Volume 33, No. 2 Quarterly of the Alaska Historical Society Summer 2005 Notes from around the state ummer’s here again and as musicians just might gather there regularly over usual we note that while the summer to practice and add a little joy to the S winters seem interminable, season. somehow summer rushes past as quickly as weeds grow in the gar- The society is highly pleased with the new den. While we’d like to complain super-vacuum donated to the museum. Now about the unfairness of it all, we the place can be properly cleaned. They’re also really need to dash to enjoy the happy with the redesigned Website. Check it out long days. Boating, hiking, garden- at http://www.eagleak.org and enjoy the maps, ing, painting, or just sitting out in photographs, and offerings of the museum shop. the sun with a good book; any excuse to be outside. Well-known Alaska historian, Pat Roppel, is However, as the Victorians liked not only giving Wrangellites and subscribers to to say, “stern duty calls”. Summer her monthly newsletter a great treat, but raising is also when people from around money for the new Nolan Center, which contains the world show up in Alaska to the museum. She gives origins of various places share our joy. Our museums are around the town, local news, and brief items of swamped and volunteers are neces- Wrangell’s history. So far readers have learned sary. I’m sure particular blessings in of an on-going archaeology project, the ten who the afterlife await those who man formed the first all-women mining corporation the buildings, answer the questions in the United States and mined garnets, and so nicely, even the really dumb the lectures scheduled at the museum. There’s questions about Alaska money or also a nice explanation of the Crittenden Creek Alaska Steamship Co. menu. just how dark it really gets in the winter. Not Juneau-Douglas City Museum Collection. area, as well as a biography of Crittenden. The sure what form the blessings take, but wouldn’t photos of paddlewheel steamers on the Sitkine be surprised if February has a tropical flavor. are on display at the Nolan Center this sum- mer. If you want to get in on the fun, send $20.00 to Friends of the Wrangell Museum at The Juneau-Douglas City Museum spent part P.O. Box 1998, Wrangell, Alaska, 99929. Contact of the winter analyzing its collections’ strengths wrghistory@hotmail for more information. and weaknesses. An excellent idea; the publish- ing of the resulting list can spur donations of just what they need. Wandering around Anchorage this summer? The big summer exhibition is Pleasures and Don’t forget 420 M Street, home of the Oscar Perils: Juneau’s Steamships and Shipwrecks, Anderson House. It was one of the first wood- covering the heyday of steamer traffic in Alaska. framed houses built in Anchorage and is open Photographs and artifacts will be featured. for guided tours June 1 through September 15. Hours are 12:00-5:00 p.m., Monday-Friday, closed The newsletter also discussed the eight weekends. Admission is $3.00 for adults and Douglas Island cemeteries. Asians, Serbi- $1.00 for children. Good history on the cheap! ans, and Tlingits had their plots, the fraternal orders had theirs, and the Roman Catholics their area. The City of Douglas had the largest The winter edition of the newsletter of the Sitka one, although there’s no record of a deed being Historical Society contains an interesting ac- delivered. count of the capital move from Sitka to Juneau in 1900. Juneau was a booming mining town, and the Klondike gold rush meant Sitka was Friends of Elva Scott, long time Eagle historian off the quick route north. Governor John Brady and community activist as well as a valued long stalled the move until 1906, when Will Hoggatt, time member of the Alaska Historical Society, a mining man, was named governor. The original are sure she’s enjoying herself (likely organiz- congressional law stated “suitable grounds and ing the history of Heaven). They have added a buildings” had to be provided. Hoggatt rented plaque to the cedar gazebo built in her honor two large houses and sent for the records. last year, and there are rumors that local Continued on page 2 Notes from around the state Since then Sitka has watched with amusement hit. The first featured five photography learning when Anchorage provides the same arguments stations consisting of a camera obscura, a shadow Juneau hatched — the main source of population wall, lens exploration, cyanotype printing, and and inconvenient location of the present capital — stereoscopes. The 60 attendees left very happy I but always voted to keep Juneau. and looking forward to the next demonstration. At one time it was suggested the capital be moved Ketchikan has also jazzed up its website. See city. to the old pulp mill location and a high fence ketchikan.ak.us/departments/museums/index.html erected between it and town. Another tongue-in- and see what you think. cheek idea, when the ill-fated state ferry, Wicker- sham, was up for sale…well, you get the picture. Seward: The First 100 Years, the video docu- mentary, won a certificate of excellence from The Valdez Museum has various clever ways of the Communicator Awards 2004 Video Competi- involving the whole community. For several years tion and is now under consideration for further it has sponsored the Annual Student Art Show in honors, reports the Resurrection Bay Historical the spring. Almost any art medium is accepted, Society. DVDs and videos are available for $19.95 and the show is not judged; the idea is to encour- plus $3.00 postage. The $3.00 stays the same if age creativity from kindergarten to college age. multiple copies are ordered. There’s a bargain. Order from the society at P.O. Box 55, Seward, Stitches in Time is the quilt and fiber art exhibi- Alaska, 99664, or 907/224-3902. tion for the summer and all sewers are welcome. Quilts will be raffled off at the end of the season Young steamship excursionist and the proceeds given to several non-profit finds a good seat. groups. Juneau-Douglas City Museum Collection. One of the founders of the society in 1962 and its first president, Seely Hall, Jr., died in March in For a look at the exhibits and a general tour of Juneau. Seely and his wife comprised one-fourth Valdez history, enjoy them through www.valdez- of the original eight members. His banking career museum.org. They also can be reached at 217 took him to Anchorage, Seward, Sitka, and Juneau. Egan Drive, Valdez, Alaska, 99686, or give a call He was also known as an enthusiastic artist and to 907/835-2764. an organizer of the Juneau Artists’ Co-op. Photographs and artifacts from Ketchikan’s color- A May tour of the new museum of the Kasilof ful history form the summer exhibition, Tides of Regional Historical Association is mentioned. Change, at the Tongass Historical Museum. Welcome, Kasilof. We’re told the movie of a 1936 One of the most valuable contributions a histori- hunting trip shown as a fund raiser last March, cal society can give is a history of a local person, was successful, and the museum is open year- family, or business. As time goes on and memo- round. Call first at 907/262-2999. Now we’d love ries fade, these become a nugget if not a gold to learn more. mine for the serious researcher. Talbot’s Building Supply, in business since 1927 under the same family, is covered in the current newsletter. Kudos Busy times coming for the Palmer Historical for the society. Society. The 70th reunion of Colonist fami- lies will be in mid-June, the Pioneers of Alaska The museum put together Funday at the Museum, will have their annual meeting in September in a series aimed at children and found it is a smash Palmer, and the 50th reunion of the Palmer High class of 1955 will take place. The Palmer newsletter commented tartly on a mid-winter speaker it says “rambled and specu- lated” on the subject. “As a result, we don’t know Gas boat Walrus much more about it than we did.” Two theories: 1. on the Ketchikan waterfront, 1904. Cabin fever. 2. An insider’s joke. Photo courtesy Tongass Historical Museum, Harriet Or, of course, it’s always possible the speaker did Hunt photo. a terrible job. Memorial Day weekend saw the annual meeting of the McCarthy-Kennicott Historical Museum. Contact 907/554-4408 or [email protected] for more information. 2 Alaska History News Notes from around the state The Wasilla-Knik Historical Society and its The voters of Anchorage agreed to a new proper- partner, the Dorothy Page Museum, had a great ty tax to enable the Anchorage Museum of His- project for the students of the MidValley High tory and Art to expand. This type of community School. They put together a new Wasilla Pioneers approval is not only welcomed for the money; it exhibition with short biographies and photo- is an affirmation of the work the museum is do- graphs of prominent and just well-known early ing. Congratulations! settlers. They’re also mounting a new display of Knik and old Wasilla featuring a miniature replica A big summer exhibition this year continues the of a local Knik business. Knik and Wasilla go series on points of view. This is Point of View VI: together — when the Alaska Railroad was being Defiant Objects and compares and contrasts the built, the dwindling gold rush camp of Knik museum’s contemporary art with its ethnograph- moved to the new Wasilla site.