Iñupiaq men in qayaqs, Noatak, Alaska, circa 1929. Edward S. Curtis Collection, Library of Congress Digital Collections.
Crossing the Chilkoot Pass, circa 1898. Courtesy Candy Waugaman and Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.
The Gold Rush boomtown of Nome on the Seward Peninsula, 1900. Courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey Photographic Library.
Alaskana is an annotated listing of recent publications on the North featured in Alaska History, the journal of the Alaska Historical Society.
Compiled by Bruce Merrell, Alaska Bibliographer at the Z. J. Loussac Library in Anchorage.
James “Andy” Anderson as told to Jim Rearden, Arctic Bush Pilot: From Navy Combat to Flying Alaska’s Northern Wilderness (Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press, 2000), 255 pp., paper, $16.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-945397-83-6, P.O. Box 82368, Kenmore, WA 98028. Memoirs of a former Navy pilot who pioneered bush plane service in the Koyukuk River area in the 1950s and 1960s.
Frances Backhouse and Adrian Dorst, Hiking with Ghosts: The Chilkoot Trail, Then and Now (Vancouver: Raincoast Books, 1999), 129 pp., paper, $18.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-55192-276-2, 9050 Shaughnessy Street, Vancouver, BC V6P 6E5.
Mary J. Barry, Jack and Nellie Brown: Pioneer Settlers of Anchorage, Alaska (Anchorage: MJP Barry, 2000), 142 pp., paper, $25.00 plus postage, ISBN 0-9617009-7-1, order from Cook Inlet Book Company, 415 West Fifth Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. Life stories of the first permanent residents of Anchorage, who arrived on their honeymoon in 1912 and stayed until their deaths six decades later.
Bo Bennett, Rods & Wings: A History of the Fishing Lodge Business in Bristol Bay, Alaska (Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 2000), 384 pp., cloth, $39.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-888125-62-4, order from Cook Inlet Book Company, 415 West Fifth Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. History of the role of float planes and their pilots in developing world-class sport fishing in southwestern Alaska.
Knut Bergsland, editor and interpreter, Ancient Aleut Personal Names = Kadaangim Asangin/Asangis: Materials from the Billings Expedition, 1790-1792 (Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, 1998), 202 pp., paper, $16.00 plus $4.50 postage, ISBN 1-55500-065-7, P.O. Box 757680, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7680. A glimpse of Aleut culture through an examination of Russian-American tax records.
Robert T. Boyd, The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence: Introduced Infectious Diseases and Population Decline (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999), 428 pp., cloth, $50.00 plus postage, ISBN 0-295-97837-6, P.O. Box 50096, Seattle, WA 98145-5096. A study of the spread of disease on the Northwest Coast and its effect on Native populations.
Robert Bringhurst, Nine Visits to the Mythworld: Ghandl of the Qahahl Llaanas (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000), 224 pp., cloth, $29.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-8032-1316-6, Lincoln, NE 68588-0484. A month of stories told by “the blind poet of Sunshine and Sealion Town,” collected by ethnographer John Swanton in 1900 and 1901 in the Queen Charolotte Islands.
Robert Bringhurst, A Story as Sharp as a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000), 527 pp., cloth, $45.00 plus postage, ISBN 0-8032-1314-X or paper, $24.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-8032-6179-9, Lincoln, NE 68588-0484. A translation and study of stories, poems, and history collected by ethnographer John Swanton.
Steven C. Brown, editor, Spirits of the Water: Native Art Collected on Expeditions to Alaska and British Columbia, 1774-1910 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000), 207 pp., paper, $45.00 plus postage, ISBN 0-295-97986-0, P.O. Box 50096, Seattle, WA 98145-5096. Catalog for an exhibit organized by Fundacion “la Caixa” of Barcelona, Spain; originally published in Spanish.
Briton C. Busch and Barry M. Gough, editors, Fur Traders from New England: The Boston Men in the North Pacific, 1787-1800, The Narratives of William Dane Phelps, William Sturgis & James Gilchrist Swan (Spokane: Arthur H. Clark, 1997), 137 pp., cloth, $29.50 plus postage, ISBN 0-87062-261-7, P.O. Box 14707, Spokane, WA 99214. Annotated documents and excerpts from the early fur trade.
Francis E. Caldwell, Cassiar’s Elusive Gold (Victoria: Trafford Publishing, 2000), 156 pp., paper, $13.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-55212-337-5, 2333 Government Street, Suite 6E, Victoria, BC V8T 4P4. Story of British Columbia’s nineteenth century Cassiar gold rush.
Wilford Corbin, A World Apart: My Life Among the Eskimos of Alaska (Homer: Wizard Works, 2000), 274 pp., paper, $19.95 plus $3.00 postage, ISBN 1-890692-03-4, P.O. Box 1125, Homer, AK 99603. A young North Carolina couple comes north to teach in Wales and Scammon Bay during the 1950s.
Richard Dauenhauer, Conflicting Visions in Alaskan Education (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 1997), 48 pp., paper, $6.50 plus $4.00 postage, P.O. Box 756240, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6240. Contrasts the approaches of nineteenth century missionaries Sheldon Jackson and Ivan Veniaminov toward the education of Natives in Alaska, drawing parallels to modern times.
N. N. Dikov, Mysteries in the Rocks of Ancient Chukotka (Petroglyphs of Pegtymel’), translated by Richard L. Bland (Anchorage: National Park Service, Shared Beringian Heritage Program, 2000), 171 pp., paper, request from 2525 Gambell Street, Room 107, Anchorage, AK 99503-2892. Translation of a 1971 study of prehistoric arctic rock art in the Russian Far East.
E. James Dixon, Bones, Boats, & Bison: Archeology and the First Colonization of Western North America (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1999), 322 pp., cloth, $49.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-8263-2057-0 or paper, $24.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-8263-2138-0, 1720 Lomas Boulevard, NE, Albuquerque, NM 87131-1591. A re-evaluation of the theory that North America was peopled by Asians crossing over the Bering Land Bridge; rather, the author argues, water craft reached the deglaciated Northwest Coast about 13,500 years ago.
Richard P. Emanuel, Living Off the Land, Volume 27, Number 4 of Alaska Geographic (Anchorage: Alaska Geographic Society, 2000), 96 pp., paper, $21.95 plus $5.00 postage, ISBN 1-56661-050-8, P. O. Box 93370, Anchorage, AK 99509-3370. A look at traditional and modern subsistence practices throughout Alaska.
Marilyn Jordan George, Following the Alaskan Dream: My Salmon Trolling Adventures in the Last Frontier (Petersburg: The Author, 1999), 365 pp., paper, $24.95 plus $4.00 postage, ISBN 0-9671639-1-9, P.O. Box 1031, Petersburg, AK 99833. Autobiography of a southeast Alaskan fisherman’s wife.
Carroll V. Glines, Bernt Balchen: Polar Aviator (Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1999), 310 pp., cloth, $29.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-56098-906-8, P.O. Box 960, Herndon, VA 20172-0960.
Kristen Griffin, Early Views: Historical Vignettes of Sitka National Historical Park (Anchorage: Alaska Support Office, National Park Service and Sitka National Historical Park, 2000), 127 pp., paper, request from National Park Service, Alaska Regional Office, 2525 Gambell Street, Room 107, Anchorage, AK 99503-2892. Containing over seventy illustrations, many in color, this is a history of the smallest and oldest federal park unit in Alaska.
Jan Harper-Haines, Cold River Spirits: The Legacy of an Athabascan-Irish Family from Alaska’s Yukon River (Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press, 2000), 192 pp., cloth, $19.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-945397-85-2, P.O. Box 82368, Kenmore, WA 98028. Family history of the Harper family, beginning with author Harper-Haines’ grandmother.
Hans Himmelheber, Where the Echo Began and Other Oral Traditions from Southwestern Alaska, translated by Kurt and Ester Vitt, edited by Ann Fienup-Riordan (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2000), 224 pp., cloth, $39.95 plus $4.00 postage, ISBN 1-88963-03-8, University of Alaska Fairbanks, P.O. Box 756420, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6240. Based on fieldwork done in 1936-37 and originally published in German, this new compilation of ethnographic information includes legends, details of traditional activities, and marvelous candid photographs.
Industry Pioneers: ARCO in Alaska, 1955-1999 (Anchorage: ARCO Alaska, 1999), 199 pp., cloth, $32.00 plus postage, order from Anchorage Museum of History and Art Gift Shop, 121 West 7th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. A pictorial celebration of the oil company’s employees and their accomplishments.
Erv Jensen, Little Boats & Big Salmon: Fishing Adventures in Alaska (Silverdale, WA: Three Trees Publishing, 1999), 208 pp., paper, $11.95 plus $3.00 postage, ISBN 0-9668753-0-3, Box 333, Silverdale, WA 98383. A lifetime of southeast Alaskan stories derived from the author’s columns for Bremerton, Washington’s newspaper, The Sun.
Aleksandr I. Lebedintsev, Early Maritime Cultures of Northwestern Priokhot’e, translated by Richard L. Bland (Anchorage: National Park Service, Shared Beringian Heritage Program, 2000), 288 pp., paper, request from 2525 Gambell Street, Room 107, Anchorage, AK 99503-2892. Translation of a 1990 archeological study of the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk in the Magadan Region of the Russian Far East.
Molly C. Lee, Not Just a Pretty Face: Dolls and Human Figurines in Alaska Native Cultures (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Museum, 1999), 75 pp., paper, $19.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-931163-18-8, P.O. Box 756960, Fairbanks, AK 99775. The catalog for an exhibit celebrating “the many uses of dolls and figurines from Alaska Native cultures past and present.”
Frederic Loomis, compiled by Lee Sims, Miner, Preacher, Doctor, Teacher: Stories of an Odyssey from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Ketchikan, Alaska, to a Pioneering Medical Career in Oakland, California (Walnut Creek, CA: Hardscratch Press, 2000), 128 pp., paper, $19.50 plus $3.00 postage, ISBN 0-9625429-9-7, order from Wizard Works, P.O. Box 1125, Homer, AK 99603-1125. Alaskan portion includes a description of turn-of-the-century life at the Prince of Wales Island mining camp of Dolomi.
Howard Luke, My Own Trail, edited by Jan Steinbright Jackson (Fairbanks: Alaska Native Knowledge Network, 1998), 112 pp., paper, $12.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-877962-32-5, P.O. Box 756730, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6730. Autobiography of an Athabaskan elder from Interior Alaska.
Mary Malloy, Souvenirs of the Fur Trade: Northwest Coast Indian Art and Artifacts Collected by American Mariners, 1788-1844 (Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum Press, 2000), 188 pp., paper, $35.00 plus postage, ISBN 0-87365-833-7, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138. An illustrated look at artifacts held by ten institutions.
Constance Martin with essays by Richard V. West, Distant Shores: The Odyssey of Rockwell Kent (Chesterfield, MA: Chameleon Books, 2000), 128 pp., cloth, $45.00 plus postage, ISBN 0-520-22711-5 or paper, $24.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-520-22712-3, 31 Smith Road, Chesterfield, MA 01012. Catalog for a museum exhibit of the controversial New England artist’s work; he and his son spent the winter of 1918-19 on Fox Island in Resurrection Bay near Seward.
Donna Matthews and Barbara Sweetland Smith, Science Under Sail: Russia’s Great Voyages to America, 1728-1867-Instructional Guide (Anchorage: Anchorage Museum of History and Art, 2000), 201 pp., spiral-bound, $24.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-885267-03-7, Anchorage Museum of History and Art Gift Shop, 121 West 7th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. Illustrated study materials and classroom activities arranged around ten topics, to accompany the museum exhibit of the same name.
Peter J. Mitham, Robert W. Service: A Bibliography (New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Books, 2000), 440 pp., cloth, $65.00 plus postage, ISBN 1-58456-011-8, 310 Delaware Street, New Castle, DE 19720. A descriptive bibliography for the North’s most famous poet; includes exhaustive listings of books, articles, translations, archives, biographical material, musicals, sound recordings, and films.
Jean A. Murray, Music of the Alaska-Klondike Gold Rush: Songs and History (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 1999), 440 pp., cloth, $54.95 plus $4.00 postage, ISBN 1-889963-13-5 or comb bound, $35.95 plus $4.00 postage, ISBN 1-889963-14-3, P.O. Box 756240, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6240. A recording of fifteen songs is also available, in either cassette or compact disc format.
Walter Noden, Alaska Salmon and Sail (New York: Vantage Press, 2000), 130 pp., paper, $8.95 plus $2.50 postage, ISBN 0-533-13378-5, 516 West 34th Street, New York, NY 10001. Son of a Yup’ik mother and a Scotch-Irish father, the author recalls his life spent as a commercial fisherman, bush pilot, and gold prospector in southwest Alaska.
Karen and Ralph Norris, Northwest Carving Traditions (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 1999), 237 pp., cloth, $70.00 plus $3.95 postage, ISBN 0-7643-0799-1, 4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310. Over 400 color photographs of carved objects, from totems to miniature canoe paddles.
Rose Ragsdale, editor, Anchorage 2000: Millennium at the Top (Anchorage: Morris Communications, 2000), 119 pp., cloth, $39.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-892154-07-2, or paper, $19.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-892154-06-4, order from Cook Inlet Book Company, 415 West 5th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. “A pictorial journey of Anchorage to the new millennium and beyond,” this mixture of historic and contemporary photographs tells the history of Anchorage. Profiles of eight Alaskan businesses are appended.
Penny Rennick, editor, The Best of Alaska Geographic: Our First 100 Issues, Volume 27, Number 1 of Alaska Geographic (Anchorage: Alaska Geographic Society, 2000), 144 pp., paper, $24.95 plus $5.00 postage, ISBN 1-56661-049-4, P.O. Box 93370, Anchorage, AK 99509-3370. Illustrated excerpts from the first 26 years of this quarterly publication.
Penny Rennick, editor, Seals, Sea Lions and Sea Otters, Volume 27, Number 2 of Alaska Geographic (Anchorage: Alaska Geographic Society, 2000), 96 pp., paper, $21.95 plus $5.00 postage, ISBN 1-56661-052-4, P. O. Box 93370, Anchorage, AK 99509-3370. Mostly descriptive, but includes sidebars on species interactions with humans through prehistory and history.
Richard W. Robinson, Fairbanks Cabbies (Bryn Mawr, PA: Buy Books on the web.com, 2000), 152 pp., paper, $13.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-7414-0359-5, order from Cook Inlet Book Co., 415 West Fifth Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. Biographies of colorful characters who made their living driving taxis.
John Robson, Captain Cook’s World: Maps of the Life and Voyages of James Cook R. N. (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000), 212 pp., cloth, $40.00 plus postage, ISBN 0-295-98019-2, P.O. Box 50096, Seattle, WA 98145-5094. An atlas, chronology and biography of the life and voyages of the famous explorer, told with 128 new maps.
Barbara Sweetland Smith, Science Under Sail: Russia’s Great Voyages to America 1728-1867 (Anchorage: Anchorage Museum of History and Art, 2000), 40 pp., paper, $12.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-885267-02-9, Anchorage Museum of History and Art Gift Shop, 121 West 7th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. Catalog for an exhibit that documents the history of scientific discovery in the North Pacific during Alaska’s Russian period.
Mary Ann Sweeney, The Machine Shop at Kennecott: A Collection Plan (Copper Center, AK: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park/Preserve, 2000), 219 pp., spiral-bound, request from P.O. Box 439, Copper Center, AK 99573. A study of industrial artifacts found in the machine shop at the Kennecott copper mine, which was abruptly abandoned in 1938.
Alan Taylor, The Strangest Town in Alaska: The History of Whittier, Alaska and the Portage Valley (Seattle: Kokogiak Media, 2000), 114 pp., paper, $16.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-9677860-0-2, 9457 Phinney Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98103. Consisting primarily of a Cold War era skyscraper at the end of a two-mile tunnel, Whittier probably is the “strangest town in Alaska.”
Paul J. White, Cultural Landscape Report: Bremner Historic District, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska (Copper Center, AK: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park/Preserve, 2000), 218 pp., paper, request from P.O. Box 439, Copper Center, AK 99573. History of activities and inventory of structures and artifacts in this remote region southwest of McCarthy.
Wilma Williams, Alaska Sea Escapes: True, Harrowing Tales of Disaster and Escapes in the Wild Waters of Alaska’s Fishing Industry (Homer: Wizard Works, 1998), 126 pp., paper, $14.95 plus $3.00 postage, ISBN 1-890692-00-X, P.O. Box 1125, Homer, AK 99603. A compendium of trouble at sea that includes the story of the sinking of Alaska Steam’s passenger steamship Yukon near Seward in 1946.
Rodman Wilson and Paul Crews, Sr., with Lowell Thomas, Jr. and Tony Martin, Tordrillo: Pioneer Climbs and Flights in the Tordrillo Mountains of Alaska, 1957-1997 (Anchorage: Todd Communications, 1999), 220 pp., cloth, $30.00 plus $3.00 postage 1-57833-093-9 or paper, $20.00 plus $3.00 postage, ISBN 1-57833-094-7, 203 W. 15th Avenue, Suite 102, Anchorage, AK 99501. A history of airplane-supported mountaineering eighty miles west of Anchorage in the Alaska Range.
Kesler E. Woodward, Painting Alaska, Volume 27, Number 3 of Alaska Geographic (Anchorage: Alaska Geographic Society, 2000), 112 pp., paper, $21.95 plus $5.00 postage, ISBN 1-56661-051-6, P.O. Box 93370, Anchorage, AK 99509-3370. A panorama of Alaskan pictorial art through the years.
