Artifact of the Month: July 2017

Treasured Memories from a Ketchikan Summer

In July of 1939, Marjorie Cleora Miller, then sixteen years old, departed Seattle by steamship bound for Ketchikan. Her uncle Richard Casper, who was stationed here with the United States Coast Guard, invited Marjorie and her brother Robert to spend the summer with him and his family at their home on Miller Street. Uncle Dick arranged for Robert to travel north aboard a Coast Guard vessel while Marjorie traveled on the SS Alaska.

The sail to Ketchikan was the first time Marjorie had ever been on a ship. She documented this new and exciting experience in a scrapbook and saved mementos from the trip. These treasured items included ticket stubs, menus, a passenger roster, and a bread plate from the Alaska Steamship Company. In 2016, Marjorie's daughter donated the plate to Ketchikan Museums. Growing up she remembered seeing the plate in her family's kitchen cupboard.

Marjorie and her brother Robert returned to Seattle aboard the SS Baranof in late August. In 1945, Marjorie married and moved to California, where she lived until her death in 2006. Marjorie confided to her daughter that her summer in Ketchikan was a highlight of her life.

Ketchikan Museums, KM 2016.2.22.1