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Alaskana 2001

Alaska History, Vol. 16, #s 1&2, Spring/Fall 2001 (issued September 2002)

Alaskana is an annotated listing of recent publications on the North featured in Alaska History, the journal of the Alaska Historical Society.

Compiled by Bruce Merrell, Alaska Bibliographer at the Z. J. Loussac Library in Anchorage.

Edward L. Affleck, A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon and Alaska (Vancouver: Alexander Nicolls Press, 2000), 98 pp., paper, $20.00 postpaid, ISBN 0-920034-08-X, #208, 2250 S.E. Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC V5P 2S2. Brief technical descriptions and summaries of the careers of hundreds of sidewheel and sternwheel steamboats.

Argonne National Laboratory for Environmental Planning (Cultural Resources), Defending Attack from the North: Alaska’s Forward Operating Bases During the Cold War ([Anchorage]: 611th Civil Engineer Squadron, Pacific Air Forces, U.S. Air Force, [2001]), 11 pp., paper, request from Office of History and Archaeology, Department of Natural Resources, 550 W. 7th Avenue, Suite 1310, Anchorage, AK 99501-3565.

Susan Beeman, The Iditarod, Volume 28, Number 4 of Alaska Geographic (Anchorage: Alaska Geographic Society, 2001), 96 pp., paper, $23.95 plus $5.00 postage, ISBN 1-56661-057-5, P.O. Box 93370, Anchorage, AK 99509-3370. An overview of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, with much on the origins of the trail and the diphtheria serum run from Nenana to Nome in 1925.

Connie Malcolm Bradbury and David Albert Hales, Alaska Sources: A Guide to Historical Records and Information Resources (North Salt Lake: Heritage Quest, 2001), 442 pp., cloth, $69.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-944931-88-X or paper, $49.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-944931-87-1, North Salt Lake, UT 84054. An extensive guide to Alaskan historical records, particularly those useful to genealogists.

Rolfe G. Buzzell, Cultural Resource Surveys on the West Side of Bird Creek in the Vicinity of Mile 101.5 of the Seward Highway, 1999-2000 (Anchorage: Office of History and Archaeology, 2001), 58 pp., comb-bound, request from Office of History and Archaeology, Department of Natural Resources, 550 W. 7th Avenue, Suite 1310, Anchorage, AK 99501-3565. In setting the context for his examination of several deteriorated historic features, the author provides a capsule prehistory and history of Turnagain Arm.

Rolfe G. Buzzell, 1997 Cultural Resources Survey of the Southern Part of Sunrise City, Alaska (Anchorage: Preservation Research & Evaluation, 2001), 68 pp., comb-bound, request from the author at 3308 Doris Street, Anchorage, AK 99517-2076. History of structures and ruins on the site of a former gold rush town.

Michael Carey, editor, Our Alaska: A Pictorial History of the Great Land and its People, Volume I (Anchorage: Anchorage Daily News, 2001), 176 pp., cloth, $39.95 plus postage, order from Cook Inlet Books, 415 W. Fifth Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. Over a hundred years of captioned historical photos, most from personal collections and few of them ever published before.

Suzanne Carroll, editor, Births, Marriages, Divorces and Deaths Reported in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 1940-1949 (Fairbanks: Fairbanks Genealogical Society, 2000), 237 pp., comb-bound, P.O. Box 60534, Fairbanks, AK 99706-0534. Even the names of the deceased in the “Notices to Creditors” classified ads are included among some 15,000 entries.

Frederick A. Cook, Belmore Browne, and Hudson Stuck, Denali: Deception, Defeat, & Triumph (Seattle: The Mountaineers, 2001), 651 pp., cloth, $38.00 plus postage, ISBN 0-89886-835-1, 1001 SW Klickitat Way, Suite 201, Seattle, WA 98134. Anthology containing full text of the authors’ classics: To the Top of the Continent, The Conquest of Mount McKinley, and The Ascent of Denali, respectively. Also includes the Mt. McKinley diary of Walter Harper, the twenty-year-old Athabaskan Native who accompanied Stuck on the first ascent in 1913, an essay on Harper by his niece, Yvonne Mozee, and a new afterword by Art Davidson.

Doreen C. Cooper, Archeological Investigations in Skagway, Alaska, Volume 8: A Century at the Moore/Kirmse House (Skagway: Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, 2001), 198 pp., plus appendices, paper, request from P.O. Box 517, Skagway, AK 99840. A study of artifacts located at the home of William and Bernard Moore, who founded Skagway a decade before the Klondike gold rush.

Aron L. Crowell, Amy F. Steffian, and Gordon L. Pullar, editors, Looking Both Ways: Heritage and Identity of the Alutiiq People (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2001), 265 pp., cloth, $49.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-889963-30-5 or paper, $24.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-889963-31-3, P.O. Box 756240, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6240. Catalog for an exhibition that will travel to Kodiak, Homer, Anchorage, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. in 2001-2003.

R. N. DeArmond, Movie Man: The Life and Times of William David Gross, 1879-1962, editing and epilogue by Karleen Alstead Grummett [Sitka: R. N. DeArmond, 2000?], 34 pp., paper. Biography of a Jewish immigrant who came north with the Gold Rush and built a movie theater chain headquartered in Juneau.

Frederica de Laguna, Travels Among the Dena: Exploring Alaska’s Yukon Valley (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000), 369 pp., cloth, $50.00 plus postage, ISBN 0-295-97902-X, P.O. Box 50096, Seattle, WA 98145-5094. Archeological reconnaissance of the middle and lower Yukon River in 1935, illustrated with photos and maps and integrated with reports of earlier explorers.

D. Colt Denfeld, The White Alice Communications System (Anchorage: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2001), 18 pp., paper, request from Office of History and Archaeology, Department of Natural Resources, 550 W. 7th Avenue, Suite 1310, Anchorage, AK 99501-3565. Illustrated account of the military system that operated from the 1950s through the 1980s.

Kirk Dombrowski, Against Culture: Development, Politics, and Religion in Indian Alaska (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001), 247 pp., paper, $19.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-8032-6632-4, Lincoln, NE 68588-0255. A study of “the multiple strands of social tension defining Tlingit and Haida life in Southeast Alaska today,” with much reference to historical events.

Faith in the Far North: A History of the Fairbanks Alaska Stake (Fairbanks: Stake Historical Committee, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1998), 45 pp., comb-bound. Illustrated history of Mormons, from 1895 to the present.

Nancy Warren Ferrell, Early Years of Juneau, Alaska (1880-1890) (Juneau: LapCat Publications, 1997) 24 pp., paper, $5.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-9641998-4-X, Box 20465, Juneau, AK 99802. Brief illustrated history of the first decade in a mining camp that became Alaska’s capital city.

Lew Freedman, Diamonds in the Rough: Baseball Stories from Alaska (Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press, 2000), 247 pp., paper, $14.95 plus $4.95 postage, ISBN 0-945397-82-8, Box 82368, Kenmore, WA 98028. History of baseball under the northern lights, told by the Anchorage Daily News sports editor.

Lew Freedman, Spirit of the Wind: The Story of Alaska’s George Attla, Legendary Sled Dog Sprint Champ (Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press, 2000), 223 pp., paper, $14.95 plus $4.95 postage, ISBN 0-945397-93-3, Box 82368, Kenmore, WA 98028. Biography of the “Huslia Hustler.” This is a new edition of George Attla: Legend of the Sled Dog Trail, published in 1993.

Helen Frost, Frost Among the Eskimos: Memoirs of Helen Frost, Missionary Nurse on the Seward Peninsula, 1926-1961 (Concord, CA: Lutheran Pioneer Press, 2001), 181 pp., paper, $15.00 plus postage, ISBN 0-9642228-0-9, order from Evangelical Lutheran Church in Alaska, 1847 W. Northern Lights Blvd. #2, Anchorage, AK 99517.

Cathy Gilbert, Paul White, and Anne Worthington, Cultural Landscape Report: Kennecott Mill Town (Copper Center: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park/Preserve, 2001), 294 pp., paper, request from P.O. Box 439, Copper Center, AK 99573. History and inventory of structures at the site of a remote copper mining complex, abandoned in 1938 and now owned by the National Park Service.

L. A. Goldenberg, Gvozdev: The Russian Discovery of Alaska in 1732, edited by J. L. Smith (Anchorage: White Stone Press, 2001), 172 pp., cloth, request from the author at 2314 Marian Bay Circle, Anchorage, AK 99515. A revised edition of the editor’s 1990 Goldenberg’s Gvozdev: The Russian Discovery of Alaska in 1732, which is in turn a translation of Leonid A. Goldenberg’s 1985 book, Mikhail Spiridonovich Gvozdev.

John A. Gould, Frozen Gold: A Treatise on Early Klondike Mining Technology, Methods and History (Missoula: Pictorial Histories, 2001), 106 pp., paper, $14.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-57510-082-7, 713 South 3rd West, Missoula, MT 59801. A second-generation miner describes Klondike gold mining equipment and techniques; illustrated with historic photographs and drawings.

Jane Haigh, Denali: Early Photographs of Our National Parks (Whitehorse: Wolf Creek Books, 2000), 112 pp., paper, $9.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-9681955-7-1, Box 31275, Whitehorse, Yukon Y1A 5P7. A selection of black and white photographs of Denali National Park and Preserve, all taken before the second world war.

Kristy Hollinger, Homesteads on Fort Richardson, Alaska (Fort Richardson, AK: Natural Resources Branch, U.S. Army Alaska, 2001), 105 pp., spiral-bound, request from Ft. Richardson, AK 99505-6500. Illustrated history and inventory of homesteads on land near Anchorage that was withdrawn for military purposes at the outbreak of World War II.

Gwyneth Hoyle, Flowers in the Snow: The Life of Isobel Wylie Hutchison (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001), 269 pp., cloth, $29.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-8032-2403-6, Lincoln, NE, 68588-0255. Biography of a Scottish plant collector and author who explored the Arctic, from Norway to the Aleutians, in the 1920s-1930s.

Vladimir I. Iokhel’son, Treasures of the Kunstkamera: Aleuts Through the Eyes of V. Iokhel’son (St. Petersburg: Kunstkamera, 2001), 98 pp., paper, $25.00 plus postage, ISBN 5-88431-059-5, out of print. Photographs and letters from the ethnographer’s 1909-1910 visits to Unalaska, Attu, Umnak, Atka, and the Pribilof Islands.

Nona J. Hall Johnson, We’re Going to Ketchikan!: Anchorage City Band, 1938 (Eagle River: Eagle River Type & Graphics, 2001), 47 pp., paper, $9.95 plus $1.75 postage, 17050 N. Eagle River Loop Rd., #3, Eagle River, AK 99577-7804. The Anchorage City Band, made up mainly of high school students, takes a 3-week trip by train, steamship, and floatplane to an American Legion convention in Ketchikan.

Kennecott Kids: Interviews with the Children of Kennecott, introduction by Ann Kain (Anchorage: Alaska Support Office, National Park Service, 2001), two volumes, 315 and 380 pp., paper, request from 2525 Gambell Street, Anchorage, AK 99503-2892. Transcribed and illustrated interviews conducted at reunions in 1990, 1994, and 1998. The “Kennecott Kids” are those who lived or worked in the Kennecott-McCarthy area before the mines closed in 1938.

Jim and Nancy Lethcoe, A History of Prince William Sound, Alaska (Valdez: Prince William Sound Books, 2001), 275 pp., paper, $19.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-877900-12-5, order from Cook Inlet Books, 415 W. Fifth Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. Expanded edition of the authors’ 1994 book by the same title.

Alexandra J. McClanahan, editor, A Reference in Time: Alaska Native History Day by Day (Anchorage: CIRI Foundation, 2001), 351 pp., paper, $19.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-938227-04-1, order from Cook Inlet Books, 415 W. Fifth Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. Events in the history of Alaska’s Native people, arranged by calendar date; contains a detailed bibliography and index.

Peter Metcalfe, Earning a Place in History: Shee Atika, the Sitka Native Claims Corporation (Sitka: Shee Atika Incorporated, 2000), 88 pp., paper, request from Shee Atika, Inc., Sitka, AK 99835. Illustrated history of the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act as it relates to one of only four urban corporations established under it.

Craig Mishler, Black Ducks and Salmon Bellies: An Ethnography of Old Harbor and Ouzinkie, Alaska (Anchorage: Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Subsistence, 2001), 242 pp., spiral bound, request from 333 Raspberry Road, Anchorage, AK 99518. Describing two Alutiiq communities in the Kodiak Island archipelago, this is part of a series examining “sociocultural consequences of Alaska outer continental shelf activities.”

Donald Craig Mitchell, Take My Land, Take My Life: The Story of Congress’s Historic Settlement of Alaska Native Land Claims, 1960-1971 (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2001), 679 pp., cloth, $45.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-889963232 or paper, $29.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-889963-24-0, P.O. Box 756240, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6240. An in-depth study of Alaska Native land issues and the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, continuing the author’s Sold American: The Story of Alaska Natives and Their Land.

Charles M. Mobley, Archaeological Monitoring of Military Debris Removal from Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska (Anchorage: Charles M. Mobley & Associates, 2001), 48 pp., paper, request from 200 W. 34th, Suite #534, Anchorage, AK 99503. Illustrated discussion of historic debris removal and its effect on prehistoric sites.

Charles M. Mobley, Cultural Resource Investigations for the Proposed Sitka Fire Station, Baranof Island, Alaska (Anchorage: Charles M. Mobley & Associates, 2001), 28 pp., paper, request from 200 W. 34th, Suite #534, Anchorage, AK 99503. A study of land adjacent to Sheldon Jackson College which contains an unknown number of graves, presumably those of students who died during the school’s 120-year history.

Charles M. Mobley, Three Historic Mines, Ketchikan, Alaska: A Cultural Resource Evaluation (Anchorage: Charles M. Mobley & Associates, 2001), 154 pp., paper, request from 200 W. 34th, Suite #534, Anchorage, AK 99503. Commissioned by the U.S. Forest Service, this study evaluates potential chemical and physical hazards to the public at three mines in the Tongass National Forest: the Gold Standard mine at Helm Bay, the Sealevel and Gold Banner mines in Thorne Arm, and the Mahoney mine in George Inlet.

Joanne B. Mulcahy, Birth and Rebirth on an Alaskan Island: The Life of an Alutiiq Healer (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2001), 172 pp., cloth, $24.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-8203-2253-9, Athens, GA 30602. Using an Akhiok village elder as an example, the author discusses the roles of healing women and midwives in Alutiiq culture.

Kieran Mulvaney, At the Ends of the Earth: A History of the Polar Regions (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2001), 286 pp., cloth, $24.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-55963-908-3, 1718 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20009. Five centuries of Arctic and Antarctic history, with emphasis on natural resources and their exploitation.

Ronald J. Burr Neely, Jr., Early Mining History: Fort Wainwright and Fort Greely, Alaska (Fort Richardson, AK: Natural Resources Branch, U.S. Army Alaska, 2001), 43 pp., spiral-bound, request from Ft. Richardson, AK 99505-6500. A background document “from which to evaluate historic mining sites on the forts,” located near Fairbanks and Delta Junction, respectively.

Leslie M. Noyes, Rock Poker to Pay Dirt: The History of Alaska’s School of Mines and Its Successors (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Foundation, 2001), 712 pp., cloth, $30.00 plus postage, ISBN 1-883309-04-2, distributed by University of Alaska Press, P.O. Box 756240, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6240.

Charlie Parr, Backwoods Broadway: Theatre in Fairbanks, Alaska, 1905-1997 (Fairbanks: Inkworks, 2000), 285 pp., paper, $49.95 plus postage, order from Karen Parr, 909 John Kalinas Road, Fairbanks, AK 99712. Almost a century’s worth of history and details of stage productions; many illustrations.

Elsa Pedersen, Kachemak Bay Years: An Alaska Homesteader’s Memoir (Walnut Creek, CA: Hardscratch Press, 2001), 205 pp., $18.50 plus postage, ISBN 0-9678989-1-9, order from Cook Inlet Books, 415 W. Fifth Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. Fifty-five years of memories about life in southcentral Alaska, by a noted children’s author and historian.

Kathy Price and Russell H. Sakett [Sackett], Northern Defenders: Cold War Context of Ladd Air Force Base, Fairbanks, Alaska, 1947-1961 (Fort Collins, CO: Center for Ecological Management of Military Lands, 2001), 59 pp., spiral-bound, request from Natural Resources Branch, U.S. Army Alaska, Fort Richardson, AK 99505-6500. History of structures and activities at this Cold War outpost.

Jim Rearden, Jim Rearden’s Alaska: Fifty Years of Frontier Adventure (Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press, 2001), 288 pp., paper, $17.95 plus $4.95 postage, ISBN 0-9708493-1-1, Box 82368, Kenmore, WA 98028. A popular outdoor journalist who came to Alaska in 1947 selects his favorite twenty articles. The author was named Historian of the Year by this society in 1998.

William Reid, Solitary Raven: The Selected Writings of Bill Reid, edited by Robert Bringhurst (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000), 250 pp., cloth, $35.00 plus postage, ISBN 1-55054-797-6, P.O. Box 50096, Seattle, WA 98145-5096. Collected writings by a widely admired Haida sculptor who died in 1998.

Penny Rennick, editor, Inupiaq and Yupik People of Alaska, Volume 28, Number 3 of Alaska Geographic (Anchorage: Alaska Geographic Society, 2001), 96 pp., paper, $23.95 plus $5.00 postage, ISBN 1-56661-056-7, P.O. Box 93370, Anchorage, AK 99509-3370. An overview of traditional and modern Eskimo cultures.

Herb Rhodes, Hungry for Wood, An American Memoir: From the Shores of Iwo Jima to the Tundra of Alaska (Anchorage: H. Rhodes, 2001), 290 pp., paper, ISBN 1-58820-016-7, order from Cook Inlet Books, 415 W. Fifth Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. Memories of adventures in and out of Alaska by a long-time Anchorage newspaper man.

Patricia Roppel, Misty Fiords National Monument Wilderness, Alaska (Wrangell: Farwest Research, 2000), 240 pp., $15.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-578333-125-0, P. O. Box 1998, Wrangell, AK 99929. History, natural history, and place name information about this southeast Alaskan wilderness area.

Ken Ross, Environmental Conflict in Alaska (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2000), 424 pp., cloth, $59.95 plus postage, ISBN 0870815881 or paper, $29.95 plus postage, ISBN 087081589X, 5589 Arapahoe Avenue, No. 206C, Boulder, CO 80303. A discussion of environmental controversies since Alaska became a state in 1959.

James Ruppert and John W. Bernet, editors, Our Voices: Native Stories of Alaska and the Yukon (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001), 394 pp., paper, $25.00 plus postage, ISBN 0-8032-8984-7, Lincoln, NE 68588-0255. An anthology of stories told by Natives from Interior Alaska and the Yukon.

Becky M. Saleeby, The Quest for Gold: An Overview of the National Park Service Cultural Resources Mining Inventory and Monitoring Program (CRMIM) (Anchorage: National Park Service-Alaska Region, 2000), 546 pp., paper, request from 2525 Gambell Street, Room 107, Anchorage, AK 99503-2892. Archeological results from ten years of cultural resource inventories conducted in nine of Alaska’s national parks and preserves; includes a chapter describing mining technology as adapted to Alaskan conditions.

Ronald N. Simpson, Legacy of the Chief (Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 2001), 800 pp., cloth, $49.95 plus $9.00 shipping, ISBN 1-888125-86-1, order from Copper Rail Histories, P.O. Box 265, Copper Center, AK 99573. Story of Ahtna Indian Chief Nicolai and the development of copper mines in the Wrangell Mountains.

J. L. Smith, Russians in the Pribilof Islands, 1786-1867 (Anchorage: White Stone Press, 2001), 112 pp., cloth, $15.00 postpaid, ISBN 0962672742, 2314 Marian Bay Circle, Anchorage, AK 99515. A dozen eighteenth and nineteenth century eyewitness accounts of these Bering Sea islands are brought together in an anthology.

John Strohmeyer, Historic Anchorage: An Illustrated History (Anchorage: Anchorage Museum Association and Historical Publishing Network, 2001), 144 pp., cloth, $49.95 plus postage, ISBN 1-893619-21-4, order from Cook Inlet Books, 415 W. Fifth Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. History of the Anchorage area, followed by profiles of some fifty businesses and non-profit organizations.

Diana Tillion, Pioneers of Homer (Anchorage: D. Tillion, 2001), 170 pp., paper, $19.95 plus postage, ISBN 0-9619026-5-5, order from Cook Inlet Books, 415 W. Fifth Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. A collection of family narratives written by those who were in Homer before World War II. An appendix reprints the minutes of the Homer Civic League from 1937-1941.

Barbara Washburn, Accidental Adventurer: Memoir of the First Woman to Climb Mount McKinley (Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press, 2001), 192 pp., cloth, $22.95 plus $6.95 postage, ISBN 9-945397-97-6 or paper, $16.95 plus $6.95 postage, ISBN 9-945397-91-7, Box 82368, Kenmore, WA 98028. The author was not planning on becoming a mountaineering pioneer when she married Brad Washburn.

Bradford Washburn, Exploring the Unknown: Historic Diaries of Bradford Washburn’s Alaska/Yukon Expeditions (Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press, 2001), 128 pp., cloth, $27.95 plus $6.95 postage, ISBN 9-945397-96-8 or paper, $19.95 plus $6.95 postage, ISBN 9-945397-92-5, Box 82368, Kenmore, WA 98028. Illustrated accounts of pioneer mountaineering expeditions in the 1930s and 1960s.

Robin K. Wright, Northern Haida Master Carvers (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001), 385 pp., cloth, $45.00 plus postage, ISBN 1-55054-842-5, P.O. Box 500096, Seattle, WA 98145-5096. Illustrated history, from the early contact period up to the twentieth century.