Audio reels document
the community of Wrangell
A Southeast Alaska
radio station has donated to Sealaska Heritage Institute hundreds of audio recordings
dating from the 1960s to the 1990s.
The collection
donated by KSTK-FM documents the history and events of the community of
Wrangell through interviews and talk shows over the years, said SHI Archivist
and Collections Manager Zachary Jones.
The recordings
touch upon topics of interest to the Native community and the community as a
whole, Jones said.
“It’s
especially great for Sealaska Heritage Institute because it documents a portion
of the Native community—the community’s concerns, their culture, their
language, their history and their art. But the collection is also really
important because it documents the wider community of Wrangell, not just the
Native community, and that’s important, too,” Jones said.
The recordings
will be of use to anyone interested in studying Southeast Alaska. The
recordings cover a broad range of topics, including cultural, historical and
even ecological information, said Jones.
“Speakers
include the noted Tlingit Elder Walter Soboleff speaking, Native artists,
influential individual Esther Shay as well as individuals like the mayor of
Wrangell speaking to Congressman Don Young,” Jones said.
The donation brings another vital resource that will allow
SHI to continue its work in writing tribal histories from the words of those
who were part of Native history, said SHI President Rosita Worl.
“The public, including Natives, grew up without the benefit
of learning about Native history since it was not taught in school. It is as if
Natives had no history. This collection will help fill this gap,” said Worl,
adding she is also hopeful that this collection and other collections in SHI’s
archives might encourage Native students to become historians since at the
present time we do not have a single Native historian.
SHI Trustee Ethel Lund, who is from Wrangell, was excited
KSTK made the donation to the institute, saying there is very little
documentation on Wrangell consolidated in one public facility.
“Most of our history is scattered in different homes and the
documentation is not centered in one place like this will be at SHI, where it
will be accessible to us,” Lund said.
The recordings
are on approximately 200 reels and must first be digitized for use by patrons of
the archive, which is located in Sealaska Plaza and open to the public.
Sealaska Heritage
Institute is a private, nonprofit founded in 1980 to promote cultural diversity
and cross-cultural understanding. The institute is governed by a Board of
Trustees and guided by a Council of Traditional Scholars. Its mission is to
perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast
Alaska.
CONTACT: Rosita Worl, 907-463-4844; Michael Symons, KSTK General Manager, 907-874-2345
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