News from the Division
The Alaska State Museum is issuing a call for entries for its upcoming solo artist exhibition series. Five Alaska artists will be selected for the series, which runs fall of 2024 through spring of 2026. Applications are due Saturday, September 23, 2023 by 9:59 PM Alaska Time. Selected artists will be announced after October 2023.
Artists are strongly encouraged to develop new work for this opportunity (you may use existing work in your application). Applications will be reviewed by a committee of museum staff and artist professionals. Selections will be based primarily on the quality of the submitted work, on the artist’s record of professional activity (artist’s resume), and the exhibition proposal (letter of intent).
Submit your application online at CaFÉ
To view previous exhibitions, including solo artist exhibitions, see Online Exhibitions.
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News from L.A.M.S in Alaska
To help raise the level of civil discourse across Alaska, the Alaska Historical Society (AHS) is launching a four-part lecture and panel discussion series focused on major public policy issues facing Alaska. The sessions, scheduled to kick off this fall at the Anchorage Museum, are designed to combat the often willful distortion of history and create a more productive environment in which to arrive at sound public policy.
Image: “Game Coming to Market” — Residents of Eagle, Alaska pose in front of a sled loaded with caribou and Dall sheep, 1900. P277-4-52, James Wickersham Photographs, Alaska State Library.
July 17, 2023. AHS Blog.
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For decades, Petersburg’s aptly-named Tent City provided shelter for a rotating cast of transient workers and adventurers. Some of them stayed in Petersburg and ended up making it their permanent home. A new exhibit at the Clausen Memorial Museum looks at the ways that the campground impacted both the economy and the character of the town.
Hannah Flor, July 27, 2023. KFSK.org.
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The Alutiiq Museum received a grant for $144,070 from the Institute for Museum and Library Services to develop a book of modern Native art. Museum staff said the book will include over 200 pieces and feature dozens of Indigenous artists.
Amy Steffian is the chief curator of the Alutiiq Museum; she said the goal is to show that Alutiiq tradition is a living culture, expressed in many different ways.
Brian Venua, August 2, 2023. KMXT.org.
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After completing her bachelor's in English and master's in library science in the Lower 48, West High graduate Nancy Lesh returned to Alaska "with the idea that I would stay for a year or two and take a lot of trips around Alaska to places that you don't normally go, like Point Hope and Barrow and the Pribilofs, and then decide what I wanted to do."
Michelle Saport, July 28, 2023. UAA News.
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On Monday, July 24 the Nome Common Council gave its unanimous approval of hiring long-time city employee Cheryl Thompson as the Director of the Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum...
In her early work for the museum, Thompson was essential in cataloguing and archiving museum artifacts. In the early 2000’s during the celebration of Nome’s centennial many people brought in historical artifacts from the early days on Nome. As the collections grew, it became necessary to find a bigger and more flood safe space for the museum to reside.
Anna Lionas, July 27, 2023. The Nome Nugget.
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Living in Alaska, sound is everywhere — from glaciers calving to the sound of streams flowing.
What if you could capture it? What would it sound like? LaMont Hamilton is an interdisciplinary artist who uses sound recordings to tell a story at his exhibition at the Anchorage Museum. It’s called To Hear the Earth Before the End of the World.
Ariane Aramburo and Peggy McCormack, July 31, 2023. KTUU.
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During the regularly scheduled Matanuska Susitna Borough School District (MSBSD) school board meeting, the board approved 2 controversial agenda items, the approval of a library committee and change to school board policy with regards to libraries and media centers.
First up was the approval of the Library Citizens Advisory Committee...
In total, there are 56 books that are being formally challenged, with most titles found in middle and high school libraries throughout the Mat-Su Borough. This list includes fiction and nonfiction books, such as “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood, “The Freedom Writers’ Diary,” by Erin Gruwell, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephan Chbosky, and “Slaughterhouse-5,” by Kurt Vonnegut, to name just a few.
Katie Stavick, August 3, 2023. Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.
The City & Borough of Juneau has announced that Catherine Melville will serve as the next Director of Juneau Public Libraries. Melville has been Acting Library Director since February 24.
Melville joined Juneau Public Libraries in 2003, and has worked in a variety of positions over the last 20 years, most recently as Collection Development Librarian and Manager of Technical Services, supervising library staff who build and maintain physical and digital library collections.
July 31, 2023. KINYradio.com.
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Other Announcements
From NARA's website: The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) provides access to many government records on Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) through the National Archives Catalog and NARA's website. Additionally, NARA has been actively digitizing historical records from its holdings over the past few months, in support of the Department of Defense. Digitized records are being made available in the Catalog on a rolling basis as the work is completed.
Available material includes blog posts and articles, digitized material from the National Archives Catalog, selected films covering “flying saucers, Project Blue Book and the military’s flying disc program – Avrocar”, and a few press releases from the Ford Administration.
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With more coastline than all of the other states combined, Alaska has quite the maritime history. And for historians and museum leaders, it’s a challenge to preserve that history. A new federally funded grant program may make their jobs easier, by funding efforts to both preserve artifacts and educate the public.
Teigan Akagi, August 1, 2023. Alaska Beacon.
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