LOMEN BROTHERS.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Scenes from the Northland. Nome, Alaska. A photo album depicting the early settlement of the city of Nome. The home of the Iñupiat people, Nome experienced a gold rush in 1898, leading to its incorporation in 1901. The photographs depict landmarks of the town along with three images of indigenous people. "The Lomens documented Arctic life of the first few decades of the twentieth century" (McMichael). Gudbrand Lomen and his son Carl first came to Nome from Minnesota during the Gold Rush. They soon established a law practice and lighting, furnishing, and retail businesses. After the rest of the family joined them, Carl and his brothers Ralph, Harry, and Alfred established the photography studio in 1908. On its establishment, they purchased the negatives of the other photographers in Nome, Dobbs - Nowell, Goetze, and Kinne - which they re-issued alongside their own photographs, mostly taken by Alfred. The studio also took commercial portraits of residents and sold souvenirs, such as this album. It was destroyed in the 1934 Nome fire, resulting in the loss of 30,000 negatives and 50,000 prints. Many of the surviving negatives are held at the National Museum of the American Indian and the University of Washington.The subjects of these photographs include Front Street - the site of the bakery, coffee house, and dentist - the dock, and the SS Senator in an ice pack at sea. The Lomen Brothers studio is itself shown in a view "looking west from Barrack's square". The three photograph

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