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Alaskana 2006

Alaska History, Vol. 21, #1, Spring 2006 (issued April 2006)

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.

Margaret B. Blackman, Upside Down: Seasons among the Nunamiut (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004), 206 pp., hardbound, $27.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-8032-1335-2, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE 68588-0255. After twenty years of anthropological work among the Nunamiut Eskimos of Anaktuvuk Pass, the author reflects on the changes she has seen, both among the Natives and in herself.

Rolfe G. Buzzell, Cultural Resources Survey Report for the Relocation of McCarthy Road (Project No. 66008) (Anchorage: Office of History and Archaeology, 2005), 110 pp., comb-bound, request from OHA, Div. of Parks and Outdoor Recreation, Alaska Dept. of Natural Resources, 550 West 7th Avenue, Suite 1310, Anchorage, AK 99501-3565. Includes much on the history of the Copper River and Northwestern Railway, especially after the closing of the railroad in 1938; the McCarthy Road was built on the old railbed.

Joe Clark with Joe Faith, Nukalpiaq: A Good Hunter & Provider (Victoria, B.C.: Trafford Publishing, 2005), 239 pp., paperback, $19.95 plus $5.95 postage, ISBN 1-4120-2469-2, order from Joe Clark, P.O. Box 16, Clark’s Point, AK 99536. Illustrated autobiography of southwest Alaska Native reindeer herder, hunter, and fisherman.

Charles L. Dean, Soldiers & Sled Dogs: A History of Military Dog Mushing (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005), 129 pp., hardbound, $24.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-8032-1728-5, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE 68588-0255.

Julie Decker and Chris Chiei, editors, Quonset Hut: Metal Living for a Modern Age (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2005), 165 pp., hardbound, $22.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-56898-519-3, 37 East Seventh Street, New York, NY 10003. Museum exhibit catalog, about World War II temporary buildings that were recycled into an amazing variety of postwar uses. Includes chapters about the huts in Alaska during and after the war.

Don E. Dumond, A Naknek Chronicle: Ten Thousand Years in a Land of Lakes and Rivers and Mountains of Fire (Anchorage: National Park Service, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Lake Clark-Katmai Studies Center, 2005), 111 pp., paperback, ISBN 0-16-072513-5, request from 240 West 5th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. A study of the Naknek River region in southwest Alaska, covering prehistory as well as nineteenth and early twentieth century history.

Maria Enckell and Heikki Hanka, Transfigurations: Finns in Russian America (Jyvaskylan, Finland: Jyvaskyla University, 2004), 49pp., paperback, 9.80 Euros plus 3.0 Euros postage, credit cards only, ISBN 951-39-1727-4, order from Genealogical Society of Finland, Liisankatu 16 A, FI-00170 Helsinki, Finland. Historical context of an altarpiece that was painted in 1839 and brought to Sitka by the first Lutheran minister serving in Russian America.

Robert Hunter, The Greenpeace to Amchitka: An Environmental Odyssey (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2004), 237 pp., paperback, $19.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-55152-178-4, 101-1014 Homer Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 2W9. A boatload of peace activists sails to the Aleutian Islands to protest the 1971 Cannikin nuclear bomb test. Greenpeace, the environmental organization, was founded as a result.

Robert Joseph, editor, Listening to Our Ancestors: The Art of Native Life Along the North Pacific Coast (Washington, D.C.: National Museum of the American Indian in association with National Geographic Society, 2005), 191 pp., paper, $24.00 plus postage, ISBN 0-7922-4190-8, NMAI Publications, MRC 590, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012. Catalog for an exhibit that opened in January 2006.

Thomas S. Litwin, editor, The Harriman Alaska Expedition Retraced: A Century of Change, 1899-2001 (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2005), 287 pp., hardbound, $29.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-8135-3505-0, 100 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8099. A collection of essays that attempts to “open the 1899 expedition time capsule while sailing the same route as their colleagues did one hundred years before.” Includes dozens of historic photographs, some of them previously unpublished.

Ryan Madden, Alaska (Northampton, MA: Interlink Publishing, 2005), 317 pp., paperback, $20.00 plus postage, ISBN 1-56656-566-9, 46 Crosby Street, Northampton, MA 01060. Part of the “On-the-Road Histories” series; includes sidebars with biographies and community descriptions and a chronology of Alaska history.

The Malaspina Expedition, 1789-1794: Journal of the Voyage by Alejandro Malaspina, Volume Two—Panama to the Philippines, edited by Andrew David, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Carlos Novi, and Glyndwr Williams (London: The Hakluyt Society, in association with Museo Naval, Madrid, 2003), 511 pp., hardbound, $99.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-904180-81-6, order from Ashgate, P.O. Box 2225, Williston, VT 05495-2225. This volume—part of a three-volume set—includes the Spanish explorer’s travels in 1791 from Acapulco to Prince William Sound and back to Acapulco, with stops at Port Mulgrave (near present-day Yakutat) and Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island.

Charles M. Mobley, Cultural Resource Investigations for the Fire Island Wind Power and Transmission Line Project, Cook Inlet, Alaska (Anchorage: Charles M. Mobley & Associates, 2005), 58 pp., paperback, request from 200 W. 34th Avenue, #534, Anchorage, AK 99503. Includes pre-history, historic Native use, commercial fishing, and military and Federal Aviation Administration activities on this island located just offshore from Anchorage.

Richard L. Proenneke, More Readings from One Man’s Wilderness: The Journals of Richard L. Proenneke, 1974-1980, edited by John Branson (Anchorage: National Park Service, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, 2005), 472 pp., paperback, request from 240 West 5th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. Journals documenting Proenneke’s life at Twin Lakes in southwest Alaska during the years leading up to the creation of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. Proenneke’s cabin was included in the new park and he donated it, its contents, and his journals to the National Park Service when he retired to California in 2000. (The classic One Man’s Wilderness is a paraphrase of the author’s earlier journals from 1968-69.)

Louis L. Renner, S.J., Alaskana Catholica: A History of the Catholic Church in Alaska (Spokane: Arthur H. Clark, 2005), 744 pp., hardbound, $82.50 plus $6.00 postage, ISBN 0-87062-342-7, P.O. Box 14707, Spokane, WA 99214-0707. “A reference work in the format of an encyclopedia,” written by a long-time Alaskan Jesuit priest.

Nigel Rigby, Pieter van der Merwe, and Glyn Williams, Pioneers of the Pacific: Voyages of Exploration, 1787-1810 (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2005), 144 pp., hardbound, $26.95 plus postage. An introduction to six English, French, and Spanish explorers who continued the work of Captain James Cook. Originally published by the National Maritime Museum, London in 2005.

Katherine Johnson Ringsmuth, Snug Harbor Cannery: A Beacon on the Forgotten Shore, 1919-1980 (Anchorage: National Park Service, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, 2005), 156 pp., paperback, request from 240 West 5th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. Illustrated study of the community that developed around a cannery on the west shore of Cook Inlet.

Jeanne M. Schaaf, Witness: Firsthand Accounts of the Largest Volcanic Eruption in the Twentieth Century (Anchorage: National Park Service, Katmai National Park and Preserve/Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve, Lake Clark-Katmai Studies Center, 2004), 32 pp., paperback, request from 240 West 5th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. Diaries, letters, and photographs describe the 1912 eruption of Novarupta in what is now Katmai National Park and Preserve.

Michael Sfraga, Bradford Washburn: A Life of Exploration (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2004), 260 pp., paperback, $24.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-87071-010-9, 101 Waldo Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331-6407. Biography of the renowned mountaineer, photographer, and scientist.

John E. Smelcer, editor, The Day That Cries Forever: Stories of the Destruction of Chenega During the 1964 Alaska Earthquake (Anchorage: Chenega Future, 2006), 76 pp., paperback, $12.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-57833-325-3, order from Todd Communications, 203 W. 15th Avenue, Suite 102, Anchorage, AK 99501. Twenty-six people, a quarter of Chenega’s population, died when tsunamis swept over the village in Prince William Sound. These are the memories of the survivors.

Grant R. Spearman, Into the Headwaters: A Nunamuit [sic] Ethnography of Fishing [Alaska?: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2005?], 179 pp. Illustrated account of fishing methods, based on interviews with elders of Anaktuvuk Pass.

United States Congress, Senate Committee on Military Affairs, Compilation of Narratives of Explorations in Alaska (New York: UMI/AstroLogos Books, [2005], 856 pp. in two volumes, paperback, $246.00 including postage, order through Marion Meyer Rare Books, P.O. Box 4252, East Hampton, NY 11937. This is a photofacsimile of the scarce original volume published by the Government Printing Office in 1900, minus all maps and reduced in size.

Mandy Whorton, Gustavious Williams, and Alan M. Alpert, History of Alaska’s Forward Operating Bases (FOBs): The Soviet Bomber Threat and North American Air Defenses during the Cold War (Argonne, IL: Argonne National Laboratory, 2001), 48 pp., paperback. History of Galena and King Salmon Air Force bases.

G. Frank Williss, “Do Things Right the First Time”: The National Park Service and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (Anchorage: National Park Service, Alaska Regional Office, 2005), second edition, 178 pp., paperback, request from 240 West 5th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. “This reformatted second edition is essentially the same document as the first (1985) edition. A new foreword has been added, an archival “recommendations’ section has been deleted, and minor errors in punctuation and content have been corrected.

Alaska History, Vol. 21, #2, Fall 2006 (issued November 2006)

Compiled by Bruce Merrell, Alaska Bibliographer at the Z. J. Loussac Library in Anchorage.

Alaska Highway and CANOL Bibliography, 3rd ed. (Whitehorse: Friends of the Yukon Archives Society and Yukon Archives, 2006), 143 pp., ISBN 1553622782, Box 2703, Whitehorse, YT Y1A 2C6. Indexed description of materials relating to World War II construction projects and held by the Yukon Archives. Included are manuscripts and organizational records, photographs, sound recordings, videos, and published materials.

Greg Asimakoupoulos, Ptarmigan Telegraph: The Story of Radio Station KICY (Chicago: Arctic Broadcasting Association, 2004), 149 pp., paperback, $10.50 plus postage, ISBN 0-9755150-0-4, 5101 N. Francisco Avenue, Chicago, IL 60625. The Evangelical Covenant Church’s mission radio station in Nome has broadcast to western Alaska and the Russian Far East since 1960.

John R. Bockstoce, The Opening of the Maritime Fur Trade at Bering Strait: Americans and Russians Meet the Kanigmiut in Kotzebue Sound (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2005), 78 pp., paperback, $24.00 plus $4.00 postage, ISBN 0-87169-951-6, order from DIANE Publishing Company, 330 Pusey Avenue, Unit #3 Rear, P.O. Box 1428, Collingdale, PA 19023. Account of the 1819-20 arrival of American and Russian fur traders on the northwest coast of Alaska. (This is Volume 95, Part 1 in the series Transactions of the American Philosophical Society.)

Neil Davis, Rockets Over Alaska: The Genesis of Poker Flat (Ester, AK: Alaska-Yukon Press, 2006), 244 pp., hardback, $30.00 plus postage, ISBN 0-9778141-0-6, P.O. Box 205, Ester, AK 99725. Illustrated history of the Poker Flat Research Range near Fairbanks from its beginnings in 1968, by one of its founders.

Phyllis Downing Carlson and Laurel Downing Bill, Aunt Phil’s Trunk, Volume I: An Alaska Historian’s Collection of Treasured Tales (Anchorage: Laudon Enterprises, 2006), 344 pp., paperback, $19.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-57833-330-1, order from Title Wave Books, 1360 W. Northern Lights Boulevard, Anchorage, AK 99503-2510. “This book contains a collection of Alaska history stories written by my aunt, Phyllis Downing Carlson, as well as stories written by me that came from tidbits found among the notes and rare books I inherited when she died in 1993.”

Don E. Dumond and Richard L. Bland, editors, Archaeology in Northeast Asia: On the Pathway to Bering Strait ([Eugene]: Museum of Natural and Cultural History, University of Oregon, in partnership with Shared Beringian Heritage Program, National Park Service, 2006), 228 pp., paperback, request from National Park Service, 240 West 5th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. “A collection of articles by American and Russian archaeologists who study Paleolithic (Mesolithic) and Neolithic periods of Beringia.”

Jennifer Duncan, Frontier Spirit: The Brave Women of the Klondike (Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 2003), 298 pp., hardback, $37.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-385-65904-0 or paperback, $21.00 plus postage, ISBN 0-385-65905-9. After a general account of the gold rush, the author devotes a chapter to each of eight remarkable women.

Ed Ferrell, compiler and editor, Biographies of Alaska-Yukon Pioneers, 1850-1950, Volume 5 (Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 2004), 299 pp., paperback, $29.00 plus postage, ISBN 0-7884-2503-X, order from Willow Bend Books, 65 E. Main Street, Westminster, MD 21157-5026. Biographical entries about early Alaskans, drawn primarily from newspaper obituaries and newspaper articles.

Robert Fortuine, “Must We All Die?”: Alaska’s Enduring Struggle with Tuberculosis (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2005), 264 pp., hardback, $39.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-889963-69-0, P.O. Box 756240, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6240. A comprehensive account of a disease that has killed and disabled thousands of Alaskans, from its earliest occurrence in prehistory through the twenty-first century, told by a long-time public health physician and historian.

Gastineau Channel Memories, Volume II: 1880-1967 (Juneau: Pioneer Book Committee, 2004), 422 pp., paperback, $24.95 plus postage, order from Hearthside Books, 8745 Glacier Highway, Juneau, AK 99801. Life stories of 168 Juneau area families, illustrated with photographs of families and “then and now” scenes. Includes two pages of corrections for volume I, published in 2001.

Arnold Griese, Bush Pilot: Early Alaska Aviator Harold Gillam, Sr.—Lucky or Legend? (Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 2005), 352 pp., paperback, $19.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-59433-026-1, P.O. Box 221974, Anchorage, AK 99522-1974. Biography of a legendary pilot who died following a crash near Ketchikan in 1943.

Dick Hanscom, Alaska & Yukon Stocks and Bonds (Fairbanks: Alaska Rare Coins, 2002), 344 pp., paperback, $35.00 plus postage, 551-B Second Avenue, Fairbanks, AK 99701. A selected, illustrated list of stock and bond certificates for collectors.

John F. Hoffecker, A Prehistory of the North: Human Settlement of the Higher Latitudes (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2005), 225 pp., hardback, $65.00 plus postage, ISBN 0-8135-3468-2 or paperback, $29.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-8135-3469-0, 100 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8099. A synthesis of recent thinking and discoveries about adaptations that allowed humans to inhabit the circumpolar regions.

Kristy Hollinger, Nike Hercules Operations in Alaska: 1959-1979 ([Anchorage]: Conservation Branch, Directorate of Public Works, U.S. Army Garrison Alaska, 2004), 78 pp., spiral-bound. History of Cold War anti-aircraft missile sites located near Anchorage and Fairbanks.

Willette Janes, In the Miners’ Footsteps: An Historic Overview and Guide to the Mining Trails in the Juneau-Douglas Area, 5th ed. (Juneau: Gastineau Channel Historical Society, 2004), 34 pp., paperback, $7.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-9704815-2-7, order from Taku Graphics, 5763 Glacier Highway, Juneau, AK 99801. Illustrated with historic photos, this is an expanded edition of a trail guide first published in 1985.

Jesse Lee Home School: Legacy of Leadership [Seward: Friends of the Jesse Lee Home, 2006], 40 pp., comb-bound. Background material for an effort to reopen a residential and educational facility in Seward. The home closed after it was damaged by the 1964 earthquake.

Cherry Lyon Jones, More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Alaska Women (Guilford, CT: TwoDot, 2006), 134 pp., paperback, $10.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-7627-3798-0, P.O. Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437. Profiles of twelve Alaskans, all born in the nineteenth century. (Part of the state-by-state More Than Petticoats series.)

Roger Kaye, Last Great Wilderness: The Campaign to Establish the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2006), 283 pp., hardback, $29.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-889963-83-6, P.O. Box 756240, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6240. History of the creation of the Arctic National Wildlife Range in 1960. “ANWR” was enlarged and renamed in 1980.

Gus Klem, Halfway to Nowhere!: Matanuska, Alaska (Sun City West, AZ: The Author, 2005), 103 pp., paperback, $12.00 plus postage, ISBN 0-9654189-1-X, order from Cook Inlet Book Company, 415 West Fifth Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. The author moved to Alaska with his parents in 1937 and worked on their farm until 1952; these are his memories of people and events.

Molly Lee, editor, Not Just a Pretty Face: Dolls and Human Figurines in Alaska Native Cultures, 2nd ed. (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2006), 71 pp., paperback, $24.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-889963-85-2, P.O. Box 756240, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6240. This revised edition of the 1999 exhibit catalog by the same title includes a new essay on doll maker Rosalie Paniyak of Chevak.

Robert A McKennan, Tanana and Chandalar: The Alaska Field Journals of Robert A. McKennan, edited by Craig Mishler and William E. Simeone (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2006), 266 pp., hardback, $45.00 plus postage, ISBN 1-889963-77-1, P.O. Box 756240, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6240. Annotated and illustrated with photographs, these journals document the years between 1929 and 1933 when the young ethnographer was documenting Interior Athabaskan life.

Charles M. Mobley, Oral History and Archival Research for the Noatak Airport Relocation, Noatak, Alaska (Anchorage: Charles M. Mobley & Associates, 2006), 36 pp., paperback, 200 W. 34th Avenue #534, Anchorage, AK 99503. The author visited this northwestern Alaskan village in February 2006 and recorded much local history.

Diane Olthuis, It Happened in Alaska (Guilford, CT: TwoDot, 2006), 171 pp., paperback, $9.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-7627-3908-8, P.O. Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437. Summaries of 28 events from Alaska history, with notes for further reading. (Part of the state-by-state It Happened In series.)

John T. Ordeman and Michael M. Schreiber, George & Belmore Browne: Artists of the North American Wilderness (Toronto, Ontario: Warwick Publishing, 2004), 144 pp., hardback, $70.00 plus postage, ISBN 1-894622-42-1, 161 Frederick Street, Toronto, ON M5A 4P3. Belmore Browne was one of the pioneer climbers and artists on Mount McKinley and was author of The Conquest of Mount McKinley published in 1913. His son George spent less time in Alaska and is remembered as one of America’s great wildlife artists.

Adeline Peter Raboff, Inuksuk: Northern Koyukon, Gwich’in & Lower Tanana, 1800-1901 (Fairbanks: Alaska Native Knowledge Network, 2001), 193 pp., paperback, $20.00 plus postage, order from University of Alaska Press, P.O. Box 756240, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6240. History of Interior Alaskan Athabaskans, based on written records of explorers, traders, and missionaries and the oral traditions of the Native peoples themselves.

Fred Savok, Jesus & the Eskimo: How the Man of the Sky Brought the Light to My People (Fairbanks: HLC Publishing, 2004), 224 pp., paperback, $14.95 plus $5.00 postage, P.O. Box 82620, Fairbanks, AK 99708. An Inupiaq family’s spiritual journey, covering many generations.

Catherine Stadem, Stages: A History of Theatre in Anchorage, Alaska (Anchorage: The Author, 2006), 273 pp., spiral-bound, 1826 E. 26th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99509. The story of “that most complex, difficult and collaborative of art forms, theater” from 1916 to present, told by a professional theater critic.

Bruce I. Staser, Cold War Soldier: A History of Early Alaska and Early Anchorage (Ponte Vedra, FL: The Author, 2005), 188 pp., paperback, $17.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-57833-312-1, 600 Ponte Vedra Boulevard, #207, Ponte Vedra, FL 32082. Born in Anchorage in 1919, the author uses photos and anecdotes to tell the family history including his own long career as a truck driver, miner, Army officer, and civil servant.

Elizabeth A. Tower, Alaska’s First Homegrown Millionaire: Life and Times of Cap Lathrop (Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 2006), 128 pp., paperback, $14.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-59433-039-1, P.O. Box 221974, Anchorage, AK 99522-1974. Revised edition of the author’s Mining, Media, Movies: Cap Lathrop’s Keys for Alaska’s Riches, published in 1991.

Tom Walker, Kantishna: Mushers , Miners, and Mountaineers—The Story Behind Mt. McKinley National Park (Missoula, MT: Pictorial Histories Publishing, 2005), 242 pp., paperback, $17.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-57510-124-6, 713 South Third Street West, Missoula, MT 59801. The first of a planned two-volume set, this is a history of personalities and events at the west end of the park up to 1917 when the park was created.

Melody Webb, A Woman in the Great Outdoors: Adventures in the National Park Service (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003), 272 pp., hardback, $39.95 plus $5.00 postage, 3721 Spirit Drive SE, Suite 200S, Albuquerque, NM 87106-5631. The author looks back on her career as a park historian and superintendent, including work in Alaska during the 1970s and 1980s.

Christopher Weicht, Air Route to the Klondike (Roberts Creek, B.C.: Creekside Publications, 2006), 306 pp., paperback, $43.00 plus postage, ISBN 1-4120-8861-5, 846 Joe Road, RR #26, Roberts Creek, BC V0N 2W6. An illustrated history of early aviation in the Yukon, with emphasis on supply routes that enabled development of gold mining.

Gordon L. Weil, America Answers a Sneak Attack: Alcan and Al Qaeda (Los Angeles: The Americas Group, 2004), 241 pp., hardback, $24.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-935047-52-2, 9200 Sunset Blvd., Suite 404, Los Angeles, CA 90069-3506. A comparison of America’s reaction to Pearl Harbor—including massive spending on the Alcan Highway and Canol Pipeline—with actions taken after Al Qaeda’s attacks in September 2001.

Josh Wisniewski, Understanding the Effects of FAA Field Stations on Rural Alaska: Perspectives from Employees and Communities ([Anchorage]: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska District, prepared for the Federal Aviation Administration, 2005), 154 pp., paperback. Illustrated history of aviation support facilities beginning in the 1940s; stations in the communities of Northway, Yakutat, Iliamna, Unalakleet, and Aniak are highlighted.