Keywords: Draft for Payment for the Purchase of Alaska - NARA - 301666.tif Scope and content In 1866 the Russian government offered to sell the territory of Alaska to the United States Secretary of State William H Seward enthusiastic about the prospect of American expansion negotiated the deal for the Americans Eduard de Stoekl Russian Minister to the United States negotiated for the Russians On March 30 1867 the two parties agrees that the United States would pay Russia 7 2 million for the territory of Alaska For less than 2 cents an acre the United States acquired nearly 600 000 square miles Opponents of the Alaska Purchase persisted in calling it Seward's Folly or Seward's Icebox until 1896 when the great Klondike Gold Rush convinced even the harshest critics that Alaska was a valuable addition to the United States General notes Exhibit History American Originals December 1995 - December 1996 National Archives Rotunda Washington DC Exhibit No 624 0032 Russian America The Forgotten Frontier traveling exhibit organized by Anchorage Museum of History and Art July 1990 - October 1992 Exhibit No 1088 0011 Treasury draft 9759 301666 Local identifier Department of the Treasury Office of the Register of the Treasury Notes Coupon Currency and Files Division ca 1797 - ca 1921 Archives I Reference Section Textual Archives Services Division NWCT1R National Archives Building 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington DC 20408 1868-08-01 Record group Record Group 217 Records of the Accounting Officers of the Department of the Treasury 1775 - 1978 Record group ARC 544 Warrants compiled 03/1801 - 12/1921 Series ARC 301665 File unit File unit ARC Variant control numbers NAIL Control Number NWCTB-217-REGPI14E48-RECEIPT<br /> NAIL Control Number NWDT1-217-REG-PI14E48-RECEIPT<br /> Other Identifier 03433<br /> This is the NARA internal exhibit tracking number yes Other versions <gallery> File Draft_for_Payment_for_the_Purchase_of_Alaska_-_NARA_-_301666 tif tif File Draft_for_Payment_for_the_Purchase_of_Alaska_-_NARA_-_301666 jpg jpg </gallery> NARA-cooperation PD-USGov Alaska in the 19th century Alaska Purchase History of Alaska 1866 in the United States United States Department of the Treasury 1868 in the United States NARA TIF images with categorized JPGs |