Primary Name: Davis, Trevor P. Montgomery

Filed as: davis_trevor_p_montgomery

Also known as: Trevor P. Davis, Trevor Davis

Occupation / Association: Photographer; Boat Operator; Business Owner; Charter Member, Juneau Men's Igloo No. 6

Born: 1892, Alameda, California

Died: 1990, Juneau, Alaska

Parents:

Spouse: Carol Beery Davis

Children: Sylvia Davis, Shirley Davis, Constance Davis, Patte Davis

Associated places: Juneau Alaska, Alameda California, Seattle Washington, San Francisco California

Keywords: Trevor P Montgomery Davis, Trevor Davis photographer, Snap Shoppe Juneau, Juneau photographers, Here and There in Southeast Alaska

Biography

Trevor P. Montgomery Davis was a charter member of the Juneau Men's Igloo No. 6, where he served a term as Secretary.

Davis was born in 1892 in Alameda, California, where his mother, Frances, went for the birth. Within three months, the family returned to Juneau. At the age of twelve, he began working on the Davis properties.

In 1910, he purchased a sailboat and converted it to a gas boat in partnership with his brother Cedric. In 1914, the brothers traded the small boat for the Cordelia D and began operating a charter business for hunting and cruising. Trevor earned an operator's and pilot’s license for a 100-ton vessel and, in 1917, completed the requirements for an engineer’s license at the Duthrie Shipyards in Seattle, Washington.

He later joined the United States Navy and was stationed at Bremerton, Washington; San Diego, California; and the Great Lakes Naval Station in Chicago, Illinois.

Photography became a major interest for Davis beginning in 1912 when he acquired his first camera. He developed a technique for oil-tinting enlarged photographs and sold his work at the Nugget Shop and other gift stores in Juneau in June. Established photographers Winter & Pond and Case & Draper encouraged him and provided photographs and advice.

In 1921, Davis exhibited his photographs in San Francisco, and in 1926, he published a booklet of his early images titled Here and There in Southeast Alaska.

Trevor was one of seven members of the committee that selected the Alaska state flag and voted for the design that was ultimately adopted in 1927.

He was also a charter member of the American Legion and the Juneau Yacht Club. As a member of the Juneau Chamber of Commerce for forty-eight years, he promoted numerous civic projects, including the development of Juneau’s first small boat harbor and breakwater. Davis also wrote articles about his experiences in Southeast Alaska for newspapers and magazines.

In the spring of 1921, he met Carol Beery, who had come to Juneau and was searching for the wild violets displayed in shop windows. Davis offered to show her where they grew. The trip involved traveling aboard the Cordelia D and reaching Sheep Creek Basin via the Thane tramway. The excursion began a romance, and the two were married in 1922. They raised four daughters: Sylvia, Shirley, Connie, and Patte.

In 1934, Davis opened a photographic business on Seward Street where he developed, printed, and tinted photographs. He became an Eastman Kodak dealer, and the Snap Shoppe operated successfully for twenty-five years. One of his well-known photographs, Juneau’s Harbor Lights, required a one-hour exposure on a clear night in 1942. When a passing fishing boat disturbed the reflection, he was forced to repeat the entire exposure to achieve the desired image.

His work emphasized contrasts and composition, particularly winter light and shadow. As photography evolved, he expanded from black-and-white images to color photography and accumulated an extensive collection of slides and films. Many friends and community members attended his public presentations. While working for Prince William Sound Canneries, he filmed salmon runs and bears on color motion picture film.

After retiring from the photography business, Davis developed the Pinewood Park subdivision. He and his wife later piloted their boat, the Sylvita, to the Seattle World’s Fair, where they joined family and friends.

In his later years, he traveled widely, including a trip across the eastern United States with a Tlingit dance group during the U.S. Bicentennial, journeys across Alaska during the state’s Centennial celebration, visits to relatives on the West Coast, and travel in the South Pacific.

Davis later authored a pictorial history of the city titled Looking Back on Juneau – The First Hundred Years.

Trevor Davis died at the Pioneers’ Home in Juneau in 1990 at the age of ninety-seven and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery. He was survived by his wife and daughters, Sylvia, Shirley, and Constance.

Sources

Gastineau Channel Memories 1880-1959, p.119

Trevor P Montgomery Davis Trevor Davis T P Davis Davis Trevor

Tags: Trevor P Montgomery Davis, Trevor Davis, Davis Trevor, Juneau photographers, Snap Shoppe Juneau, Juneau Men's Igloo No 6, Alaska flag committee, Juneau Yacht Club, American Legion Juneau

Primary Name: Pond, Edwin Percy

Filed as: Pond, Edwin Percy

Also known as: Percy Pond; Edwin P. Pond

Occupation / Association: Photographer; Charter member, Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Men's Igloo; co-owner, Winter & Pond Photographers

Associated places: California; Portland, Oregon; Juneau, Alaska

Keywords: Edwin Percy Pond, Percy Pond photographer, Winter and Pond Photographers Juneau, Lloyd Valentine Winter, Juneau pioneer photographers, Alaska historical photography, Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Men's Igloo charter member

Biography

Edwin Percy Pond was a charter member of the Pioneers of Alaska, Juneau Men's Igloo, and one of the earliest professional photographers in Juneau.

Pond was born in May 1872 in California, according to the 1900 Juneau Federal Census, although some accounts suggest he may have been born in Portland, Oregon, and moved to California at an early age.

With his friend Lloyd Winter, he operated one of the pioneer businesses of Juneau, Winter and Pond Photographers. Their friendship began in California during their youth in the pioneer era.

The two young men were in Alaska during the gold rush period and established their photography shop in Juneau in 1893. The business operated continuously from that time, and their partnership became one of the longest-standing business partnerships in Alaska.

Together, they created an extensive photographic record of Alaska’s early years. Their images of communities, miners, Native peoples, and daily life in Southeast Alaska are today considered invaluable historical documents.

Edwin Percy Pond died at St. Ann’s Hospital in Juneau on June 1, 1943, at the age of seventy-one.

Alaska Daily Empire, June 2, 1943

Lloyd Valentine Winter was a charter member of the Juneau Men's Igloo.

Alaska history enthusiasts familiar with outstanding archival photography will recognize the studio name Winter & Pond.

During careers spanning more than fifty years, Lloyd V. Winter (1866–1945) and Edwin Percy Pond (1872–1943) compiled a vast catalog of photographs depicting the people and places of the North, particularly in Southeast Alaska and the Klondike.

San Francisco artist Lloyd Valentine Winter was the fourth of five children born to Englishman Robert Winter, an artist and “picture dealer,” and his wife, Josephine of Maryland.

The Winters encouraged their children’s talents in art, music, and trades. Their eldest daughter Emma became a music teacher; William worked as a plumber; Charles and Lloyd attended school; and the youngest child, Henry, was born when Josephine was in her forties and Robert in his fifties.

According to the 1880 federal census of San Francisco, when Lloyd was fourteen, the Winter family shared a home with Edward Gage, a forty-year-old man who worked in a photographic gallery. This exposure may have influenced Lloyd’s later career.

Winter arrived in Juneau in March 1890 and soon partnered with photographer George M. Landerkin. Together, they established the Landerkin & Winter Studio, a partnership that lasted until 1893, when Winter’s longtime friend, Percy Pond, arrived in Juneau.

In 1894, Pond purchased Landerkin’s interest, and the Winter & Pond Studio was formed. The business expanded beyond portrait photography to include Alaska curios, special-order photography, and commercial assignments.

Unlike many photographers of their time who worked only during the summer months, Winter and Pond remained in Alaska year-round. Their subjects included Tlingit families arriving for potlatches, miners pausing along the trail with their sleds, workers laying the Juneau-Skagway telegraph cable, and Chilkat dancers wearing ceremonial regalia.

The Winter & Pond photograph collection—now held at the Alaska State Library in Juneau—contains numerous early images of Juneau, the Klondike Gold Rush, local celebrations, and mining activity.

Winter’s ability to speak a Native language proved useful when the pair secretly observed a Haida dance ceremony in 1894. When they were discovered, the dancers warned them that it was a private ceremony meant only for Haida participants. Over time, the two photographers were adopted into the tribe, and each was given a Native name. Winter was called Kinda, meaning “winter,” while Pond was given the name Kitch-ka, meaning “Crow Man.”

The photographers’ work documenting Alaska Native communities before, during, and after the Klondike Gold Rush contributed significantly to Alaska Native cultural studies. Their long association with Tlingit communities allowed them to learn about traditional practices and cultural history.

Winter and Pond published several works on Alaska Native subjects. Anthropologist Edward L. Keithahn, author of the 1945 book Monuments in Cedar, acknowledged them as a source of information about the early Chilkat people.

Winter personally followed the Trail of ’98 into the Yukon during the winter of 1897–1898, producing stereographic images for Underwood & Underwood and providing readers of Leslie’s Weekly with photographs of Gold Rush activity. Winter & Pond were also named the official Alaska photographers for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition held in Seattle in 1909.

Both men were active in the Juneau community. They volunteered with the Juneau Fire Department, Hose Company No. 1. In 1915, Winter served as Patron of the Order of the Eastern Star, Juneau Chapter No. 7.

Pond married a woman named Hattie, who appears in several photographs from the Winter & Pond collection, and the couple raised a family.

Between 1915 and 1925, the Winter & Pond Company also owned and operated mining claims near Juneau. Photographs documenting their mining activities are preserved in the Alaska State Library archives.

The partnership ended when Percy Pond died at age seventy-one on June 1, 1943. He was buried four days later in the Pioneer section of Evergreen Cemetery in Juneau.

Lloyd V. Winter died in November 1945 at age seventy-nine and was buried on November 13 in the Masonic section of the same cemetery.

Earlier that year, Winter had transferred ownership of the Winter & Pond Company to Francis Harrison, who continued operating the business until 1956.

Today, images from the Winter & Pond studio appear on the walls of the Alaska State Capitol building in Juneau and in public and private collections across the country. The Alaska State Library in Juneau holds the bulk of the Winter & Pond Collection—approximately 3,000 images dating from 1893 to 1943.

Source
University of Alaska Anchorage, Lite Site Alaska — article by Tricia Brown