John Q. Lovell Photograph Album Regarding the USS Thetis
John Q. Lovell took the majority of these photographs while the USS Thetis (a three-masted steam whaler built in 1884) was serving as a revenue cutter in 1899. During this time, the ship and the crew were assigned to transport reindeer to Alaska as part of a project undertaken by the Revenue Cutter Service and the Department of the Interior to help the Indigenous people of the area learn to herd animals for food rather than rely on the traditional hunt. The images depict such subjects as the Thetis and the crew, the headlands of Sitka harbor, views in Sitka, views on board ship, views at sea, Indigenous peoples, and a Russian Orthodox church. Other images show the Thetis before its 1887 departure from New York for San Francisco.
Dates
- 1887, 1899
Conditions Governing Access
Collections are stored offsite and must be requested in advance. See www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.
Conditions Governing Use
The UT Libraries claims only physical ownership of most material in the collections. Persons wishing to broadcast or publish this material must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants on www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.
Extent
0.1 Linear Feet (1 small flat box)
Abstract
John Q. Lovell took the majority of these photographs while the USS Thetis (a three-masted steam whaler built in 1884) was serving as a revenue cutter in 1899. During this time, the ship and the crew were assigned to transport reindeer to Alaska as part of a project undertaken by the Revenue Cutter Service and the Department of the Interior to help the Indigenous people of the area learn to herd animals for food rather than rely on the traditional hunt. The images depict such subjects as the Thetis and the crew, the headlands of Sitka harbor, views in Sitka, views on board ship, views at sea, Indigenous peoples, and a Russian Orthodox church. Other images show the Thetis before its 1887 departure from New York for San Francisco.
Biographical/Historical Note
John Quitman Lovell was born to William Storrow and T. Antonia (Quitman) Lovell in Natchez, Mississippi in 1859. He married Anne Campbell Gordon (1865-1933) in Baltimore, Maryland in 1891 and the couple had one son who lived to adulthood, Douglas Gordon (1895-1976). John Lovell served in the U. S. Navy as a paymaster and later as a sailor on the USS Thetis. Lovell died on July 14, 1930 in Maryland and is buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore.
Arrangement
This collection consists of a single box.
Repository Details
Part of the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Repository