Artifact Archive

Fred Paulsen's Logbooks This is one of sixteen logbooks from the Petersburg Shipwrights. They were written by Fred Paulsen and include twenty years of records, documenting work done on local and itinerant boats at the Petersburg Shipwrights from the years 1983 – 2002 along with personal entries of his daily life. Fred Paulsen arrived in Petersburg from Massachusetts in the late 1970s to work as a shipwright at Mitkof Marine Ways. From there he went on to found Petersburg Shipwrights and ran it for twenty years and he personally repaired many of the wooden boats belonging to Petersburg's fishing fleet. He also repaired other fishing and pleasure boats from around Southeast Alaska. Fred's career saw the transformation of the fishing fleet from traditional wooden vessels to fiberglass and steel. Throughout the years, no matter how boats changed, Fred maintained a special love for the old wooden boats. Sadly, Fred passed away in the fall of 2024. These logbooks reside at the Clausen Museum along with Fred's toolbox full of his many tools. Clausen Memorial Museum is grateful to Sue Paulsen for this wonderful addition to the collection.