The Congressional Research Service recently published the
five-page report Memorial
Day Speech Resources: Fact Sheet (5/12/2023) that may be of use to local
officials, students and the rest of us honoring our nation’s war dead on
Memorial Day. This report includes the following sections:
History – Paragraph
tracing its history as the post Civil War Decoration Day to the present.
Legislation – Citations
to the laws that created Memorial Day
CRS Reports – Citations
to reports on holidays, commemorations and US military casualty statistics
Sample Congressional
Speeches and Recognitions – Citations to sample speeches given in Congress
to commemorate Memorial Day
Presidential
Proclamations – Information on finding Memorial Day proclamations from
Presidents Biden, Trump, Obama and George W. Bush
What Can Americans Do to
Participate in Memorial Day? – General information on national observances
of Memorial Day
Most of the citations listed in the Fact Sheet can be found
through govinfo.gov.
If you need help finding a specific citation listed in this report, contact the
Alaska State Library at Ask
a Librarian. If you’d like to see what else the Congressional Research
Service has published recently, visit CRS
Search Results (congress.gov).
The Alaska State Library is a federal depository library, which means it receives a wide variety of federal government publications in multiple formats, including online. Some of these publications are specialized, while others are of general interest.
In April 2023, we added 244 items in electronic format to our catalog. Each month we highlight up to ten publications/resources we feel may be of general interests to Alaskan. This month's highlighted publications are:
Digitized historic publication that examines "the Marine Corps lawyer's role in Vietnam and how that role evolved. Also considered is the effectiveness of the Uniform Code of Military Justice in a combat environment."
This map-based tool is intended to replace traditional paper nautical charts by January 2025. This resource allows users to create custom navigational charts and to create a customized online charts catalog. The resulting PDF files can be printed if the user has access to a large format printer. See the quick start guide and user guide for more information.
Report on how more military members are victims of identity theft and how that can threaten career as well as finances. The last section of the report, starting at page 10, shows how military consumers can protect their credit and address identity theft.
Report provides legal definition of veteran, service requirements for benefits eligibility and reserve components' veteran status. Page 9 has a handy table of "Congressionally Designated Wartime Periods"
Explains the current employment-based immigration system including preference categories and numerical limits, the per-country ceiling and policy options within and beyond the current framework.
Undersea telecommunication cables connect much of the world, including Alaska. Learn more about how these cables work and see examples of when they've been damaged - accidentally or intentionally.
In April 2023, The Alaska Geological Society (AGS) designated 30 individuals as the inaugural class of "Pathfinders in Alaska Geology." According to their announcement:
"This award was established to recognize true trailblazers in the geosciences in Alaska; men and women who made enormous contributions to the general understanding of the geology of the Last Frontier."
"The composition of this first class was determined after several months of research and deliberation by a committee of 9 long-time Alaskan geologists. Following the 2023 AGS Technical Conference, the nomination process for future inductees will be posted and open to the public."
Being librarians, we ran the names of this initial class through the Alaska Library Catalog, a catalog shared by nearly four dozen independent libraries. Click on links below for works by and sometimes about these geological pathfinders:
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.
