News from the Division
Closes January 15, 2024
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News from L.A.M.S in Alaska
The Cordova Public Library welcomed a new library director this month, just after the city announced it would cut back on the entity’s hours because of short staffing.
Geraldine de Rooy arrived from Valdez on Nov. 10 and has been quickly acquainting herself with library staff and with the community of Cordova. De Rooy has a Master’s of Library and Information Science from the University of Texas Austin and has extensive experience working in rural libraries in Alaska and along the West Coast.
This came less than two weeks after the city issued a public notice on Oct. 31 announcing that the Cordova Public Library would be temporarily limiting operating hours due to a staffing shortage primarily caused by high turnover and employee retirement. For the time being, the library will be open Tuesday through Friday from 12-7 p.m., and Saturday 12-5 p.m.
Kinsey Brown, December 13, 2023. Cordova Times.
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Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) for the first time will sponsor a Juried Film Festival in an effort to support Indigenous storytelling through digital media.
Entries must be 5-10 minutes in length and created within the past two years. The films may cover any topic and can be live action, stop motion or animated.
Selected films will be shown at Gold Town Theatre in Juneau during Celebration 2024, scheduled June 5-8.
December 6, 2023. Juneau Empire.
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A multimedia exhibit opening Dec. 16 at the University of Alaska Museum of the North examines the rich history and experience of Black life in Alaska through storytelling.
“Black in Alaska: Interior Edition” expands upon the portraits and vignettes showcased in the 2020-2023 online multimedia project blackinalaska.org. The Fairbanks exhibit incorporates additional artifacts and oral histories contributed by members of the Interior community, providing a nuanced perspective on African American history in Alaska, from the Gold Rush to construction of the Alaska Highway up to the present day.
The exhibit features interviews, photos and short videos profiling more than 40 Black Alaskans from Fairbanks and across the state, including people of diverse ages, genders and socioeconomic status. It aims to break down stereotypes and foster deeper connections between communities through storytelling.
Kristin Summerlin, December 11, 2023. UAF News.
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Companions Inc. therapy dogs reveled in pats, scratches and hugs from students at the University of Alaska Fairbanks last week.
It's a tried and true stress reliever for students, who are about to take final exams for the semester. After years of holding this event, the Rasmuson Library knows that happy dogs make for happy students.
At one point, 30 students surrounded six therapy dogs. Everyone sat or laid on the floor. There were smiles all around, including on the dogs.
Kris Caps, December 10, 2023. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
Museums Alaska awards grants to museums across the state twice a year from funding set aside by the Rasmuson Foundation, another statewide nonprofit. In this latest round, over $150,000 will be split across a dozen museums. Ketchikan Museums received three grants totaling almost $33,000. That’s the most of any of the awarded organizations.
Anita Maxwell is the director of Ketchikan Museums, which oversees the Tongass Historical Museum and Totem Heritage Center. She said these types of grants allow them to do things they’d never be able to in their normal operations budget.
“We really depend on these kinds of pieces, because it’s not something that we can do within our regular operational grants...” said Maxwell.
Jack Darrell, November 30, 2023. KRBD.org.
Related: Museum report from Ketchikan Museums
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The Kenai Peninsula Film Group’s Winter Film Series returned this week to kick off its second season at the Soldotna Public Library.
The Winter Film Series, which debuted earlier this year in January and ran through April, is an offering of short films that organizers said at the time was intended to spark discussion about film in the local community. To that end, they said each entry would feature the work of a local filmmaker.
“I think we did a good job building the foundation last year,” film group founding member Eric Downs said on Sunday. “The best part about it is connecting community with local artists and bringing the local community — that may not have an understanding of filmmaking — and bridging the gap … it’s not all Hollywood, it starts at a grassroots level.”
Jacob Dye, December 15, 2023. Peninsula Clarion.
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It looks like Palmer will have a brand new public library operating in 2026.
The city council voted to approve construction of a new library building at its Tuesday, Dec. 12 meeting. Having a new building with new technologies may cost more but it will be more efficient [than] trying to rebuild the original library damaged by a roof collapse in late 2022, the council decided.
Architect Gary Wolf and his staff met six times with the city’s special library committee to work through extensive public comments, a process that developed three options for the council, two involving variations of a rebuild of the damaged structure and the third a new building.
Tim Bradner, December 15, 2023. Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.
Related: ACLU Alaska press release
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Wildfires may not be an imminent concern in rain-soaked Sitka, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from them. Sitkans packed the main room at the public library Thursday night (11-30-23) for a talk on fungi, forests, and fires from visiting Outer Coast faculty member Caroline Daws.
Daws, whose research at Stanford focuses on how fungi interact with trees such as California redwoods, said certain types of fungi help trees thrive by making nutrients more accessible. That means healthier forests. Wildfires, though, can knock out some of those good fungi.
Meredith Redick, December 6, 2023. KCAW.org.
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Other News
Ivory scrimshaw, caribou antler cabochons, fish vertebrae, and trade beads. The earring styles of Southwest Alaska are as diverse as their makers.
While earrings have been made and worn in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta for centuries, the region has seen a rapid increase in the number of artists and variety of styles over the last few years. Many artists credit long days in COVID-19 lockdown as the birthplace of their art form, while others say that they started making earrings to explore their heritage, or to relax after a long day of working and parenting...
Through a grant from the Alaska Humanities Forum, the Southwest Alaska Arts Group partnered with Bethel-based photographer Katie Basile to profile nine earring artists in the region. Artists collaborated with Basile to create a series of portraits and interviews that explore the creative process and inspiration behind these beautiful creations. Enjoy this sample of the many talented earring artists in Southwest Alaska.
Katie Basile, December 8, 2023. KYUK.org.
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Internationally acclaimed Yup’ik artist Golga Oscar joins the University of Alaska Fairbanks Kuskokwim Campus in December 2023.
Oscar, who earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts, creates modern textiles that reflect his cultural identity and ancestry. He explores mediums ranging from leather and skin sewing to grass weaving and walrus ivory and wood carving.
Through Oscar’s knowledge of traditional art forms and sewing skills, he also creates cultural attire. These pieces are a vital visual element in his photographic imagery. His portraits of Indigenous people seek to show the importance of Native heritage and the validity of their existence. He is striving to bring Indigenous ideas and traditions to the Western educational environment.
Suzi Tanski, December 13, 2023. Delta Discovery.
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Lingít scholar Jeff Leer noticed gestures an elder would make when telling stories when he was young.
“When she was talking along and talking about a person sitting, she would, you know — you’d take your right index finger and put it erect, and then you crook it about halfway,” Leer said. “So it looks like it’s bent at about a 90 degree angle.”
Using old recordings, Lingít language experts like Leer are documenting and compiling hand gestures used by birth speakers that have meaning in the context of the language.
Yvonne Krumrey, December 6, 2023. KTOO.
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Near the powwow grounds in Grand Ronde recently, tribal member Stephanie Craig sorted items in the back of her vehicle, including several that are more than a century old. She’s a traditional basket weaver, who had just returned from a presentation at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History in Eugene, where she also studied while working on her Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology of the Pacific Northwest...
“I hope people will start looking at things more as belongings,” explained Craig, gingerly putting [a] veil back into its container. “You don’t call your family’s items ‘artifacts’ or ‘relics.’ They’re family heirlooms, and that’s the same for us.”
Craig co-wrote an article with Yoli Ngandali, a member of the Ngbaka Tribe from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for the Society for American Archaeology’s latest journal, The SAA Archaeological Record. The piece challenges institutions to rethink centuries-old terms, practices, and philosophy when it comes to handling Indigenous items. This includes taking them out from behind the glass or curator’s drawer, to serve their function.
Brian Bull, December 12, 2023. OPB.org.
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