Sarah Knudsen has been beading for long enough that she says she can recognize where the artist is from in Alaska just by looking at their beadwork.
“Gwich’in Athabascan beadwork is mostly flowers and stems. In the Southeast, the motif of their culture is that they have more Eagles and their clans. We don’t have plans up here,” she said.
Her grandmother taught her in the Gwich’in Athabascan tradition on the Porcupine River, beading on felt and tanned moose hide. That knowledge eventually led her to seek a grant aimed at welcoming Alaska Native artists and culture bearers in to the state’s museums, which allowed her to travel from her home in Fort Yukon, 8 miles north of the Arctic Circle, to the Alaska State Museum in Juneau in March.
Monday is Indigenous Peoples Day, and a great resource for learning about the Indigenous people of Alaska is the Alaska State Museum in Juneau.
Qayak builder-in-residence Lou Logan is in the process of building a skin-on-frame qayak inside the museum, based on a frame that is over a century old and using designs that may go back thousands of years.
Logan is recreating a part of the past which was integral to how the Iñupiaq people of Alaska’s Northwest coastal region lived for millennia. But that area of Alaska is above tree-line, so the material needed for the frame of the skin-on-frame qayak had to be collected.
On a backroom table of The Goods in Soldotna, MaryAnn Dyke sorts through containers of arugula and dill seeds.
The volunteer packages the locally sourced seeds into small, brown envelopes. Handwritten or typed growing instructions will be affixed to the outside before they’re placed among thousands of other seeds in an old-fashioned library card catalog...
The [Soldotna Seed Library] initiative was first introduced in 2022 as a means of providing a space for growers to share local seeds best suited for growth on the Kenai Peninsula. The seed library was originally in the Soldotna Public Library, but moved to The Goods as the program grew. The idea behind the seed library is for locals to check out seed packets, grow them and return the next generation of seeds.
The book Forever by Judy Blume was recommended for reshelving by the Library Citizens’ Advisory Committee, or LCAC, this week.
Before the Committee discussed the new book, Community Development Director Jillian Morrissey provided a staff report. She spoke about the LCAC’s recommendation to remove the book Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold from the public libraries. She says that the book would remain in the Willow Public Library and would be reshelved in the adult section. The LCAC’s recommendation was based specifically on the concern for children reading the book. But it did not address keeping the book available for adults.
Committee Chair Pastor Chad Scott began the group’s discussion with a sermon about how the book Forever was pornographic. He says that simply reshelving it in the adult section, as was done with the previous books, amounts to pedophilia.
The Katirvik Cultural Center in Nome is debuting a new exhibit Thursday, celebrating Alaska Native artistry and the deep connection between traditional makers and the land.
The exhibit, called Uagut Inuusivut ~ Yuuyaraput, or “Our Way of Life” in Inupiaq and Yup’ik is a collaboration between the Katirvik Center and the Carrie McLain Memorial Museum.
The exhibit showcases the work of artists from across Alaska who use natural materials—such as ground squirrel, seal skin, and fish skin—to craft intricate and culturally significant items.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly, in line with other organizations or municipal governments in the wake of the drastic reduction to the Public Library Assistance Grant for fiscal year 2025, is urging the State of Alaska to fully fund libraries.
The Homer City Council passed a similar resolution, 24-103, at their regular meeting on Sept. 23.
Resolution 2024-043, passed during the last regular assembly meeting on Oct. 8, asks the state to maintain funding for the PLA grant program and the Statewide Library Electronic Doorway at the same level as fiscal year 2024. The resolution is sponsored by assembly President Brent Johnson, assembly Vice President Tyson Cox, assembly members Kelly Cooper and Cindy Ecklund, and Borough Mayor Peter Micciche.
Author Nights, the monthly event presented by the Fairbanks Library Foundation, feature’s Velma Wallis this month in a conversation with the audience about her literary works.
In addition to discussing her books, which include “Two Old Women,” “Bad Girl” and “Raising Ourselves,” the foundation will present Wallis with the “Women Who Dared Award.” The presentation and award ceremony takes place at 6 p.m. Oct. 23 at Tote Auditorium at the Noel Wien Library, 1215 Cowles St.
The University of Alaska Museum of the North has two family-centered events planned for Friday and Saturday this week.
With it being the spookiest month of the year, Jennifer Arseneau, director of education and public programs at the museum, said skulls are the theme of the events.
"There's going to be a number of things out," Arseneau said. "We'll have big ones like polar bear and moose skulls, and also very tiny ones like a robin skull."
A “hysterical” take on Alaska’s history, the real history of Sitka’s Tlingit code talkers, an overnight cook-off and a boat ride are all part of the Sitka Historical Society and Museum’s observance of Alaska Day. “It’s just a whole week of celebration in commemoration of Alaska’s history,” said Hal Spackman, director of the Sitka Historical Society and Museum. “I think the Sitka community is lucky to have this variety of events that bring attention to Alaska history. It’s something to look forward to, it reminds us where we came from and it brings us together.”
The week includes the fundraiser brisket cook-off starting Saturday, a fundraising lunch and Allen Marine “brew cruise” on Sunday, the Mr. Whitekeys “Hysterical Historical History of Alaska” on Tuesday, and the society’s annual meeting Wednesday, featuring a talk on the Tlingit Code Talkers of Southeast Alaska. The meeting also will include the Alaska Day beard and bonnet contest. The theme of this year’s Alaska Day Festivals is “Honoring our Alaskan Code Talkers.”
Shannon Haugland, October 11, 2024. Daily Sitka Sentinel.
A group of Indigenous educators from across the state today submitted the first-ever reading standards for Native languages to the Alaska State Board of Education and Early Development.
The draft standards, which lay out what students in grades K-3 are expected to know at each stage of their educational journey, were developed by 14 Ahtna, Aleut, Alutiiq, Gwich’in Athabascan, Inupiaq, Tlingit and Yup’ik educators.
The group created the standards at the behest of the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), which contracted Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) to lead the effort. SHI brought in TIDES Education Associates—an Alaska Native consulting group owned by longtime Tlingit educators and Native language curriculum developers Shgen George and Nancy Douglas. DEED also served as a collaborator.
October 9, 2024. Sealaska Heritage Institute Press Release.
Outside Holger Jorgensen’s wood-paneled house near Fairbanks, Alaska, it was at least 20 degrees below zero, but inside was warm in both temperature and conversation. Jorgy, as he was known, sat in his recliner in his living room across from Holly Miowak Guise, a young Iñupiaq doctoral student at Yale University who was gathering oral histories with Alaska Natives about the 1940s.
Guise sat with her recording equipment on the nearby couch as they talked a long time about his experiences as an Iñupiat person who served in the Alaskan Territorial Guard as sergeant and pilot during World War II. Before Guise left, Jorgy introduced the young researcher to his best friend, another World War II Athabascan veteran and fellow retired pilot, Al Wright. The next day, Wright sat with her for hours while Jorgy snoozed on the couch behind them.
The interviews with Jorgensen and Wright in March of 2015 are now part of Guise’s new book, “Alaska Native Resilience: Voices from World War II,” released in July by the University of Washington Press.
On October 15, 2024, the IRS issued a warning about “scammers who use fake charities to gather sensitive personal and financial data from unsuspecting donors.”
The context of the warning involves the aftermath of the recent hurricanes, but we thought the tips and warnings were timely with Giving Tuesday and other holiday-based solicitations coming up.
The warning speaks about an IRS service called the Tax Exempt Organization Search Tool. According to the IRS: “You can check an organization’s eligibility to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions and review information about the organization's tax-exempt status and filings.” You can find information about an organization's tax filings and more.
The warning also offered a few tips avoiding fake charities:
Always verify.
Be cautious about how a donation is requested.
Don't share too much information.
Don't give in to pressure.
Do you have an online event or news to share? Email us!
This newsletter contains links to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for the reader’s convenience. Alaska State Libraries, Archives, and Museums does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this outside information. Furthermore, the inclusion of links is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed, or products or services offered, on these sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites.
