One of the things we really miss during the coronavirus closure is public programming. In the four years since we opened the APK, we've developed a regular series of author and artist talks, presentations by historians, film screenings, and youth art activities that highlight the collections and exhibits of the Library, Archives, and Museum in interesting and entertaining ways.
Thanks to a partnership with 360 North, we've been able to capture many of those programs on video. Our new 360 North producer, Bethany Lowrance, has edited and posted the latest season of episodes. Here are a few of our favorites from the past year.
Kirk Johnson and Ray Troll on Cruisin' the Fossil Coastline
Kirk and Ray, the scientist and the artist behind last summer's Cruisin' the Fossil Coastline
exhibit, obviously have a great time when they get together, and so did
the audience. Kirk, a paleontologist and director of the Smithsonian
National Museum of Natural History, packed a ton of science into his
presentation, illustrated by Ray's quirky humor.
Emily L. Moore on Proud Raven, Panting Wolf: Carving Alaska's New Deal Totem Parks
This talk and the accompanying book tie in perfectly to the Library, Archives, and Museum. One chapter focuses on the Proud Raven totem pole, previously called the Lincoln pole, on exhibit in the Museum's Foreign Voyagers gallery. Dr. Moore also used archival records and historic photographs to document the creation of southeast Alaska's most iconic tourist destinations.
Alaska State Museum staff presentations
I never get tired of hearing my colleagues share their knowledge, and we were fortunate to have three of them talk about some of their favorite topics in the past year.
Steve Henrikson presents The Case for Tranquility Base
For the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, Curator of Collections Steve Henrikson recounts the saga of the Museum's missing moon rock, a real-life museum detective story complete with international intrigue, possible arson, and a top secret trip to NASA to retrieve "the football." The moon rock returned to Alaska and was one of the last exhibits in the old Museum before it closed in 2014.
Anjuli Grantham on Tin Can Country: Southeast Alaska's Historic Salmon Canneries
Curator of Museum Services Anjuli Grantham wears many hats, including historian and book editor. Along with contributing author and "fishtorian" Bob King, Anjuli talks about the role that salmon canneries played in Alaska history.
Andrew Washburn presents Illuminating Subjects: Snippets of Lighthouse History and Preservation in Alaska
Museum Registrar Andrew Washburn is both a museum professional and the Vice President of the Cape Decision Lighthouse Society. He combines these two roles in a presentation about the history of the lighthouse service in Alaska and the challenges and successes of groups preserving lighthouses around southeast.
The At the APK playlist includes other great episodes from previous seasons, including U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, Ken Coates on the Princess Sophia, Leland Hale on What Happened in Craig? and Tlingit master carver Wayne Price. A big thanks to 360 North for recording, editing, and posting these programs. Happy viewing!
It's no secret that the Alaska State Library, Archives, and Museum have a great love for and strong connection to the Alaska Folk Festival. What started as a small gathering at the Museum has grown into a multi-venue week of music, workshops, and revelry enjoyed by musicians and music lovers from around the world. Bob Banghart, our former deputy director, has been a driving force behind Folk Fest since its inception.
Cover of the program for the 19th annual Alaska Folk Festival in 1993, designed by Bill Hudson. From Alaska State Library Manuscript Collection 118.
Like many in Juneau, we're sorry that the Festival is canceled this year and miss seeing familiar faces come through our doors and share their memories of music in the Museum, so we're taking a walk down memory lane with our collections. The Library's Historical Collections has some phonotape audio recordings from the early festivals, and has an active Alaska Folk Festival memorabilia collection, which grows every year and includes posters, buttons, stickers, programs, a "Folk Fest family album" from 1994, and even some painted backdrop panels created by University of Alaska Southeast students for the 2009 festival. You can see a selection of the programs on Alaska's Digital Archives and some even have notes, comments, and ratings of performances.
Bill and Clarissa Hudson wrote this note on the 1978 program they found and sent to the Folk Fest organizers in 1994. The Hudsons created many of the iconic Folk Fest posters in the '80s and '90s.
There are also some mysteries about Folk Fest history that even die hard fans haven't been able to help us solve. Did Folk Fest begin in 1974 or 1975? Although the Alaska Folk Festival website says 1975, others (including the Hudsons, see above) say the original concert was in 1974 and the first festival was in 1995. Who were the original Folk Fest performers? Do programs or flyers from 1974 or 1975 exist in someone's attic, basement, or guitar case? If you know the answers to these questions or have early Folk Fest memorabilia to donate, please contact the Historical Collections.
Although these guys were about 70 years too early for Folk Fest, they'd fit right in at a jam session. From Alaska State Library Photograph Collection 44-03-184.
Life during the coronavirus pandemic has inspired us to look back at how Alaskans handled outbreaks in the past through our collections.
1918 Influenza
This gossip column from the Alaska Daily Empire, November 16, 1918, proves that social distancing has been around for more than a hundred years.
The 1918 influenza epidemic has numerous parallels to today's coronavirus situation. Movement was restricted, quarantines imposed, and communities converted spaces into field hospitals and recovery wards. Helen Wilson, a teacher in Skagway, volunteered to cook and keep house at the White Pass Rooming House, which became an overflow area for flu patients. You can read her letter to her mother about bringing the cooked chicken she'd planned for a dinner to the Rooming House in a taxi with her oil stove strapped to the running board on Alaska's Digital Archives. Last week, Twitter user @alaskarobotics posted a round-up of flu-related (and some just humorous) snippets from Alaska newspapers that he found on Chronicling America.
1925 Diphtheria
Gunnar Kasson and Balto in their race to Nome. Alaska State Library Portrait File, ASL-Kasson-Gunnar.
Alaska's most famous epidemic may be the one that spurred the great serum run in 1925. Diphtheria broke out in Nome and the only option for transporting the antitoxin from Nenana was by dog sled. Mushers and their dogs, like Leonhard Seppala with Togo and Gunnar Kasson with Balto, braved gale force winds, -85 degree temperatures, and whiteout conditions to make the 674-mile delivery in 127.5 hours and become nationwide heroes. You can follow the mushers' progress through telegrams posted to Governor Scott C. Bone, from the governor's correspondence filesdigitized by the Alaska State Archives.
1940s-1950s Tuberculosis
An "itinerant" nurse with the Territorial Department of Health sees a young patient in Tanacross. Alaska State Library Historical Collections, ASL-P143-1018.
After World War II, tuberculosis was a major health crisis in Alaska. The Territorial Department of Health deployed mobile clinics, including a decommissioned military ship, two barges, two railway cars, and a truck, to rural communities to provide basic health care and training. Tuberculosis still took a heavy toll on Alaskans, and in 1946, a 150-bed tuberculosis sanitorium opened in Seward. Patients there published a newspaper called San Chat with patient spotlights, updates from former staff, and drawings, poems, and stories by residents.
Then, as now, Alaskans got through bad times by lending a helping hand, demonstrating their courage and perseverance, and using their resourcefulness and creativity to lift each other up.
