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Alaska Anthropological Association Newsletter Volume 35, Number 2 September 2009 Lost Village Revisited Rachel Mason, National Park Service In the early 1930s, three boys named Nicolai lived in the tiny Unangan (Aleut) village of Makushin on Unalaska Island. Nick Lekanoff’s family was forced to leave the village by a vil- lainous non-Native storekeeper, Pete Olsen. The same year, the fathers of both Nick Galaktionoff and Nick Borenin, along with another man, were killed in a suspicious incident Pete Olsen blamed on a walrus attack, but most thought Pete was their attacker. In 1942, when the few remaining people in Makushin were evacuated and taken to Southeast Alaska for the duration of World War II, Nick Borenin was one of them. At that time, the other two Nicks were living in Unalaska. After the war, the residents of Makushin and two other Unangan villages around Unalaska Island— Biorka and Kashega—were not permitted to re- turn to their homes. Instead, the U.S. government Elder Nicolai Lekanoff, former resident of Makushin, settled them in Unalaska or Akutan. The village with (from left) Nick's daughter, Patricia Lekanoff-Greg- of Makushin, empty for over 65 years, is now a ory, Josephine Borenin-Shangin, and Fred Lekanoff, de- small group of house pits, the roof of a barn and a scendants of Makushin. Photo by Brian Rankin, courtesy of Patricia Gregory. steam bath, a broken wooden cross at the former site of the Russian Orthodox church—and a new white cross, planted during a recent revisit to the Please check your membership status village by former residents and descendents as online and update if necessary. Click on part of a National Park Service project. the “members” button at the upper right corner of www.alaskaanthropology.org. On September 3, 2009, Nick Lekanoff, along You can become a member by clicking on with his daughter Patricia Lekanoff-Gregory and the Membership button and then fi lling Continued on page 2 out the form. Continued from page 1 - Lost Village Revisited ALASKA ANTHROPOLOGICAL other descendants of Makushin, trav led on the e ASSOCIATION Fish and Wildlife Service vessel M/V Tiĝlaˆx President to revisit his home village. Nick Galaktionoff, Aron Crowell who also now lives in Unalaska, hoped to return Board Members to Makushin to look for a box he buried in his Joan Dale family home before he left the village. At the Karlene Leeper last minute he was unable to make this pilgrim- Daniel Monteith age, but he sent his young relative Fred Lekanoff Monty Rogers in his stead. He was happy with the soil and Amy Steffi an nail that we brought him as relics of the village. Secretary - Karlene Leeper The third Nick, Nick Borenin, is gone now, but Treasurer - Rita Eagle his granddaughter Josephine Borenin-Shangin was able to come with us to revisit Makushin on The purpose of the Alaska Anthropological behalf of her family. Association is to serve as a vehicle for main- taining communication among people in- The National Park Service’s Lost Villages of the terested in all branches of anthropology; to Aleutians project aims to document the his- promote public awareness and education of tory of villages permanently left behind in the anthropological activities and goals; to fos- evacuations, dislocations, and internments of ter sympathetic appreciation of the past and World War II. In addition to the villages around present cultures of Alaskan peoples; to en- Unalaska Island, the project is also recording courage Alaskan Natives to participate in the the experiences of residents of Attu, who were elucidation of their respective cultures; and to interned by the Japanese on Hokkaido during the facilitate the dissemination of anthropologi- war and who were forced by their own country’s cal works in both technical and non-technical government to move to Atka instead of returning formats. Membership is open to any individual to their own village. or organization indicating interest and concern for the discipline of anthropology. The Asso- This year the NPS chartered the M/V Tiĝlaˆx ciation holds its annual meeting during March to travel from Unalaska to Makushin and Kashe- or April of each year and generally publishes ga with elders and descendants from the villages four newsletters each year. (For a different perspective on our journey, see Debbie Corbett’s article on p. 8). Rough seas The membership cycle begins each year on between Unalaska and Makushin led to the dif- January 1. Annual membership dues include a fi cult decision to postpone the trip to Kashega subscription to the Alaska Journal of Anthro- until next year. This was a disappointment to el- pology. Dues are $40.00 for student members ders Mary Diakanoff and George Gordaoff, who and $75.00 for regular members. Register for had come from Juneau and Anchorage to revisit membership online at www.alaskaanthropol- their home village, as well as to Jane Mensoff ogy.org. You may also send a membership form of Seattle, Brian Rankin of Unalaska, and Daryl and payment to the Alaska Anthropological Diakanoff of Juneau, all descendants of Kashega. Association at P.O. Box 241686, Anchorage, The boat crew and project personnel all vowed to Alaska 99524-1686, USA. Items for the news- work hard to make a trip to Kashega happen in letter may be sent to the editor, Becky Saleeby, the future. at the above address, attention “Newsletter Continued on page 4 Editor,” or to [email protected]. 2 2010 Meeting of the Alaska Anthropological Association The 2010 Meeting of the Alaska Anthropological Association will be held at the Millennium Hotel Anchorage, Alaska March 24 - 27, 2010 The meeting is being organized by the Association’s two special interests groups, the Alaska Consortium of Zooarchaeologists (ACZ) and the Public Education Group (PEG). ACZ President, Debbie Corbett, and PEG co-chair, Richard VanderHoek, have scheduled preliminary meetings to assign tasks and move forward with the planning. Several symposia have already been proposed, and the keynote speakers have been lined up for this big event. There will be some new additions to the traditional schedule of events, such as a fi lm room and a hands-on activities workshop sponored by PEG. The conference organizing committee members are: Debbie Corbett - Chair and Facilities Liasion - ([email protected]) Diane Hanson - Program ([email protected]) Becky Saleeby - Catering Eric Malo and Linda Yarborough - Film Room Richard VanderHoek - Tours and Hands-on Public Education Activities. We still need members to step forward and take on some important tasks so that the meetings will run smoothly! Please contact Debbie Corbett (786-3399 or [email protected]), if you are willing and able to chair one of these organizing committees: 1) Publicity; 2) Registration and Ac- counting; 3) Volunteer Coordinator; 4) Fundraising; 5) Computer Technical Support. Conference updates will be be posted on the Alaska Anthropological Association web page, as well as the ACZ web page (www.akzooarch.org). Stay tuned for the December newsletter for more information. The registration for the meetings will ap- pear online in December on the Association’s web page. Please check www.akzooarch. org 3 Other Upcoming Meetings Continued from page 2 - Lost Village Revisited When we arrived at Makushin Bay after fi ve Arctic Conference seasick hours, the seas calmed and the sun Craig Lee and John Hoffecker came out. A rainbow appeared over the vil- lage. Most of us came ashore by Zodiac and The 17th Arctic Conference will be held on climbed from the beach to the village site. We November 13-14, 2009, at the Institute of Arctic stamped down a path toward the church in the and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), University tall grass, and Nick Lekanoff led us toward of Colorado, in Boulder, Colorado. The Arctic the church site. Thanks to the Ounalashka Conference is an informal symposium of archae- Corporation, we had an eight-foot tall white ologists, anthropologists, ecologists, and geolo- cross to plant in front of the former church. gists who gather once a year to share data and Brian Rankin brought shovels and a post-hole new fi ndings and to plan collaborative research digger. Nick directed the younger men to activities. position the cross correctly. Patricia Lekanoff- Gregory and Irene McGlashin (our medical This year’s conference will feature a poster ses- provider) sang and read a prayer. sion and facility tours, including INSTAAR’s AMS 14C radiocarbon preparation laboratory, The village site and the beach were clean invited speakers and a keynote address. The and unlittered, despite some small evidence, conference is well suited to student participants such as the remains of a fi re, of visitors in who are encouraged to present fi ndings from recent years. As the boat pulled away from their thesis and dissertation research. Makushin, we could barely see the newly planted white cross in the village. It was a Presented papers are 20 minutes in length and no new reminder that Makushin was once home papers are scheduled concurrently (i.e., partici- to many generations, including the three boys pants have the option of attending all papers). named Nick. Abstracts should be 500 words or less and may include one fi gure. The deadline for abstract ************************************ submission is 30 September 2009. Coninued from page 13 - Boraas For further information, please contact: The Bullock prize, which provides a $20,000 Craig M. Lee or John F Hoffecker cash award, is the largest single award made E-mail: [email protected] annually by the UA Foundation’s Board [email protected] of Trustees, a non-profi t entity that raises, invests and manages privately donated funds for the sole benefi t of the University of Alaska.