Captain Alv Kulstad and George Kulstad Collection, 1916-2012

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Summary

Creators:
Kulstad, Peter Alv, 1895-1980
Abstract:
The Captain Alv Kulstad and George Kulstad Collection contains correspondence, 3D objects, monographs, serials, ephemera, and research materials related to the maritime career of Peter Alv Kulstad and the lives of his wife Helen (Nellie Thomas) Kulstad and children George Kulstad and Olav E. Kulstad in Shanghai in the first half of the 20th century. The bulk of the materials date from 1920-1949.
Extent:
7.41 linear feet
Language:
English, Norwegian
Preferred citation:

For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual, or see the Citing Archival Materialsguide.

Background

Scope and content:

The Captain Alv Kulstad and George Kulstad Collection contains correspondence, monographs, serials, ephemera, research notes, and objects related to the maritime career of Peter Alv Kulstad and the lives of his wife Helen (Nellie Thomas) Kulstad and children George and Ollie. Collection materials provide insight to maritime life through correspondence and ephemera related to Alv Kulstad's maritime career as well as American culture in Shanghai through the personal papers of Helen Kulstad. The bulk of the materials date from 1920-1949, with a significant amount of material from circa 1920-1929. The Collection is divided into three series, Alv Kulstad Maritime Career Papers (1935-1953), George Kulstad Research Papers (1922-2012), and Personal Papers (1916-1964).

Series I, Alv Kulstad Maritime Career Papers, documents the seafaring career of Alv Kulstad through correspondence, employment applications, and Kulstad's professional clothing. These materials are arranged chronologically.

Series II, George Kulstad Research Papers, documents George Kulstad's research regarding his family history, including his father's work on the dredger Chien She and time with the Shanghai Volunteer Corps. There are also copies of documents and research notes related to Kulstad's historical research into the context of his early life in Shanghai pre-1949. This includes a significant number of copies of archival documents regarding the Shanghai Municipal Police. Research papers are arranged alphabetically by subject.

Series III, Personal Papers, relate directly to Alv Kulstad, Helen (Nellie Thomas) Kulstad, or the Kulstad family and primarily reflect their residence in China, with a small number of materials related to their post-China lives. Personal papers are arranged based on provenance, and then alphabetically.

Biographical / historical:

Captain Alv Kulstad was born Peter Alv Kulstad in Trondheim, Norway in 1895. He attended Trondheim Navigation School, served in the Royal Norwegian Navy during World War I, and then made his living working on a number of ships. He met Helen (Nellie) Thomas while in Shanghai and the two were married in 1928.

Helen was an American born in 1899 in Chemulpo (Inchon), Korea to a Japanese mother and American father. Alv and Helen had three sons together, Olav (Ollie) born in 1930, Peter born in 1932, and George born in 1935. Peter died of dysentery in early childhood.

While living in Shanghai Alv Kulstad served in the Shanghai Volunteer Corps from February 1927 until 1935, when he began working as First Mate on the ship Li Liang. In 1938 he was transferred to the dredger Chien She. He was initially assigned the job of acting Captain of the Chien She in 1940, but soon became Captain. During his tenure as Captain, he and the rest of the ship's crew were interned on the Chien She by the Japanese from 1942 to 1944. After World War II, Alv Kulstad worked on the SS George R. Holmes, the SS Trans Ocean as a Captain, the SS Grays Harbor, and the SS Casa Grande.

While living in Shanghai, George and his older brother Ollie attended Catholic school Saint Francis Xavier College. Ollie later went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for an academic year, starting in 1948. When the Communists took over Shanghai in 1949, Helen and George left China on the SS General Gordon, eventually settling in Stockton, California, where Ollie and Alv later joined them.

Acquisition information:
George Kulstad, 2016
Processing information:

Mallory Furnier, 2017

Arrangement:

Series I: Alv Kulstad Maritime Career Papers, 1935-1953

Series II: George Kulstad Research Papers, 1922-2012

Series III: Personal Papers, 1916-1964

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Ephemera
Documents
Photographs
Textiles

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research use.

Terms of access:

Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge. Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Preferred citation:

For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual, or see the Citing Archival Materialsguide.

Location of this collection:
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330, US
Contact:
(818) 677-4594
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