Introduction

Introduction

Village of Rampart, circa 1937.

Photo by Bill Roberts. Courtesy of Barbara Nelson

Rampart started out as a gathering place for the Indians to fish and hunt. They settled on the North and South side of the Yukon River. John Minook discovered gold on Minook Creek in 1894. Then the miners came and started a town on the South side of the river across from the Indian village at Minook Creek.

In 1988 my grandmother, Antoinette Mayo Roberts Woods, gave me her photo collection. The following pictures were taken from her collection. Her mother Margaret Mayo gave her some of the photos and the rest of the photos relatives and friends sent to her. The collection consists of over 1200 photos dating from the late 1800's to the late 1900's. I chose the following pictures because of their historical significance. Over the years, while talking to the elders about the identity of the photos I started to collect stories about these photos. I also recorded some of the elders talking about the photos and reminiscing about the good old days. I have included some of these stories and recordings into this project.

Barbara Roberts Nelson, Fairbanks, 1995

Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge the following elders: Kitty Mayo Evans, Sally Woods Evans Hudson, William "Bill" Roberts, Alice Bergman Carroll, Catherine "Kay" Roberts, Ellen Roberts, Henry Wiehl, Sr., Toddy Kozevnikoff, Lester Erhart, Florence Mayo Muir, and Dan Wiehl. Also, the written notes, diaries and letters from: Antoinette Mayo Roberts Woods, Martha Mayo Craig, Selima Mayo Totty, Bill Roberts, John Roberts, Kay Roberts, and Beth Bergman Johnson Inman.

Antoinette Mayo Roberts Woods

Fairbanks, 1946

Courtesy of Barbara Nelson

Project Background

This project was done as part of a Project Jukebox internship Barbara Nelson completed at the Oral History Office, Alaska and Polar Regions Department, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks. The funds for this project were generously supplied by the Interior-Aleutians Campus, College of Rural Alaska, UAF. We would like to thank Clara Johnson, Interior-Aleutians Campus Director, and her office for their on-going support of the internship program. The program was originally developed by Babara Nelson in 1995 using Hypercard 2.3 on a Macintosh Quadra 660AV computer. In 2003, it was converted for the Web by Karen Brewster, Research Associate, and Cal White, Research Technician, of the Oral History Office.

All photographs used in this project are part of the Antoinette Mayo Roberts Woods Collection and are used courtesy of Barbara Roberts Nelson. The "Ladies in Fur" photograph is used with permission from Baan o yeel kon Corporation.