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J. CHESTER "CHET" GORDON (1909-2003). Boys' Club of Alaska Papers; 1967-1981. .6 cu. ft. List.
James Chester "Chet" Gordon was born in Lacrosse, Washington, in 1909. He graduated from Washington State University with a degree in English literature. He married Josephine Phillippay in 1932. Gordon farmed in the Palouse area of Washington, and served in the Washington House of Representatives for more than ten years. In 1956, he moved with his family to Alaska, where they owned and managed radio stations in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Homer. Gordon was a founder and president of the Boys' Club of Alaska, in which he was active until 1979. In 1978, he received a Gold Pan award for community service from the Alaska Chamber of Commerce. He also collected railroad spikes, telegraph insulators and bottles, and wrote for Crown Jewels, a national magazine for insulator collectors. Chet Gordon died in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2003.
The collection consists of J. Chester Gordon's papers relating to the Boys' Club of Alaska. The collection contains correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, reports, lists, financial records, newsletters, sports programs and schedules, photographs, scrapbooks, and other related papers. There are eight black and white photographs, primarily of Chet Gordon and other supporters of the Boys' Club of Alaska. The two scrapbooks, containing newspaper clippings, photographs, a few letters, and sports programs, concern the Babe Ruth Baseball League (1972), and the Boys' Club of Alaska (1971-1973).
The collection was presented to the archives by Caroline Bolar in 2002.
HMC-0588
JAS (10/2004)