AFFECTIONATE TLINGIT FAMILY LETTERS SENT TO A COUPLE WHO FOUNDED A SMALL MISSIONARY SCHOOL THAT WOULD BECOME THE SHELDON JACKSON COLLEGE. - "You and your wife was just like a father and mother to us so we mised you so much so much of the time. by Mr. and Mrs. (Thomas and Mattie) Cook and their daughter (Linnie) to Mr. & Mrs. Alonzo E. and Isabelle Austin - 1910

This lot consists of four different letters to the Austins, two from Mrs. Cook, one from Thomas Cook, and one from Mattie Cook. (Together, 11 pages of text) No mailing envelopes.

Alonzo and Isabelle Austin arrived in Sitka with their two children in 1879 and began teaching at a day school for white and Russian children. The following year, they reopened a Presbyterian mission school for Native Americans. Initially the school was located on the top floor of the military guard house but it eventually relocated to the old Russian hospital building. In 1881, another missionary-turned-business man, Sheldon Jackson, secured about 160 acres, probably by cashing in Civil War veteran land script, which he donated to the school, and by the end of 1882, Austin and his students had constructed classrooms and a boys' dormitory. A girls' dormitory was built in 1884, and by 1888 two hospitals, and three houses of the Cottages settlement for families had been erected. A flume for electricity, a carpentry shop, and agricultural fields were also established. The Cottages settlement was designed as a "model" community to house former students and their families in an "American" setting separate from their native villages while allowing Tlingit traditions and language to continue.

In time the school became the Sheldon Jackson College, the first institution of higher education in Alaska. Declining enrollment caused the college to close in 2007, and today the campus serves as host for the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, the Sitka Sound Science Center, the Sitka Summer Music Center, the Sitka Summer Music Festival, the Outer Coast College, and several other organizations.

These four letters, written to the Austins after they had returned to New York, are from a husband and wife who had attended the mission school and their daughter. Although containing some spelling and grammar errors, they are heartfelt, well written, and reflect a more than rudimentary mastery of English. They also repeatedly express the family's Christianity and their gratitude to the Austins:

"Now I will tell you about your people they are most of them are gone from this world. and those that are left, are trying hard to work for the Lord and most of them are using the text that you use to give them when you was here and they still remember how you use to preach to them. and do not expect that you Sitka friends will forget you. no. they think of you great deal. . .. We heard that you was sick we was awfully sorry indeed and all your friends ask God spair you life again. and now we are happy to hear that you are well again. . .."

"Now I will tell you about the work I use to go to my home to work. but I never go to Juneau. about three years now I never go to Chilcat I just work near Sitka and now I expecting to go out fishing again I was not been very well too ever since you left Sitka. every winter I would sick. and now I very strong. and now I will tell you about Linnie she is quite a big girl now taller then her mother she gose to school every day she,s in third reader and her sister Esther is in second reader but the younger one dont go to school yet till next year I only had three girls now. . .."

"Yes Dear Mother I never forget you and papa Austin sometimes I think of the good times I used to have when I was staying with you here ing Sitka. I cant tell how many of you girls and boys are living in a christian lives some of the are death now. . .. I tell you that Thomas is doing more work for his master Thomas is not very strong now some times he not able to do it Thomas is the president of the new covenant league society every frieday and Tuesday the society have meetings down the vallages and he is the church elder too. . .."

"Dear Mrs Austin Linnie is taller then I now but Esther is about big as I am now and Elizabeth is next to her I only have this three children I lost seven children four boys and three girls. When Esther and Elizabeth see the picture which you send to us they ask me whos picture I said you grandma and grandpa they only laught and I told them all about you I will now close my letter with many wishes to all. I am yours truly Daughter Mrs. M. Cook.".

Quite scarce. In 2018, I sold a similar small archive of Tlingit letters to the Austins. At the time of this listing, no other correspondence between Tlinglit tribe members and any former Sitka missionaries (much less the founders of the Sitka mission school that became Sheldon Jackson College) are for sale in the trade; neither has any appeared at auction per the Rare Book Hub Records; nor is any held by institutions per OCLC. However, a microform collection of the early Sitka missionary, Sheldon Jackson, is available at the University of Alaska, the Alaska Historical Society, and two other institutions.