AHS Blog
2016 Annual Conference
In the North Pacific, gold-seekers aboard the Penelope pass a vessel leaving Alaskan waters, 1898. Bancroft Library, Joseph Grinnell Collection.
Exploring Alaska’s Past in the Pacific World
Alaska Historical Society’s Annual Conference
September 21-24, 2016 in Juneau, Alaska
The vast Pacific Ocean exists as both barrier and thoroughfare, fostering cultures in isolation and allowing astonishing journeys of exploration and imperial ambition. Please join us in discovering how Alaska’s past can be better understood by examining its role in the history of the Pacific world. This complex region offers us the chance to employ disciplines as far ranging as environmental history, indigenous studies, global history, and (of course) maritime history, while also remembering that for many Alaskans, then and now, the ocean is a local place, a place we call home.
This year’s conference is organized by the Gastineau Channel Historical Society, Juneau-Douglas City Museum, Sealaska Heritage Institute, and the Alaska State Library, Archives and Museums. Our host location will be the newly completed Father Andrew P. Kashevaroff State Library, Archives, and Museum facility. We are also thrilled to announce David Igler, author of The Great Ocean (2013), as our keynote speaker. Dr. Igler’s work on the history of the Pacific and the American West illustrates how much human drama has played out on this boundless blue stage. This year’s theme—Exploring Alaska’s Past in the Pacific World—invites presentations on all topics related to Alaska history, with special emphasis on events that unfolded on the world’s greatest ocean.
