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HARRY W. AND NORMA J. HOYT FAMILY. Papers; 1908-1989. 3 cu. ft. Inventory.
Harry William Hoyt was born in Rochester, New York, in 1897. He came to Alaska in 1907 with his parents, Charles and Kitty Hoyt, and brother Raymond Hoyt. His family owned and operated the Gulkana Road House on the Richardson Highway. He worked as a master mechanic for the Alaska Road Commission from 1917 to 1936. He married Norma Jordet in 1934, and they had one son, Harold W. Hoyt, born in 1939. The couple moved to Anchorage in 1936, where they owned and operated Hoyt Motor Company until 1962. Harry Hoyt was also an active member of the local Anchorage Masons, Shriners and Elks clubs. He died in Fairbanks in 1977. Norma Jordet Hoyt was born in Mayville, North Dakota, in 1901. She graduated from Mayville State Teacher's College and taught in Nome, North Dakota, before moving to Fairbanks in 1931 to teach second grade. For three years she taught school in the winters and worked at Mount McKinley National Park in the summers before her marriage. After moving to Anchorage, she worked for ten years at Hoyt Motor Company. Norma Hoyt traveled the world extensively and was an avid collector, amassing a large collection of Alaskana books, which she donated to the Loussac Public Library. Her public service activities included representing Alaska on the National Trust for Historical Preservation, membership on the Anchorage Fine Arts Commission, and service as a trustee of Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka. Norma Hoyt died in Anchorage in 1989.
The collection consists of the family papers and photographs of the Harry and Norma Hoyt Family. The collection contains: Norma Hoyt's letters, biographical materials, and miscellaneous family papers (1930-1989); Norma Hoyt's journals (1932-1987); 1496 black and white photographs (1908-1943); 65 tourist photo post cards; and 2,322 color photographic slides (1938-1983). Norma Hoyt's letters include those she wrote to family from Fairbanks and Mount McKinley National Parks, and later during some of her many travels. Included with the photographs are xerographic copies of several original family photograph albums. Subjects of the photographs include: the Hoyt and Jordet families; the Gulkana Road House, the fox farm there, and area scenery; a potato farm in Gakona; fur trappers; wildlife and hunting; early automobiles; Valdez; Fairbanks; Mount McKinley National Park; Will Rogers and Wiley Post in Anchorage (Aug. 1935); Anchorage; and Hoyt Motor Company. Subjects of the color slides include: the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous; Alaskan highways; the villages of Point Hope, Kiana, Huslia, St. Paul, Wainwright, and Wales in western Alaska; King's Lake Camp in Wasilla; Sitka and Sheldon Jackson College; the 1964 Alaska Earthquake in Anchorage; Korea; and various national parks and monuments.
The collection was presented to the archives by Harold W. Hoyt in 2007. A deed of gift was signed in 2007.
JAS (1/2008)