Category: 49 History

Thu, April 10, 2014

Take Me Out to the Ball Game: America’s Pastime Played in Alaska

by Katherine Ringsmuth It’s that time of year again, when umpires across the nation cry the long-waited phrase, “Play Ball!” We, far northerners, have gone to great lengths to bring the game of baseball to Alaska and its surrounding Arctic environment. However, few images of the game from the far north capture baseball’s more traditional themes, such as rebirth, pastoralism, and of course, the ‘boys of summer.’ “Winter at Herschel Island ca. 1984. Note the baseball and soccer fields... (Read More)

Wed, April 09, 2014

Canned Salmon: Alaska’s Superfood

By: James Mackovjak The late Bob Thorstenson, one of the founders of Icicle Seafoods, once told me his favorite seafood was canned pink salmon. Bob had good taste.Canned salmon, which has been produced in Alaska since 1878, is the most nutritious and consumer-friendly of all of Alaska’s seafood. While the product is often considered poor cousin to skinless, boneless salmon fillets, canned salmon is by far the more nutritious of the two. Yes, both canned salmon... (Read More)

Sat, March 29, 2014

The Role of the Russian Orthodox Church in Five Alutiiq Villages as Revealed by the 1964 Earthquake

by Rachel Mason, adapted from Nancy Yaw Davis’s 1970 article, “The Role of the Russian Orthodox Church in Five Pacific Eskimo Villages as Revealed by the Earthquake,” in the Committee on the Alaska Earthquake report The Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964, Human Ecology Volume, Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, pp. 125-146.The Great Alaska Earthquake was a terrible disaster for residents of five Alutiiq villages in Prince William Sound and the Kodiak Archipelago. It destroyed the Alaska Native (then known... (Read More)

Wed, March 26, 2014

Personal memories from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill: Rehabilitating sea otters

by Shana Loshbaugh For me, the Exxon Valdez oil spill was about sea otters. Like many Alaskans, I turned on the radio the morning of March 24, 1989, and spent the following hours and days riveted in dismay as the oil and news of it spread. Could I do anything about the ghastly situation unfolding in Prince William Sound? Yes. I volunteered to go to Valdez. On April 5, I reported for work at the Valdez Otter Rescue Center and... (Read More)

Sat, March 22, 2014

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill – Twenty-five years later

by Toby SullivanFor thousands of Alaskans, the spill was a collective experience, and as such has become one of the defining moments of modern Alaska, second only to the 1964 earthquake. And like any historical event, there are two ways that the story of the spill lives on. First there’s the documented story: the newspaper files, the reams of data from public testimony and court documents, the photographs and audio recordings, and the published research done since the spill. And... (Read More)