NN Cannery History Project

Documenting Cannery Work, People & Place

Cannery Store

The NN Cannery History Project is a grassroots public history endeavor that, through the historical lens of work, aims to share the oft-forgotten stories of the multitudes of people who canned salmon in Alaska and created an ethnically diverse, economically vital, cannery culture.

The Project is a collaboration between multiple groups to preserve, collect and share the stories of the diverse, and often invisible, cannery workers whose activities are reflected by and embedded in the industrial landscape contained within the 128-year-old <NN> Cannery at South Naknek, Alaska.

We Can Do it together

Trident Seafoods

National Park Service

University of Alaska Fairbanks

Bristol Bay Borough School District

Alaska State Museum

Alaska Association for Historic Preservation

Bristol Bay Heritage Land Trust

State Historic Preservation Office

Tundra Vision

See Stories

Sea Level Consulting

Steelbird Productions

LaRece Construction

Bristol Bay Borough

Martin Monsen Library

South Naknek Library

Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation

Naknek Native Village Council

King Air

Alaska Eagle Eye

Bristol Bay Historical Society Museum

University of Alaska Anchorage Engineering Department

UAF Bristol Bay Campus

Andrew Abyo

Denise Statz

Katmai Conservancy

KDLG

Burt Smith

The Pit

Carvel Zimin

Shirley Zimin

Egli Air Haul

Roxanne Shade

Alaska Native Heritage Center

Alaska Packers Association Museum

Keira’s Bed & Breakfast

Bristol Bay Native Corporation Education Foundation

Learn More About the Grassroots Project

St. Louis World Fair Exhibit.

ALASKA STATE MUSEUM EXHIBIT

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES

1968 Plat of Alaska Packers Association NN Cannery Campus.

Bob King interviewing Gary Johnson

University of Alaska Project Jukebox

Student Senen Torino interview with Natty Boskovsy.

Digital Storytelling Workshop

"It is important work to preserve Alaska’s heritage, and the [NN Cannery History Project] recognizes your commitment to documenting our great state’s history of cultural diversity and development. By bringing light to the historical significance of Alaska’s canneries, your project will have lasting impact for the community and for the country."

Dan Sullivan | United States Senator

A view of the hallway in the NN Cannery Hospital that was most recently utilized as a women's bunkhouse.

Funding Sources

MugUp Media

A view looking northeast at the Diamond NN cannery at South Naknek in the late 1930s or 1940s.

Sharon Thompson documenting a conversation between Bob King, John Wachtel and Katie Ringsmuth.

Team Members

Artifact and Cannery life Surveys & Online Gallery

Hyatt Regency

Hyatt Regency sign, life ring and makeshift furniture in the NN Cannery Fisherman's Bunkhouse.

Courtesy of Trident Seafoods

Makeshift Furniture

Night stand made with old barrel and wooden rope spool with gas boxes repurposed to serve as shelving in the NN Cannery Fisherman's Bunkhouse.

Courtesy of Trident Seafoods

No Women Permitted

Sign posted in a bunkhouse that most recently housed commercial fisherman.

Courtesy of Trident Seafoods

Alaska Packers “Back to Work Whistle"

In all Alaska canneries, a steam whistle blew to let cannery workers know when work commenced, when it ended, and when to pause for a welcomed “Mug Up” coffee break.

Courtesy of Rob Johnston

Salmon Box Top

In 1916, San-Francisco-based California Packing Company (CALPAC) acquired Alaska Packers Association and Alaska canned salmon was marketed and sold under the popular "Del Monte" and label.

Courtesy of Gary Johnson

Wooden Barrel

A wooden barrel filled with bolts, likely transported from San Francisco to Bristol Bay on one of APA star ships, is stamped “APA 1899 <NN>. Near the top of the barrel is a Chinese character. The marking illustrates the Asian influence on the cannery work experience and directly represents the Chinese laborers at the NN Cannery at South Naknek.

Courtesy of Trident Seafoods

Croatian Flag Carving

A remnant of an anonymous fisherman, this depiction of the Croatian flag was carved into a table located in the fisherman’s bunkhouse. The graffiti not only reflects the NN cannery’s cosmopolitan social landscape, but speaks to international events, such as Croatian independence in 1991. Courtesy of Trident Seafoods

Japanese Figurine

Found in the Superintendent’s dwelling, known as the “White House,” this figurine was likely presented as a gift from the Japanese to the cannery superintendent, when meeting to discuss terms regarding the Egg House and other business.

Courtesy of Trident Seafoods

Mug Up Cart

Mess hall crews drove the yellow Cushman to various stations throughout the cannery’s processing areas to deliver fresh doughnuts, cookies, tea and coffee to cannery workers for Mug Up (a 15 minute coffee break).

Courtesy of Trident Seafoods

Mess Hall Tray

The average cannery work ate up to four meals per day on the mess hall tray. During the season’s peak, food served as both subsistence and enticement that spurred on the cannery worker’s daily routine.

Courtesy of Trident Seafoods