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.
Alaska Railroad Corporation, Timber Trestle Bridges in Alaska Railroad History (Anchorage: Alaska Railroad Corp., 2009), 24 pp., internet resource only: http://library.state.ak.us/asp/edocs/2009/02/ocn312149117.pdf.
Ronald J. Benice, Alaska and Yukon Tokens: Private Coins of the Territories (Jefferson, NC: Mcfarland & Co., 2009), 376 pp., softcover, $49.95, ISBN 9780786444816, http://www.mcfarlandpub.com. Lists and describes all known tokens (privately issued substitutes for coins) used from the 1890s through 1959. New to this edition are tokens from the Yukon Territory, with extensive coverage of Yukon tokens through 1989.
John R. Bockstoce, Furs and Frontiers in the Far North: The Contest Among Native and Foreign Nations for the Bering Strait Fur Trade (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), 496 pp., hardcover, $35.00, ISBN 9780300149210. History of the Native and maritime fur trade in northwest Alaska during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Allen M. Brackley, Richard W. Haynes, and Susan Alexander, Timber Harvests in Alaska: 1910-2006 (Portland, OR: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, 2009), 24 pp., government document, contact U.S. Forest Service, P.O. Box 96090, Washington, D.C. 20090-6090, or http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/31910.
Stephen R. Braund and John A. Kruse, Synthesis: Three Decades of Research on Socioeconomic Effects Related to Offshore Petroleum Development in Coastal Alaska (Technical Report) (Anchorage: Stephen R. Braund & Associates, 2009), 405 pp. + 1 CD-ROM, contact Minerals Management Service http://www.mms.gov/alaska/ref/akpubs.htm.
Mary Breu, Last Letters from Attu: The True Story of Etta Jones, Alaska Pioneer and Japanese P.O.W. (Anchorage: Alaska Northwest Books, 2009), 295 pp., softcover, $16.95, ISBN 9780882408101, http://www.gacpc.com/index.asp.
Nicolette Bromberg, Picturing the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition: The Photographs of Frank H. Nowell (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2009), 128 pp., hardcover, $35.00, ISBN 9780295989297.
Tricia Brown, Silent Storytellers of Totem Bight State Historical Park (Anchorage: Alaska Geographic Association, 2009), 68 pp., softcover, $9.95, ISBN 9780930931971, http://www.alaskageographic.org. Includes history of Totem Bight State Park, descriptions and illustrations of fourteen totem poles and a clan house, and a sampling of associated Native legends and stories.
Phyllis Downing Carlson and Laurel Downing Bill, Aunt Phil’s Trunk: An Alaska Historian’s Collection of Treasured Tales Volume 4 (Anchorage: Laudon Enterprises, 2009), 344 pp., softcover, $19.95, ISBN 9781578334353. Fourth volume in the series covers life in Alaska between 1935 and 1960, including major events such as World War II, the Cold War era, and statehood.
Judy Ferguson, Bridges to Statehood: the Alaska-Yugoslav Connection (Big Delta: Voice of Alaska Press, 2009), 394 pp., softcover, $28.00, ISBN 9780971604490, P.O. Box 130, Big Delta, AK 99737, http://www.alaska-highway.org/delta/outpost. Documents the impact and history of Yugoslav and Balkan immigrants in Alaska.
William W. Fitzhugh, Julie Hollowell and, Aron L. Crowell, editors, Gifts from the Ancestors: Ancient Ivories of Bering Strait (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2009), 328 pp., softcover, $55.00, ISBN 9780300122060. Essays by various writers on the aesthetics, history, and cultural importance of ancient ivories from the coast of Bering Strait, western Alaska, and the islands in between.
Berit Arnestad Foote, Point Hope, Alaska: Life on Frozen Water: Photographs 1959-1962 (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2009), 204 pp., hardcover, $65.00, ISBN 9781602230651, http://www.uaf.edu/uapress. Pictorial documentary of the daily life and environment of the Tikigaq, the Inupiaq people of Point Hope, from 1959-1962.
Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks, Olmsted Centennial News: Celebrating the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, 1909-2009 (Seattle: Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks, 2009), 12 pp. Contact FSOP, P.O. Box 9884, Seattle WA, 98109; phone (206) 324-0858; or email friends@seattleolmsted.org.
Sharon Gmelch, The Tlingit Encounter with Photography (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009), 210 pp., hardcover, $39.95, ISBN 9781934536100. History and impact of photographic imagery of the Tlingit taken during the 1860s through the 1920s.
Sven D. Haakanson Jr. and Amy F. Steffian, editors, Giinaquq–Like a Face: Suqpiaq Masks of the Kodiak Archipelago (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2009), 200 pp., softcover, $26.95, ISBN 9781602230491, http://www.uaf.edu/uapress.
William L. Iggiagruk Hensley, Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People (New York: Sarah Crichton Books, 2009), 256 pp., hardcover, $24.00, ISBN 9780374154844.
Joe Hunt, Mission Without a Map: The Politics and Policies of Restoration Following the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (Anchorage: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, 2009), 279 pp., internet resource only, http://www.arlis.org/docs/vol1/A/316346953.pdf. A history of the settlement, damage assessment, and restoration following the Exxon Valdez oil spill and of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, which oversees restoration efforts.
Rebecca Lynn Kaserman, “Aleuts in a Changing Alaska: A Comparative Study Under Russian and American Rule: A Thesis” (master’s thesis, Appalachian State University, 2009), 136 leaves. Contact Appalachian State University to acquire.
Gregory W. Kimura, editor, Alaska at 50: The Past, Present, and Future of Alaska Statehood (Fairbanks: University of Alaska, 2009), 264 pp., hardcover, $30.00, ISBN 9781602230613.
Dennis M. Larsen, Slick as a Mitten: Ezra Meeker’s Klondike Enterprise (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 2009), 128 pp., softcover, $24.95, ISBN 9780874223026.
Steven C. Levi, Derelicts, Bummers, Scoundrels and Doves (Austin, TX: Zumaya Yesterdays, 2009), 242 pp., softcover, $14.99, ISBN 9781934841709, http://shop.zumayapublications.com.
Betty A. Lausier Lindsay and John A. Lindsay, Pribilof Islands, Alaska: Genealogy and Census: A Historical Account Told Through Illustrated Genealogy and Census Records (Seattle: U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service, Office of Response and Restoration, 2009), 658 pp., ISBN 9781603190022. Contact NOAA to acquire.
Tom Lowenstein, Ultimate Americans: Point Hope Alaska, 1826-1909 (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2009), 368 pp., hardcover, $49.95, ISBN 9781602230279, http://www.uaf.edu/uapress. Third volume in the series; examines the first encounters between the Tikigaq people and Anglo-Americans during the nineteenth century.
Warren W. Matthews and Marilyn May, Selected Opinions of Justice Warren W. Matthews: Alaska Supreme Court, 1977-2009 (Anchorage: Alaska Court System, 2009), 3 volumes. Part of the Anchorage Law Library Collection.
John C. Miles, Wilderness in National Parks: Playground or Preserve (Seattle: University of Washington Press, July 2009), 344 pp., softcover, $35.00, ISBN 9780295988757; hardcover, $75.00 ISBN 9780295988740. Chronological narrative of the internal debate within the National Park Service about the concept of wilderness in managing the national parks; includes discussion of national parks in Alaska.
Phyllis Demuth Movius, A Place of Belonging: Five Founding Women of Fairbanks, Alaska (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2009), 120 pp., softcover, $17.95, ISBN 9781602230644. Explores the motivations, resourcefulness, and accomplishments of five women who settled in Fairbanks between 1903 and 1923.
Claus-M. Naske, 49 at Last: The Battle for Alaska Statehood (Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press, 2009), 3rd ed., 351 pp., softcover, $17.95, ISBN 9781935347026.
Dennis L. Noble and Truman R. Strobridge, Captain “Hell Roaring” Mike Healy: From American Slave to Arctic Hero (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2009), 352 pp., hardcover, $34.95, ISBN 9780813033686. Biography of Michael A. Healy (1839-1904), a captain in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service.
Shauna O’Reilly and Brennan O’Reilly, Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2009), 127 pp., softcover, $21.99, ISBN 9780738571324.
Rod Perry, TrailBreakers, Pioneering Alaska’s Iditarod, Volume One (Chugiak: R. Perry, 2009), 352 pp., $19.95, ISBN 9780982373002. Available from the author at www.rodperry.com and at Title Wave Books in Anchorage. Early history of the trail from 1840-1930.
Kenneth L. Pratt, Chasing the Dark: Perspectives on Place, History and Alaska Native Land Claims (Anchorage: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Alaska Region, Division of Environmental and Cultural Resources Management, ANCSA Office, 2009). Contact the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Alaska Regional Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, P.O. Box 25520, 709 West 9th Street, Juneau, AK 99802.
Kenneth L. Pratt, “Nuniwarmiut Land Use, Settlement History and Socio-Territorial Organization, 1880-1960” (master’s thesis, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2009), 330 leaves. Contact the University of Alaska Fairbanks to acquire. History and identification of traditional socio-territorial groups among the Central Yup’ik Eskimos of Southwestern Alaska.
Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council, Then and Now, 1989-2009: Changes in Prince William Sound Crude Oil Transportation Since the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (Valdez: Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council, 2009), 29 pp., internet resource: http://www.pwsrcac.org/docs/d0064000.pdf.
Louis L. Renner, A Kindly Providence: An Alaskan Missionary’s Story, 1926-2006 (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2008), 507 pp., softcover, $24.95, ISBN 9781586172367. Explores forty years of the Catholic Church in Alaska and autobiography of Fr. Louis Renner.
David Roberts, The Last of His Kind: The Life and Adventures of Bradford Washburn, America’s Boldest Mountaineer (New York: William Morrow, 2009), 352 pp., hardback, $25.99, ISBN 9780061560941. Biography of Bradford Washburn.
Ray Savela, Alaska – No Regrets (self-published), 278 pp., softcover, $25 (price includes book, shipping and handling). Contact: Ray Savela, 3003 Hazelwood St, Apt 332, Maplewood, MN 55109. Autobiography of Ray Savela, who lived in Alaska from the early 1940s through the 1980s. A former mayor of Delta Junction.
Jeff Smith, Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel: The Biography of Jefferson Randolph Smith II (Juneau: Klondike Research, 2009), 628 pp., softcover, $26.00, ISBN 9780981974309. To order contact info@klondikeresearch.com.
Catherine Stadem, History of Theatre in Anchorage, Alaska 1915-2005: From a Wilderness Tent to a Multimillion Dollar Stage (Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 2009), 320 pp., hardcover, $119.95, ISBN 9780773438828, http://www.mellenpress.com.
Hudson Stuck, Ascent to Mt. Denali: Diary of Hudson Stuck 1912-1913 (New York: American Geographic Society, 2009), 1 CD-ROM (200 pp.), $75.00. To order contact The American Geographical Society, 120 Wall Street, Suite 100, New York, NY 10005-3904, 212.422.5456, AGS@amergeog.org. Diary of Hudson Stuck, Episcopal clergyman, from 1912-1913, describing his ascent of Mount Denali (Mount McKinley).
Deb Vanasse, Picture This, Alaska: Historic Photographs From the Last Frontier (Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 2009), 144 pp., softcover, $16.95, ISBN 9781570615849.
Tom Walker, McKinley Station: People of the Pioneer Park (Missoula, MT: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co. Inc., 2009), 389 pp., softcover, $21.95, ISBN 9781575101453. Early history and development of Denali National Park, including first park ranger Harry Karstens.
James W. Whitney, “Historical Archaeology of Marion Creek, Alaska: Placer Gold Mining and the Capitalist World-System” (Ph.D. diss., University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2009), 148 leaves. Contact the University of Alaska Fairbanks to acquire.
James Wickersham, edited and abridged by Terrence Cole, Old Yukon: Tales, Trails, and Trials (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2009), 302 pp., softcover, $29.95, ISBN 9781602230514. This is a reprint of the memoirs of James Wickersham.
Maria Shaa Tlaa Williams, editor, The Alaska Native Reader: History, Culture, Politics (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2009), 424 pp., softcover, $25.95, ISBN 9780822344803. Collection of essays covering a range of topics primarily by Native Alaska contributors.
Anna Young, The Lost Art of Alaska Fishing, Part One, 1968-1980 (Seward: Ruggedisland Publishing, 2007), 164 pp., softcover, $24.95, ISBN 9780615168524. Alaska fishing and its industry from the Aleutian Chain through Gulf of Alaska and the Southeast.
Alaska History, Vol. 25, #2, Fall 2010
Compiled by Teressa Williams and Megan Peacock, Anchorage Museum.
Dawn Lea Black and Alexander Yu. Petrov, editors and translators, Natalia Shelikhova: Russian Oligarch of Alaska Commerce (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2010), 237 pp., softcover, $29.95, ISBN 9781602230736. First time English translation of primary source materials about Natalia Shelikhova, a pioneering business woman in Russian America.
Nicholas Charles and Maria Charles, Messenger Spirits: Yup’ik Masks and Stories (Anchorage: N&M Publishing Co.: Todd Communications, 2009), 104 pp., softcover, $18.95, ISBN 9781578334605. A collection of stories, mask descriptions, and poems depicting the legends and tales told by the Yup’ik people.
Aron L. Crowell and others, Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books, 2010), 312 pp., hardcover, $50.00, ISBN 9781588342706. This book features more than two hundred objects representing the masterful artistry and design traditions of twenty Alaska Native peoples based on the collaborative exhibition created by Alaska Native communities, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, and the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center.
Eric Jay Dolin, Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., July 2010), 464 pp., hardcover, $29.95, ISBN 9780393067101. An inclusive overview of the American fur trade from colonial times until the beginning of the conservation movement in the late nineteenth century. Includes examination of Russian domination of Alaska Native hunters.
Charles Emmerson, The Future History of the Arctic (New York: PublicAffairs, 2010), 448 pp., hardcover, $28.95, ISBN 9781586486365. Part history, part contemporary examination, of forces which have shaped the Arctic and its current role in modern politics, economics, and research.
Tatiana S. Fedorova, Peter Ulf Moller, Victor G. Sedov, Carol L. Urness, editors and translators, The Journal of Midshipman Chaplin: A Record of Bering’s First Kamchatka Expedition. Beringiana Volume 5 (Copenhagen: Aarhus University Press, 2010). 320 pp., hardcover, ISBN 9788779343146.
Lew Freedman, Yukon Quest: The Story of the World’s Toughest Sled Dog Race (Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press, 2010), 219 pp., softcover, $14.95, ISBN 9781935347057. A history of the Yukon Quest sled dog race.
Michael Gates, History Hunting in the Yukon (Makeira Park, B.C.: Lost Moose, Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd., 2010). 256 pp., softcover, $34.95, ISBN 9781550174779.
James Kari, editor and transcriber, Ahtna Travel Narratives: A Demonstration of Shared Geographic Knowledge among Alaska Athabascans (Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2010), 106 pp., softcover, $20.00, ISBN 9781555001056. The narratives are told by Jim McKinley, Frank Stickwan, Jake Tansy, Katie John, and Adam Sanford.
Sheila Kelly, Treadwell Gold: An Alaska Saga of Riches and Ruin (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2010), 271 pp., softcover, $35.00, ISBN 9781602230750. A history of Treadwell, Alaska, told with first-person accounts and historical photographs.
Steven C. Levi, The Great Red Scare in World War One Alaska: Elite Panic, Government Hysteria, Suppression of Civil Liberties, Union-Breaking and Germanophobia, 1915 – 1920 (Bethesda, MD: Academica Press, 2010), 222 pp., softcover, $44.95, ISBN 9781933146966. A look at the history and activities of World War I in Alaska, including predominant military employers and governance, labor unions, immigrants, and relations with Native Alaskans.
Fredericka I. Martin, edited by Ray Hudson, Before the Storm: A Year in the Pribilof Islands, 1941-1942 (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2010), 385 pp., softcover, $39.95, ISBN 9781602230767. Originally an unpublished manuscript written in 1942 entitled The Wind Is No River. Martin draws from both personal experience of living on the islands that year and research to present a portrait of a time and a people in change. Includes accounts of the government-ordered evacuation of all Aleuts from the island in the face of World War II.
Herbert D. G. Maschner, The Archaeology of the Sapsuk River, Alaska: An Occasional Papers Publication (Juneau: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Alaska Region, Office of Regional Archeology, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 2010), 185 pp., includes 1 CD-ROM. Contact the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Alaska Regional Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, P.O. Box 25520, 709 West 9th Street, Juneau, AK 99802. Reviews the investigations on the Sapsuk River, the prehistory of the western Alaska Peninsula, the natural history, the archaeology of the Nelson River System, etc.
Peter Metcalfe and others, The Alaska Statehood Experience Grant: Alaska Native Involvement in the Alaska Statehood Movement (Juneau: Tlingit Readers, Inc., 2010), 66 pp. Includes a chronology of events relevant to the development of Alaska Native law. Part of the Alaska State Library holdings.
Jim Rearden, Alaska’s First Bush Pilots, 1923-30: And the Winter Search in Siberia for Eielson and Borland (Missoula, MT: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 2009), 276 pp., softcover, $19.95, ISBN 9781575101477. This book follows the careers of Alaska’s pioneering pilots, Carl Ben Eielson, Noel Wien, and others who started the great change in Alaska’s way of travel.
Katherine L. Reedy-Maschner, Aleut Identities: Tradition and Modernity in an Indigenous Fishery (Montreal and Kingston, ON: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2010), 314 pp., hardcover, $95.00, ISBN 9780773536821; softcover, $29.95, ISBN 9780773537484.
Robert Leonard Reid, Arctic Circle: Birth and Rebirth in the Land of the Caribou (Boston: David R. Godine, Publisher, 2010), 240 pp., hardcover, $27.95, ISBN 9781567923506. Part memoir, part natural history book, Reid examines part of Alaska’s arctic through the migratory cycle of the Porcupine Caribou herd.
Larry D. Roberts, A Preliminary Survey of Historic Southeast Alaskan Fur Farming (Grand Junction, CO: L. D. Roberts, 2010), 24 pp. A preliminary survey of historic southeast Alaskan fur farming. Part of the Alaska State Library holdings.
Libby Roderick, editor, Alaska Native Cultures and Issues: Responses to Frequently Asked Questions (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2010), 102 pp., softcover, $12.95, ISBN 9781602230910. Concise and approachable compilation of frequently asked questions with answers provided by scholars and experts from within the respective communities.
Robert Allan Shuchman and Edward George Josberger, editors, Bering Glacier: Interdisciplinary Studies of Earth’s Largest Temperate Surging Glacier (Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America, 2010), 384 pp., softcover, $99.00, ISBN 9780813724621. A compilation of essays, including examination of the history of scientific investigations, history found in the wake of the glacier, history of the general region, and scientific observations regarding the region and its environs.
Nicole Tompkins and Robert Meinhardt, The Legacy of Chignik Bay: Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow (Anchorage: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Alaska Region, Branch of Regional Archeology, 2010), 36 pp. Contact the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Alaska Regional Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, P.O. Box 25520, 709 West 9th Street, Juneau, AK 99802.
Russell M. Trevino, editor, Alaskan Native Villages Threatened by Erosion (Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 2010), 156 pp., hardcover, $145.00, ISBN 9781608768905. A summation of the results of the Alaska Baseline Erosion Assessment (BEA), a combination of study efforts funded by the U.S. Congress. Intention of this book is to provide information to Federal, State, Tribal, and local decision-makers to assist them in making informed decisions about erosion issues in Alaska and in developing strategies and plans for addressing those issues. Book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.
United States District Court (Alaska), The United States District Court for the District of Alaska: Our First Fifty Years (Anchorage: United States, District Court, District of Alaska, 2010), 36 pp. Includes history of Alaska’s Territorial Court, history of the courthouses of the district of Alaska, the present-day district judges and magistrate judges, important cases of the District of Alaska, etc. Part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and University of Alaska Anchorage holdings.
Jack De Yonge, Boom Town Boy: Coming of Age in Alaska’s Lost Frontier (Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press, 2010), 224 pp., softcover, $14.95, ISBN 9781935347064. Childhood memoir of Jack De Yonge of growing up in Fairbanks during World War II.
