Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Alaska Bureau

On 17 Apr. 1882, twenty-six leading Seattle citizens and businessmen organized the Seattle Chamber of Commerce with the intent of protecting local interests. The Chamber initially focused its efforts on the fight to obtain rail facilities for Seattle, but reorganized in 1910 to broaden its scope, taking the name "New Seattle Chamber of Commerce." Among the goals of the new Chamber, addressed by its various committees, were "to promote the growth and development of the State of Washington, the territory of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest." The new Chamber installed several new bureaus; its Board of Trustees unanimously adopted the resolution creating the Alaska Bureau, introduced by the committee on Alaskan affairs, on 7 Nov. 1911. According to the text of the resolution, signed by Bureau chairman J.E. Chilberg, the purpose of the Bureau was the "encouragement and promotion of the development of Alaska," by working for legislation and appropriations to improve the land and water transportation facilities of Alaska, as well as to "disseminate the truth about Alaska" in order to promote the territory's development. To this end, the bureau created promotional materials, including albums and exhibits. One such exhibit, in 1913, highlighting Alaska's resources, was shipped by the Alaska Bureau to Washington to be installed in connection with an educational campaign carried on in the interest of pending legislation for railroad construction by the government. The Alaska Bureau seems to have been disbanded in the early 1920s, though the Chamber's Alaska Committee continued to function, and is still part of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce today. The Bureau was chaired by a number of individuals over the years, including Scott Cordell Bone, (circa 1913-1915), who became the tenth Territorial Governor of Alaska (1921-1925).

From the description of Alaska Bureau photograph albums, 1897-1925. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 154690981

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