Category: 49 History

Thu, October 12, 2023

Alaska Historical Society Recognizes Alaskans for Historic Accomplishment

Ian Hartman and David Reamer Honored as Historians of the Year Two prominent Anchorage historians who wrote the ground-breaking book, Black Lives in Alaska: A History of African Americans in the Far Northwest, were named historians of the year by the Alaska Historical Society over the weekend at its annual conference on the Kenai Peninsula. University of Alaska Anchorage history professor Ian C. Hartman and public historian and Anchorage Daily News columnist David Reamer were awarded the James H. Ducker... (Read More)

Fri, February 17, 2023

Alaska History Day is Coming up in April

Alaska History Day is coming up in April – please consider volunteering a few hours of your time as a judge! What is Alaska History Day? It is the Alaska statewide contest for National History Day. NHD is a year-long academic program focused on historical research, interpretation and creative expression for 6th- to 12th-grade students. By participating in NHD, students become writers, filmmakers, web designers, playwrights and artists as they create unique contemporary expressions of history. When is it? Judging... (Read More)

Mon, March 15, 2021

Eyewitness Booklet Series

Chris Allan has compiled five booklets of what he calls the “Eyewitness Series.” They are being made available on the Alaska Historical Society’s website. Chris’s intent with the first four booklets is to showcase voices of the past: “I wanted to get away from the traditional historian’s narrative form where primary sources play a secondary or tertiary role behind the historian’s voice and analysis. I like the idea of people hearing history from the eyewitnesses. In each case, I was... (Read More)

Mon, October 19, 2020

Denali Park Road History

The Year Everything Changed: The 1972 Shuttle Bus Decision in Mount McKinley National Park. Tourism numbers at Denali National Park dropped this last summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The park projected between 50-60 thousand visitors. The last time Denali had so few tourists the park had a different name, private automobiles could still drive the length of the road, and Richard Nixon was President—it was the early 1970s. It was an era of big change in Denali. Read more... (Read More)

Mon, October 19, 2020

Sea Otters of Amchitka

The Sea Otters Of Amchitka (1959) Richard Ravalli, Associate Professor, History Department, William Jessup University, Rocklin, California During the coronavirus lockdown, I had the opportunity to work via e-mail with Angela Schmidt of the Alaska Film Archives at University of Alaska, Fairbanks. I was interested in the archive’s copy of the 1959 nature film The Sea Otters of Amchitka, produced by Thorne Films of Boulder, Colorado and shot by naturalist H. Robert Krear. It is the first completed documentary about... (Read More)