Contents


Collection Overview

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Search Terms

Eekhoff papers, 1915-1970 (bulk 1921-1957)

Finding Aid

Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

© 2003

Collection Overview

Creator: Eekhoff, Henry, (Henry Isaac George) b. 1879.
Title: Eekhoff papers
Dates: 1915-1970
Dates: 1921-1957
Abstract: Eekhoff, Henry Isaac George, b.1879; World War I soldier, farmer, merchant, and gold miner. Papers contain letters and photographs concerning his life in Papua New Guinea and Australia during the Japanese invasions of the island during World War II and photographs of his service in World War I.
Extent: 1 box(2.5 linear in.)
Language: English.
Identification: MS 0532
Location: LD 7096.6 1927 Bigglestone

Biographical Note

Henry Isaac George Eekhoff was born in 1879 and married Frances Elinor Keyworth in 1902. Doris L. Bigglestone, a 1927 graduate of Mount Holyoke, was his cousin. Eekhoff lived in the South Pacific and had two children, Stanley Gordon and Dorothy. Eekhoff fought for Britain in World War I , and then worked in Lau, Australia where he owned a store and tried gold mining. In 1957, he retired with his wife to Cairns, North Queensland. Frances died in 1964. Henry Eekhoff died in Australia, in his nineties.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Henry Isaac George Eekhoff Papers contain correspondence and photographs sent to relatives, including Dorothy L. Bigglestone Heath, Mount Holyoke College graduate, 1927. The letters chiefly describe Eekhoff's experiences as a farmer and gold miner in Papua New Guinea and Australia, 1921-1957, with most of the letters written from the Matanatar plantation. Eekhoff provides detailed descriptions of the local people, landscape, and agricultural production of the plantation. Of special note with the collection are Eekhoff's comments on the Pacific Theater of World War II, the "Iron Curtain," and the Korean War. Eekhoff talks about United States interest in the Pacific, as well as the development of the space program. Also included are photographs of Eekhoff's World War I service.

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Search Terms

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