Image of two women working on the pipeline during a warm summer day, c. late 1970s
Anchorage Museum, Alice Puster Collection, B2019.17a

In the mid-1970s, the demand and high wage for workers on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline drew over seventy thousand people to Alaska. Thousands of women were among them; a 1965 Executive Order signed by President Johnson required equal hiring practices for federal contractors. The positions women held ranged from secretaries and maids to oilers, technicians, and general laborers.

Alice Jean Puster was born in 1927 in Pomona, California. She moved to Anchorage in 1962, working as a photographer for The Anchorage Times. She is thought to be the first female photojournalist working in Alaska. This photo comes from her archive, which is in the process of being organized and accessioned to the Anchorage Museum archives.