Thu, November 13, 2014
The Mears Memorial Bridge: Crowning Link in the Alaska Railroad,” a lecture by Matthew Reckard. Alaska’s longest bridge span is the Tanana River railroad crossing at Nenana. Built in 1922-23 and now known as the Mears Memorial Bridge, it is surely one of Alaska’s most underappreciated historic resources. Like Rodney Dangerfield, it gets no respect. Despite the credentials of a National Landmark, it isn’t even listed in Alaska’s Heritage Resources Survey. Happily, it still serves its original purpose well and...
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Fri, November 07, 2014
by John B. Branson, Historian, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve Editor’s note: This blog post is based on a lengthier article about McKay by Branson that will appear in a future issue of the on-line magazine, Alaska Park Science. Charles L. McKay was the first biologist to work in the Bristol Bay region of southwest Alaska. McKay was a federal biologist working as a meteorological observer for the U.S. Signal Service and the Smithsonian Institution at Nushagak village, six miles...
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Wed, October 29, 2014
From time to time in the heyday of canned salmon, say about 1900 to 1960, the packers would sponsor contests to generate interest and boost sales. Recipe contests proved especially popular among consumers, and by requiring entrants to submit their handwritten salmon recipes on the reverse sides of labels the packers developed a rudimentary method for tracking which brands were more popular with certain demographics. Another favorite was the "salmon display contest" for grocers in which cash prizes were awarded...
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Thu, October 23, 2014
by Ross Coen In addition to being works of art in their own right, canned salmon labels are unique historical artifacts. They can tell us which canneries operated where and when. They point to the marketing strategies used by the packers to attract consumers in different eras. And, as the Oona label below illustrates, they reveal a great deal about racial stereotypes and the appropriation of Native American iconography for commercial purposes. (click on image to see larger version) Note...
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Sat, October 18, 2014
by Kathy Arndt The Alaska and Polar Regions Collections and Archives, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks is home to a Rare Maps Collection. One special map in the Collection is titled “The Arctic Regions with the Tracks of Search Parties and the Progress of Discovery Compiled from the Latest Information” and was published by the U.S. Department of the Navy, Bureau of Navigation, in April 1896. The map was acquired in January 2014 from a rare maps...
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