Capturing Time

Con Giebel (1889-1965)
        Photographer

Cornelius Edmund Giebel, known as Con, lived in this area for more than fifty years. Our knowledge about him comes primarily from records and newspaper clippings. He was born to German immigrant parents in Sacramento in 1878. He was a hotel clerk in San Francisco in 1900. He was married twice in Ketchikan. He owned, and was postmaster of, the store in Loring. In 1965, at the age of eighty-six, he drowned while boarding his skiff to come to town.

Other facets can be surmised from his work. He participated in the Spanish-American War in the Philippines. He was in San Francisco following the earthquake of 1906, and may have lived through the actual event. He came to Alaska in 1908 as a crewman on a square-rigged sailing ship. He was an avid gardener, hunter, and fisher who loved the company of friends and family.

Mr. Giebel's work, as seen here, imparts the spirits of the people around him. Cannery workers, fishermen, neighbors reveal themselves before Mr. Giebel's camera as he uniquely documents a way of life.

Additional photographers featured in this exhibit

• Harriet Elizabeth Hunt (1865-1934)
  
• Benjamin Alfred Haldane (1874-1941)
  
• David Nicoll (1877-1937)
  
• Alfred Milotte (1904-1989)
  
• Otto C. Schallerer (1884-1968)
  
• Hall Anderson (1949- )
  
• Paulu T. Saari (1919-2011)