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Frank Alois Pitelka

My dad died in October of 2003.  Most of his professional papers and books had been donated to the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkeley several years earlier, but we still had several boxes of photographs and slides from his office on campus.  We wanted those to go to an appropriate archive, but first I decided to see if there was anything of special family value.  In the summer of 2004 I dragged those boxes out of my sister's basement in Altadena, California and went through several thousand color slides.  It was a powerful experience, because we never saw this side of his life.  Dad spent a part of almost every summer doing research at Point Barrow, Alaska, and I suspect that those were the most exciting times of his life.  I really do not know why he didn't share it with us.  

From those slides, I selected about 200 and did high-resolution digital scans.  All of the slides and photos were turned over to George Batzli, to be directed to an appropriate archive for the Arctic Research Lab.  

This page includes thumbnails leading to 95 low-resolution images distilled from those two hundred.  The images I saved are primarily a family archive, but their value to us will be greatly enhanced by any information we can gather.  If you knew dad, I expect you will enjoy these images (although be forewarned that there are some graphic images of the butchering of whales and walruses), but if you are among those who have been to Barrow and/or knew dad and his colleagues, please examine these images carefully.  I realize that some of the best ones date back half century, but hopefully some of you were around Barrow at that time.  If you can provide any information about people, places, or other details of interest, please note the number and title of the image, and email me at vpitelka@dtccom.net.  

These images were all shot at Point Barrow or other sites in the Alaskan Arctic, except for #1, #83, and #85.  I have numbered the images, but otherwise the captions are directly from my dad's slides.  In some cases the writing was faded, so please tell me if I have misspelled names or places.
- Vince Pitelka, May 1, 2005  

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