During the summer of 1941, J. Malcolm Greany traveled to the Aleutian Islands National Wildlife Refuge aboard the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service boat Brown Bear. As a wildlife photographer for the Alaska Game Commission, Greany was along to photograph the populations of colonial nesting birds, marine mammals, and other wildlife indigenous to the Aleutian Islands and their adjacent waters. The westernmost Aleutian Island visited on the journey was Attu, where, in addition to photographing wildlife, Greany photographed the local people, their homes, church, and baskets. Less than a year later, in June of 1942, the people of Attu were captured by Japanese invading forces, shipped to Japan, and interned for the duration of the war. 22 individuals from Attu did not survive their imprisonment in Japan. The 25 survivors were resettled in Atka; a community was never re-established on Attu. The photographs and notes in this collection document the last days of the Attuans.
From the description of J. Malcolm Greany papers and photographs, Aleutian Islands, 1941. (Alaska State Library). WorldCat record id: 489137033
