Kennecott Kids Oral History Project

Kain, Ann

During the weekend of June 15-17, 1990, a reunion was held at Kennicott Glacier Lodge, Kennecott, Alaska. The "Kennecott Kids Reunion" brought together many of the people who were school-age children when the mines and mill opearted and a few who worked for the Kennecott Copper Corporation during the 1920s and '30s. Inger Jensen Ricci and Eleanor Tjosevig Eidemiller, two "Kennecott Kids", organized the reunion with Rich and Jody Kirkwood, owners of the Kennecott Glacier Lodge.The Kennecott Mines are a National Historic Landmark administered by the National Park Service for the Secretary of Interior. In cooperation with the reunion hosts, a team of historians from the Alaska Regional Office of the National Park Service conducted interviews with the Kennecott Kids. Under the direction of Regional Historian Kate Lidfors, historians Sandra Faulkner, Logan Hovis, and Ann Kain interviewd the "kids" while Linda Cook took copy-stand pictures of the historical photographs brought to the reunion. The interviews provide the historical community with a collection of primary source material on the social history of Kennecott and McCarthy. Opportunities such as this do not occur often. The mining and industrial history of Kennecott is well-known, but through the interviews wer were able to know Kennecott as a living community rather than a mining ghost town. The photographs, now housed at the McCarthy Museum, also provide valuable information for research.Twenty-one "kids" attended the reunion, twelve of whom were interviewed. Several others were reached by mail and participated using a "mail out" interview.

Kennecott Kids Oral History Project

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