university of alaska museum of the north FY09 annual report • 7.2008–6.2009 The University of Alaska Museum of the North, located on the Fairbanks campus, is the only museum in the state with a tripartite mission of research, teaching, and collecting. The museum’s botanical, geological, zoological, and cultural collections, primarily from Alaska and the Circumpolar North, form the basis for understanding the local as well as the global past, present, and future. Through collection-based research, teaching, and public programs, the Museum shares its knowledge and collections with local, national, and international audiences of all ages and backgrounds. museum Professional staff Carol Diebel, Museum Director Earth Sciences Exhibition & Design Mammalogy Patrick Druckenmiller, Curator* Steve Bouta, Chief Preparator Link Olson, Curator* Administration Amanda Hanson, Curatorial Assistant Tamara Martz, Production Assistant Brandy Jacobsen, Collection Manager Barbara Ellanna, Fiscal Professional Dusty McDonald, Programmer Andrew Quainton, Education Genomic Resources Assistant to the Director Laura Conner, Director Aren Gunderson, Coordinator Operations Linda Sheldon, Fiscal Technician Jennifer Arseneau, Kevin May, Manager Fine Arts Education Program Leader Advancement & Marketing Mareca Guthrie, Collection Manager Ornithology Peggy Hetman, Lloyd Huskey, Director Kevin Winker, Curator* Public Liaison Herbarium Alaska Center for Documentary Film Roger Topp, New Media Producer Steffi Ickert-Bond, Curator* Jack Withrow, Collection Manager Leonard Kamerling, Curator* Entomology Jordan Metzgar, Collection Manager Visitor Services Archaeology Derek Sikes, Curator* Dave F. Murray, Curator Emeritus Daniel David, Manager & Retail Buyer Jeff Rasic, Acting Curator Jozef Slowik, Curatorial Assistant Carolyn Parker, Research Professional Morgan Simpson, Store Supervisor Janet Thompson, Assistant Manager James Whitney, Collection Manager Ichthyology Ethnology and History & Tour Coordinator Communications Molly Lee, Curator Emerita Andres Lopez, Curator* Kerynn Fisher, Manager Angela Linn, Collection Manager * UAF faculty holding joint appointment museum Advisory Committee friends of the uA museum Mike Cook, Chair Kirk Lanterman Therese Sharp Board Members Donna Dinsmore David Norton Linda Anderson Jim Lund Bill Stroecker Helen Atkinson Ted Fathauer Lee O’Hare Jane Behlke Bob Magee Joseph E. Usibelli Mary Binkley Jackie Goering Bill Stroecker Michael Burns Sherry Modrow Richard Wien DeLois Burggraf Don Gray Ellen Whitcher Mary Jane Fate Grace Berg Schaible Nadine Winters Phyllis Church Ron Inouye the Year in numbers Total attendance: 92,900 Number of free events: 14 Attendance at free events: 3,230 Volunteer hours: 5,244 Full-time staff equivalent: 2.5 Accessions: 296 New specimens: 29,215 Outgoing loans: 113 Chilkat wallhanging by Anna Brown Ehlers, purchased with funding from the Rasmuson Foundation Art Acquisition Initiative. Angela Linn Angela Museum Director: Carol Diebel University of Alaska Museum of the North Editor: Kerynn Fisher PO Box 756960 Designer: Dixon Jones Fairbanks, Alaska 99775 Tel 907.474.7505 Copyright © 2010 The University of Alaska Fairbanks is Fax 907.474.5469 Cover: A four-person team from accredited by the Northwest Commission on [email protected] China created the museum’s 2008- Colleges and Universities. 09 butterfly-themed ice sculpture, museum.uaf.edu Awakening Transformation. Photo by The University of Alaska Museum UAF is an affirmative action/equal opportunity www.facebook.com/alaskamuseum Tamara Martz of the North is accredited by the American Association of Museums. employer and educational institution. www.twitter.com/alaskamuseum from the Director Dear Friends, In addition to our existing museum-based education programs, we launched a new initiative to take a planetarium outreach pro- I’m honored to share with you some of the gram to rural Alaska school districts. We hope to inspire future highlights of the University of Alaska Museum generations of scientists through this program, a NASA-funded of the North’s FY09 fiscal year. partnership with UAF’s Geophysical Institute. Though I didn’t begin my tenure as the mu- We did all of these in very challenging economic times. Though seum director until after the close of the FY09 we are a state-supported museum, state funding typically accounts Courtesy of Carol Diebel Carol of Courtesy fiscal year, when you read about our activities, for only a third of our budget. A downturn in tourism in Alaska took I think you’ll see why I was drawn to this museum. its toll on our visitation and with it visitor-based revenue, which also With world-class research collections combined with engaging accounts for almost a third of our income. exhibits and outreach programs, the University of Alaska Museum While major economic challenges remain, my first few months of the North serves very diverse audiences, including visitors from at the museum have assured me that the museum is in an excel- around the world, an international research community and the lent position to weather these storms. The strength of our collec- communities across the state. In FY09, the museum’s research, ex- tions and research partnerships, the dedication and expertise of the hibits and research programs served all those audiences admirably. staff and support from the community will ensure that the museum Field research took our faculty curators and students to all corners continues to thrive. of the state as well as several international sites. Often in partner- ship with federal agencies and community organizations, this work added new specimens and artifacts to our collections, helping us document Alaska’s natural history and cultural traditions. We were also honored to co-host the American Society of Mammologists’ Carol Diebel 2009 annual meeting, an event that brought hundreds of research- Museum Director ers to Fairbanks and gave us a chance to highlight our research pro- grams and our Fairbanks home. Carol Diebel joined the museum staff in October 2009. She previ- Our exhibits continued to reach diverse audiences. The fiscal year ously served as the director of natural environment at the Museum of began with a hunting and trapping exhibit. Many of our lectures and New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, where she led the museum’s natu- family programs were developed to complement that exhibit. We ral history research, curatorial and collections team. She succeeded closed the year with a timely photography exhibit that highlighted Aldona Jonaitis, who retired in September 2009 after 16 years as mu- the impact of climate change on polar bears. seum director. Contents Public Research & Publications Staff Development Gifts to the Visitor Financial Grants & Programs Collections Professional & Membership Collections Services Summary Contracts Service 2 4 8 8 9 11 12 13 13 Tamara Martz Tamara The Last Polar Bear special exhibit. Tamara Martz Tamara Public Programs 2 Students learn about insects during a docent-led school tour program. Tamara Martz Tamara exhibits The museum also featured a short-term display of contemporary During FY09, the museum presented four special exhibits: furnishings by Tanya Aquiñaga, the result of her week-long artist residency UAF. Hunting & Trapping in Alaska’s Interior: Our Stories, Our Lives Additions to the Rose Berry Alaska Art Gallery included a sculp- highlighted traditions and values passed down through genera- ture pair (“Iron Eskimo” and “Iron Matriarch”) by Fairbanks artist Mike tions of Alaskan hunters and trappers. The exhibit’s six-month run Croskrey and a 1902 oil painting by James Stuart. Staff also installed was designed to capture both the summer visitor season and the a new selection of Michio Hoshino’s landscape and wildlife photo- local audience in fall. Several programs were offered in conjunc- graphs in the Natural Wonders Gallery adjacent to the entrance to tion with the exhibit, including a day-long expo with demonstra- the Gallery of Alaska. This exhibit space is dedicated to Hoshino’s tions by local experts, a family program on mammal tracking and work, with images selected from the 130 large-scale prints donated the premier of the film “Eating Alaska.” After the exhibit closed, to the museum by Naoko Hoshino. several components were installed in the Gallery of Alaska, includ- ing a display of historic Winchester cartridges and 27 rifles from the history collection along with stone and bone tools from the education & outreach archaeology collection. The museum launched a major new outreach initiative: taking a Yuungnaqpiallerput/The Way We Genuinely Live: Masterworks digital, portable planetarium to rural villages to inspire students of Yup’ik Science & Survival highlighted the innovations and in- in earth and space sciences. The three-year program is a partner- genuity that have allowed the Yup’ik people to thrive in the sub- ship with UAF’s Geophysical Institute and is funded by a $488,000 arctic tundra of the Bering Sea coast. The exhibit featured more NASA grant. In FY09, the program reached 2,700 Alaskans through than 100 artifacts from national and international collections, in- classroom activities and community science nights. cluding 19th and early 20th century tools, containers, weapons, Almost 3,700 Fairbanks-area school children explored the muse- watercraft and clothing. The Anchorage Museum and the Calista um over the course of the school year, a 16% increase from the pre- Elders Council developed the exhibit with guid- vious school year. Students