Library, California, in 1985.
HMC-0134