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Kulstad (Captain Alv) and George Kulstad Collection
OCH.AGK
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Captain Alv Kulstad and George Kulstad Collection
Creator:
Kulstad, Peter Alv, 1895-1980
Identifier/Call Number: OCH.AGK
Extent:
7.41 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1916-2012
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 20
th century. The bulk of the materials date from
1920-1949.
Language of Material: English,Norwegian
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.
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.
Series I: Alv Kulstad Maritime Career Papers, 1935-1953
Series II: George Kulstad Research Papers, 1922-2012
Series III: Personal Papers, 1916-1964
This collection is open for research use.
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.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
George Kulstad, 2016
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual,
or see the
Citing Archival Materials
guide.
Mallory Furnier, 2017
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Ephemera
Documents
Photographs
Textiles