SHI Special Collections Research Center

SCHOLAR DONATES ARCHIVES ON HYDABURG, HAIDA TO SHI

2012-01-12T10:14:00.003-09:00

An anthropologist who studied the City of Hydaburg and the Haida history and culture there has donated his field work and doctoral papers to Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI).

Dan Vaughan, Ph.D., spent a decade working in Hydaburg on Prince of Wales Island as a cultural anthropologist for the University of Washington from 1974 to 1984. During that time, he also did work on his dissertation, which was a study of the Haida people in Hydaburg reaching back two-hundred years.

The collection has important research value because it documents decisions people in Hydaburg have made over the last century, said SHI’s Archivist and Collections Manager Zachary Jones.

“These are administrative, political, and even cultural decisions,” Jones said. “There’s a great deal of genealogical data as well, which may well serve people interested in learning more about their family history from Hydaburg or just the general history and culture of the people from Hydaburg.”

The collection includes written documents, such as correspondence and meeting minutes, from Hydaburg dating to the 1920s plus photographs and field work recordings made by Vaughan as he interviewed people. He also recorded people singing and speaking in Haida.

Vaughan donated the collection to SHI because he wanted it to go to an organization that represents Alaska Natives, Jones said.

“He saw a place where he felt they could be cared for appropriately which could service the people of Hydaburg or those interested in that area,” Jones said.

SHI’s collections facility is open to the public and located at Sealaska Plaza in Juneau. The institute employs a full-time staff to care for collections and assist researchers studying Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures.

CONTACT: Zachary Jones, Archivist and Collections Manager, 586-9261

Civil Rights Actions of Alaska Native Brotherhood & Sisterhood Camp 2 in 1940

2011-11-22T08:54:00.005-09:00

The detailed history of racial discrimination against Southeast Alaska Natives remains to be written. Fortunately the late Dr. Walter A. Soboleff (1908-2011), an advocate for the advancement for Tlingit culture, saved his correspondence, meeting minutes, and other records while an active and leading member of the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB), which served to document the historic civil rights actions of ANB and ANB’s counterpart, the Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS). The materials he saved, amounting to 37 boxes of historic documents stored at Sealaska Heritage Institute, detail this effort on many levels, and are available to the public for educational research.

Recently, I reviewed the 1939-1945 ANB/ANS Camp 2 meeting minutes ledger. Reading over the joint ANB and ANS meeting for February 12, 1940, I encountered documentation speaking to civil rights actions undertaken in Juneau by ANB and ANS.

Under the direction of ANB Camp 2 President William S. Wanamaker (1889-1944) (Tlingit of the Kiks.ádi Clan), the meeting minutes record Cyril J. Zuboff Sr. (1892-1869) raising the issue of the Juneau Sports Arena refusing to allow Alaska Natives entrance. Minutes then record proposals to address this situation, which included; 1) engaging in efforts that encouraged people from “refraining from patronizing” the arena, 2) the creation of a four member committee (two ANB men and two ANS women) to address the issue, and 3) that this committee “present a written protest at the next [Juneau] Chamber of Commerce meeting.”

These two short pages (provided below), from this old ledger, speak a great deal about the history of civil rights and the reasons ANB and ANS fought for the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945 and additional efforts.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a regional nonprofit representing the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people of Southeast Alaska. Its mission is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures. SHI maintains a large collection of archival materials that document the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures.

The Alaska Native Brotherhood’s 1921 Grand Camp Meeting

2011-11-17T14:15:00.004-09:00

With the 100 year anniversary of the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) occurring in 2012, many will be reflecting on the history, role, and actions of ANB.

I recently came across the ANB Grand Camp Program for 1921 (scan below). While no minutes from the 1921 meeting have survived (although SHI has published the 1920 ANB minutes), the 1921 program lists the convention’s agenda and the topics discussed. Some of the issues of the day included fishing rights, segregated schooling, civil rights, and discussions on sovereignty and land ownership, such as through a reservation system. The final open forum topic for the third day of the meeting, which poses questions for discussion on the legality and fairness of the judicial system in Alaska towards Alaska Natives, is of particular interest. Scheduled be held after a speech on the civil rights of Alaska Natives presented by Hon. James Wickersham, it reads;

“Open Forum. The tremendous handicap of fair trial by juries composed entirely of White men, through an interpreter, leading to the question; “Would a lone White man consent to a trial by Natives in “Indian Country.”

Such a document provides a glimpse into the history of ANB and the issues of importance to Southeast Alaska Natives nearly 90 years ago.

Credit: Program from the Walter A. Soboleff Papers, Sealaska Heritage Institute.

SHI TO SPONSOR LECTURES FOR NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

2011-10-24T13:00:00.002-08:00

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) will sponsor a noon lecture series to celebrate Native American Heritage Month in November.

The brown-bag lunch series will focus on the impact of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) which was passed by Congress forty years ago, said SHI President Rosita Worl, adding Tlingit and Haida and Sealaska Corporation also will sponsor a November luncheon in recognition of ANCSA.

Alaska settled its Native land claims in a historic way by founding Native corporations. That was a complete departure from the way Native tribes in the Lower 48 settled land claims by forming reservations, Worl said.

“ANCSA is a very different creature than reservations, “Worl said. “I know Alaskans hear a lot about Native corporations but they might not always understand the history of ANCSA, or how corporations work.”

The lectures will be held from 12-1 pm in the 4^th floor boardroom at Sealaska Plaza in Juneau. The series was sponsored by McDowell Group and Kathy Ruddy of Juneau. Attendees are invited to bring their own lunches.

Lectures 12-1 pm, Sealaska Plaza, 4^th Floor Boardroom (bring your own lunch)
Friday, Nov. 4	ANCSA: Good or Bad? Byron Mallott Fellow, First Alaskan Institute
Monday, Nov. 14	The Interrelationships Between Tribes and Corporations Edward Thomas President, Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska
Tuesday, Nov. 15	Alaska Native Corporations and Cultural Models of Sustainability Thomas F. Thornton Senior Research Fellow, Environmental Change and Management, Oxford University
Monday, Nov. 21	The Legal Status of Alaska Native Corporations & Economic Self Determination Chris McNeil President & CEO Sealaska Corporation
Monday, Nov. 28	ANCSA: A Path to Assimilation or Cultural Survival Rosita Worl President, Sealaska Heritage Institute

The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indians and Sealaska Corporation also will sponsor a noon luncheon on Wednesday, Nov. 16, to recognize the initial Sealaska Board of Directors and Emil Notti, Chair of the Alaska Federation of Natives when Alaska Natives were pursuing the settlement of their aboriginal land claims.

Photo: Guest lecturer Dan Monteith at SHI’s 2010 lecture series in Juneau,

SHI RECEIVES GRANT TO STUDY HISTORIC TLINGIT RECORDINGS

2011-10-19T08:30:00.005-08:00

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has received a federal grant to research and migrate old Tlingit language recordings to a format that will make them more accessible to modern-day Native language students and scholars.

The $150,000, two-year grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services will allow SHI to migrate more than one hundred recordings of people speaking Tlingit from an old format to a digital format, said SHI Archivist Zachary Jones. Recordings with the potential to aid language students and educators will be placed online.

“We’re very excited about this grant because it not only helps us with our archival collections, but it also helps us with our language,” Jones said.

The oldest Tlingit recordings date to the early 1900s, and historic Tlingit recordings from that era will undergo a review. SHI will contract fluent Tlingit speakers to listen to the recordings and provide detailed information on topics such as traditional ecological knowledge and Tlingit history.

“It will help document the content of them in great detail right down to the clan or clan-house level if possible,” he said.

The grant also will fund an internship program between the institute and the University of Alaska Southeast, allowing undergraduate students studying Tlingit language to become involved in this language orientated project. And, it will establish a sharing partnership with the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Alaska Native Language Archive, meaning the organizations will donate copies of some materials in their archives to each other.

CONTACT: Zachary Jones, SHI Archivist, 907.586.9261

Photo Credit: Above image shows a 1948 SoundScriber recording capturing Kake, Alaska individuals speaking about land claims, SHI collection.

100 Years of Alaska Native Brotherhood

2011-10-13T13:27:00.002-08:00

Next year will mark the 100 year anniversary of the foundingof the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB). For the first half of the 20^thcentury, ANB and its partner organization, the Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS –founded 1926), were at times the only organizations representing Native andcivil rights in Alaska. ANB and ANS were also some of the first organizationsfighting for land claims in Alaska. ANB claims to be the oldest stillpracticing Native organization in the United States.

Photo Credit: Group photograph of ANB/ANS members at the 1954 Grand Camp Convention, Juneau. Photograph attributed to William L. Paul, Jr. PO064: Item 3, Sealaska Heritage Institute.

The accomplishment list of ANB and ANS is long, but some ofthe main accomplishments credited to the organizations are: voting rights forAlaska Natives prior to the Citizenship Act of 1924, civil rights reform suchas the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945, land claims extinguishment effortsleading to ANCSA, and societal reform such as improvement of health care,education, and other social safety nets for Alaska Natives.

According to the international library catalog WorldCat.org,Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) contains the largest collection of ANBrecords in the world. These papers are open to the public for research andeducational purposes. While SHI contains few historical ANS records, SHI hopes inthe future ANS donors will contribute their historic papers to SHI to betterpreserve ANS and ANB’s histories.

From the historic records of ANB, SHI recently compiled alist of ANB Grand Presidents and the locations of ANB Grand Camp Conventions (alist of ANS Grand Presidents is forthcoming). This list is provided below,since SHI occasionally receives inquiries for this information. SHI seeks topromote the study of ANB and ANS’s history.

List of ANB Grand Presidents and Locations

of Grand Camp Conventions, 1912-2010.

Compiled by Zachary R. Jones

Sealaska Heritage Institute Archivist

YEAR Convention Location ANBGrand President

1912 Juneau Electionslated for 1913

1913 Juneau PeterSimpson

1914 Sitka PeterSimpson

1915 Metlakatla PeterSimpson

1916 Wrangell PeterSimpson

1917 Juneau RalphYoung

1918 no convention RalphYoung

1919 Juneau RalphYoung

1920 Wrangell LouisF. Paul

1921 Douglas LouisF. Paul

1922 Klawock AndrewHope

1923 Kake PeterSimpson

1924 Hoonah PeterSimpson

1925 Hydaburg FrankPrice

1926 Klukwan SamuelC. Davis

1927 Angoon LouisF. Paul

1928 Sitka WilliamL. Paul

1929 Haines WilliamL. Paul

1930 Ketchikan LouisShotridge

1931 Yakutat FrankG. Johnson

1932 no convention FrankG. Johnson

1933 Juneau FrankBooth

1934 Saxman CyrilZuboff

1935 Wrangell CyrilZuboff

1936 Metlakatla FrankG. Johnson

1937 Kake CyrilZuboff

1938 Sitka CyrilZuboff

1939 Sitka LouisF. Paul

1940 Klawock RoyPeratrovich

1941 Hydaburg RoyPeratrovich

1942 no convention RoyPeratrovich

1943 Hoonah RoyPeratrovich

1944 Kake RoyPeratrovich

1945 Angoon AlfredWidmark

1946 Wrangell CyrilZuboff

1947 Hydaburg CyrilZuboff

1948 Sitka CyrusPeck Sr.

1949 Klawock FrankPeratrovich

1950 Craig HarryDouglas

1951 Ketchikan JosephC. Williams

1952 Hoonah JosephC. Williams

1953 Sitka PatrickJ. Paul

1954 Juneau Patrick J. Paul

1955 Petersburg PatrickJ. Paul

1956 Hoonah MarkJacobs Sr.

1957 Kake ThomasL. Jackson

1958 Sitka ThomasL. Jackson

1959 Yakutat AlfredWidmark

1960 Angoon AlfredWidmark

1961 Klukwan AlfredWidmark

1962 Sitka JohnHope

1963 Wrangell JohnHope

1964 Hoonah AlfredWidmark

1965 Kake FrankSee

1966 Hydaburg WalterA. Soboleff

1967 Ketchikan Walter A. Soboleff

1968 Juneau WalterA. Soboleff

1969 Kake WalterA. Soboleff

1970 Petersburg RichardJ. Stitt

1971 Sitka StevenV. Hotch

1972 Ketchikan StevenV. Hotch

1973 Wrangell FrankNelson

1974 Yakutat Frank Nelson

1975 Haines FrankNelson

1976 Hoonah Walter A. Soboleff

1977 Hydaburg FrankO. Williams, Jr.

1978 Sitka FrankO. Williams, Jr.

1979 Juneau WalterA. Soboleff

1980 Angoon Herbert Hope

1981 Ketchikan RobertMartin, Sr.

1982 Kake RobertMartin, Sr.

1983 Juneau RonaldD. Williams

1984 Sitka RonaldD. Williams

1985 Klawock RonaldD. Williams

1986 Haines RonaldD. Williams

1987 Sitka RichardStitt

1988 Juneau RichardStitt

1989 Hoonah Richard Stitt

1990 Kake RichardStitt

1991 Ketchikan AlbertKookesh

1992 Klawock AlbertKookesh

1993 Angoon Dan Johnson, Jr.

1994 Juneau RonaldD. Williams

1995 Hydaburg AlfredMcKinley, Sr.

1996 Yakutat Alfred McKinley, Sr.

1997 Sitka RichardStitt

1998 Wrangell RichardStitt

1999 Saxman Samuel Jackson

2000 Juneau SamuelJackson

2001 Kake RichardH. Jackson

2002 Hoonah Richard H. Jackson

2003 Ketchikan SamuelJackson

2004 Sitka SamuelJackson/Ronald D. Williams

2005 Juneau DeweySkan

2006 Hoonah Brad Fluetsch

2007 Sitka DeweySkan

2008 Ketchikan WillardJackson

2009 Juneau BradFluetsch

2010 Saxman WillardJackson

2011 Klawock RichardJackson
2012 Sitka Dennis Demmert

SHI Seeks Submissions for New Native Studies Publication

2011-10-10T15:27:00.006-08:00

SHI is soliciting essay-length articles for our new Box of Knowledge Occasional Papers series. We welcome submissions dealing with all aspects of Alaska Native life, including history, anthropology, archaeology, art history, political science, linguistics, sociology, and literature. For more information click here.

Photo Credit:

PO023: Item 1: Douglas Progressive Native Group Photograph, 1916. 7.5 x 9.5 inches. Photo by Edward Andrews. Reverse reads "Old Douglas Hospital." Sealaska Heritage Institute.

Photographs Document 1992 Tlingit Subsistence Protest

2011-10-04T11:25:00.004-08:00

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) recently received a small but important photograph collection documenting a peaceful subsistence protest undertaken by the Tlingit community of Hoonah in 1992. The twenty-one photographs received by SHI, donated by protest participant and photographer Misty Jack of Hoonah, document the May protest carried out at Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve by the Hoonah Tlingit concerning the infringed rights of the Tlingit to engage in subsistence gathering and fishing within Park boundaries. The Park currently limits, regulates, and forbids certain subsistence activities in the Park by the Tlingit of Hoonah.

The area known today as Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve has been inhabited by the Tlingit people for thousands of years according to archeological evidence and oral history. The Tlingit of nearby Hoonah have historically managed the water and land’s resources and wildlife with balance and harmony for thousands of years. However, in 1925 areas of the current Park were made a National Monument, and in 1980 it was made a National Park and Preserve. Since these enactments, the Tlingit of Hoonah have lost further control and access to the lands and waters in Glacier Bay, and federal laws restricted and/or forbade traditional subsistence practices.

For decades the Tlingit of Hoonah, and the tribal governments and organizations representing Hoonah and the Tlingit in general, have petitioned the federal government for subsistence rights and claim to the land. After decades of work and petitions, and with little response from the federal government, the Hoonah Indian Association (HIA)—a federally recognized tribal government representing the Tlingit of Hoonah—facilitated a community discussion on subsistence in Glacier Bay.

Over the winter of 1991-92 meetings were held in Hoonah, with leaders of each traditional clan house serving on a committee to discuss the issue. After long and careful discussion, the clan house leaders of Hoonah felt it was best to engage in a peaceful demonstration within Glacier Bay.

In May 1992 the Tlingit clans and people of Hoonah boarded a number of boats that sailed into Glacier Bay. The boats put ashore and held a number of ceremonies connected to the Hoonah Tlingit’s history and ownership of the land. Those of the Raven moiety conducted part of the ceremony, and those of the Eagle moiety conducted other portions, in accordance with traditional culture and to ensure balance. Important and historic regalia and totem poles were brought into Glacier Bay for this event, and used in ceremony. Tlingit elders from Hoonah gave speeches on the history of their people and subsistence in Glacier Bay. At the conclusion of this ceremony, the people of Hoonah peacefully engaged in subsistence practices according to historic and cultural practice.

While this topic requires additional research, those who participated in the event stated that federal officials felt it was best to not interfere with the Hoonah Tlingit during their peaceful protest in May 1992.

While the issue of subsistence remains unresolved for the Tlingit of Hoonah today, and their right to engage in subsistence activities in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is still regulated and in some situations forbidden, this peaceful demonstration captures the values of a people and community as they work to challenge the federal government’s ownership and management of Tlingit land.

Sources:

Phone interview with Ken Grant, employee of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, September 2011.

Phone interview with donor, Misty Jack, participant and resident of Hoonah, September 2011.

David Hulen, “Look but don’t take: Tlingit battle Park Service for Glacier Bay subsistence,” Anchorage Daily News (July 22, 1990).

David Hulen, “We are made criminals for our food,” Tlingit say Park scorns culture in citing hunter,” Anchorage Daily News (Oct. 22, 1992).

Photograph Credits:

1) Top image captures a view of the Tlingit ceremony at Glacier Bay, 1992, photograph by Misty Jack.

2) Above image captures small boat displaying the Hoonah Tlingit screen which tells of Hoonah's connection to Glacier Bay, 1992, photograph by Misty Jack.

Southeast Alaska Totem Parks Lecture Online

2011-09-23T08:22:00.006-08:00

If you missed the lecture given this past Monday by SHI's Visiting Scholar on Southeast totem parks, you can now watch it online. In her talk, Emily Moore discusses Southeast Alaska totem poles that were made or restored during the Great Depression and shows a 1949 newsreel about the project that was recently rediscovered. To view the lecture click here.

Photo Credit: CCC Carver, dated 1939, from the Linn A. Forrest Collection, Sealaska Heritage Institute.

SHI TO SPONSOR LECTURE ON TOTEM PARKS OF SOUTHEAST ALASKA

2011-09-12T09:42:00.001-08:00

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) will sponsor a noon lecture on Southeast Alaska totem poles that were made or restored during the Great Depression and show a 1949 newsreel about the project that was recently rediscovered.

The lecture will be given by Emily Moore, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Berkeley. SHI is sponsoring her research through its Visiting Scholars Program.

The brown bag lunch lecture is scheduled from noon-1 pm, Monday, Sept. 19 in the 4^th floor boardroom at Sealaska Plaza. It is free of charge and open to the public. Space is limited.

Moore, who is originally from Ketchikan, is writing her dissertation on the totem parks created in Saxman, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Kasaan, Klawock, and Hydaburg and restored in Sitka. The project was launched when the federal government, acting through the U.S. Forest Service and through an emergency relief program called the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), hired Tlingit and Haida men to restore or replicate nineteenth-century totem poles from Native villages.

“The CCC totem parks represent a pivotal moment in totem pole history in Southeast Alaska, transferring poles from the clan houses and gravesites of Tlingit and Haida villages to more centralized totem ‘parks’ geared specifically for tourists,” Moore said.

“At the same time, however, the parks helped to continue carving traditions by employing carvers trained in nineteenth-century apprenticeship traditions to teach a younger generation of carvers the techniques and stories behind the poles. The parks also represented the first major act of government patronage for Northwest Coast Native art in the U.S., and they continue to be important sites for Tlingit and Haida communities today. Despite the importance of these totem parks, however, there is no in-depth study of the CCC project or of the individuals who worked to realize its goals.”

The 11-minute film is titled Timber and Totem Poles and was produced by the U.S. Forest Service.

CONTACT: Emily Moore, Lecturer/Visiting Scholar, 510-590-6676; Zachary Jones, SHI Archivist, 586-9261

Photograph Credit: Image of CCC workers at Wrangell, 1939, photo by Linn Forrest, from SHI Linn Forrest Photograph Collection.

Alaska Native Sisterhood Civil Rights Leader Amy Hallingstad – A Glimpse to 1947

2011-09-09T08:51:00.008-08:00

There are a number of individuals associated and credited with the Civil Rights movement in Alaskan history. These range from individuals such as Frank Johnson’s 1930 boycott of segregated theaters, Bessie Quinto’s tireless advocacy toward equal pay and benefits for Natives working in salmon canneries, William L. Paul’s fight for Native rights and land, to Roy and Elizabeth Peratrovich’s ANB and ANS leadership during the passing of the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945. Another name that should be spoken of alongside with these individuals is Amy Hallingstad.

Amy Booth Hallingstad (1901-1973) was born in Haines, Alaska, the daughter of Frank Booth Sr. (1889-1964) and Sally Jackson (1885-1943). Amy was Tlingit of the Eagle moiety, Tsaagweidí Clan. She is often remembered as a civil rights activist and leader in the Alaska Native Sisterhood, and was referred to by some as the First Lady for the First People. She was widely known for using her quick wit and humor to make her point, and her jokes are often retold to this day during joking sessions in traditional gatherings.

In Amy's youth she moved to Sitka to attend the Sheldon Jackson College, and then moved to Petersburg, Alaska. During the 1920s in Petersburg, Amy married Norwegian-born Casper Hallingstad Sr. (1901-1980) and they later raised six children together.

During the early 1930s, as Amy's children began to attend school in Petersburg, Amy became angry that the Native children in Petersburg were forced to attend a segregated school. Since Alaska Natives had to pay taxes that went toward the public school system, Amy was able to force the closure of the Native school in Petersburg and soon Alaska Native children were able to attend the public school in Petersburg. Her oldest son, Casper Hallingstad, Jr. was the first Alaska Native student in the Petersburg public school. During this time Amy became very active in the Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS), serving in various leadership roles within the Petersburg ANS Camp 16, and later serving as Grand President from 1947-49 and 1953-56. She was a supporter of the land claims movement as early as 1937. Amy was also instrumental in forming the Petersburg Indian Association in 1948.

During this time Amy also made it a practice to forcibly remove signs from businesses in Southeast Alaska that contained discriminatory language, such as "No Natives Allowed." Amy was also an organizer of boycotts against businesses that discriminated against Alaska Natives, or preferred to hire non-Natives. Newspaper articles speak of her efforts of enforcing a boycott of the Petersburg movie theater, which had segregated seating. The boycott continued until the segregated seating practice was eliminated.

As Grand President of ANS she also made strong efforts to pressure businesses, such as canneries that sought to employ non-Natives, to change their policies and hire locally. She influenced reforms that were enacted at canneries in Hood Bay, Excursion Inlet, Pillar Bay, and Chatham. She fought to improve medical care to Alaska Natives. She also regularly corresponded and met with state politicians about the important political issues of the day. With her contemporary, the celebrated Elizabeth Peratrovich, they both worked towards ensuring civil rights were guaranteed to Alaska Natives. Amy was an advocate for Native rights until her death at age 72 in 1973.

Recently the decedents of Amy donated some documents and family memoirs about Amy to SHI’s archival collection, which is available to the public for educational purposes and study. (click here for description of collection) Within SHI’s other collections, some additional documents connected to Amy can also be found. Recently, researcher Ishmael Hope was studying SHI’s Curry-Weissbrodt Papers and came across a letter composed by Amy in 1947 discussing Native rights and the issue of land claims. She composed this letter while serving as Grand President of the Alaska Native Sisterhood. A quote from this letter was recently featured in the Sealaska Corporation’s special annual report, which focused on the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). Below is the quote from this letter and used in this report.

“We have decided that the real reason why our possessions are being taken from us is that we are human beings, and not wolves or bears. The men from Washington have set aside many millions of acres on which wolves and bears may not be disturbed, and nobody objects to that. Perhaps if we were wolves or bears we could have just as much protection. But we are only human beings. There are no closed seasons when it comes to skinning Alaskan natives.”

This important quote, and the words of Amy’s entire letter, is something that provides great insight and context into the fight for civil rights and land claims. Below is the full text from Amy’s 1947 letter.

All in all, there are many individuals who fought for Native rights and land claims during Alaska’s history. SHI seeks to collect historical materials documenting this and connected topics, including recordings, photographs, and manuscript papers—such as diaries, letters, and meeting minutes.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a regional nonprofit serving the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people of Southeast Alaska. Its mission is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures.

Photo credit: Amy Hallingstad at ANB/ANS meeting, undated, from the William Paul Jr. Photograph Collection, Courtesy of Ben Paul.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

December 19, 1947

Mrs. Ruth Muskrat Bronson

Secretary, National Congress of American Indians

1426 35th Street. N. W.

Washington, D. C.

Dear Mrs. Bronson:

Here in the land of Santa Claus, Christmas will bring little cheer to our children this year. We natives, 35,000 Eskimos, Indians and Aleuts, are half of Alaska's permanent population, and we must watch our children die of diseases that come from cold and lack of food. Our homes and lands, our fisheries and trees, our trap· lines and reindeer, everything we possess is being seized or threatened by unscrupulous white men, who tell us that what they are doing to us has been approved in Washington.

All of the promises that have come to us from Washington are now broken.

Presidents and Secretaries of the Interior have promised us the last time was in June, 1946—that the boundaries of all our lands would be marked out clearly so that no trespasser would take the fish and game and furs that we need to keep our children warm and well fed throughout the long Alaskan winters. Now Secretary Krug, who is supposed to be our guardian, refuses to let this promise be kept. Petitions on his desk from many native villages are still unanswered.

Secretary Krug himself promised us, on the 9th day of last December, that he would have such boundary line drawn immediately, beginning with the lands of Klukwan. That promise, too, stands broken. Our friends in the Indian Bureau have made many efforts to hold such hearings. Always Secretary Krug has stopped them.

We were promised by Secretary Krug on the same day, that our farthest north Eskimo town, Barrow, on the Arctic Ocean, would be allowed a town reserve to include its whaling grounds and the places where its men dig the coal to keep warm with through the long Arctic night. That promise, too, stands broken. We were promised by President Roosevelt, President Hoover, President Coolidge, President Wilson, and even by presidents before their days, that our possessions would always be protected. Now the men in Washington who are supposed to be our protectors say that big corporations can take our trees, our minerals and all our lands without asking our permission or paying us. One of our Eskimo boys was arrested and thrown into jail when he tried to mine jade on the lands that belong to his own people. One of our Indian men was arrested when he tried to fish in the fishing grounds that always belonged to the people of his house. Now the Agriculture Department men threaten to arrest us if we cut down our own trees. We are wondering if they expect us to live on snow and to keep warm in the winter by burning ice.

Now a bill has just been introduced in Congress by the heads of the Indian Affairs Committees, who are supposed to protect us, that would take away our reservations, which are our homes and our Promised Land. Where can we go then? We are not like white men who are always moving. Most of our homes and villages have been right where they are now for many hundreds of generations. We know this is true because animals that have not roamed on earth for thousands of years are sometimes found in the dump heaps of our villages. Taking our land from us means driving us off the face of the earth. When we were under the Russian Czars they said that nobody should take our possessions without our consent. When they sold Alaska they did not consult us, but they asked the United States to promise that our land rights would be respected. That promise is set out in the Treaty, but it is no longer observed.

Congress in 1884 promised that the lands we claimed then should never be disturbed. In 1900 and in 1936 that promise was renewed. When a Secretary of the Interior takes his oath of office he promises to execute all the laws of the United States but now our Secretary says that he will not execute the law that Congress has passed to safeguard our possessions.

Instead he sends doctors to investigate our chests and they report that our people are dying of tuberculosis ten times as rapidly as other people in the United States. We could have told him that a year ago when he toured Alaska, if he had stopped at our Indian villages instead of spending all his time at luncheons and parties given by Chambers of Commerce in white towns. And we could tell him now, if he asked us, that we will be able to afford decent food and clothing and better housing and bring up our children as we would like to bring them up if he would only carry out the promises that he and other Secretaries of the Interior before him have made, to protect our lands and possessions. We have gone to schools and learned how to operate sawmills and canneries in the most modern way. Now that we are attempting to do this with our own resources, everything is taken from us, and we are thrown into jail.

Why? Why are we suddenly to be made what you call "displaced persons?"

Is it because our skins are not as light as yours? But the Declaration of Independence you brought us says that all men are created equal. Your constitution promises that the property rights of all men-not just white men-shall be safeguarded. And the Bible that you brought us and translated into our native tongues says that we are all brothers and children of God. It does not say that it is all right for white men to rob from men of copper skin.

Is this done to us on the ground that we are not citizens? But your Congress passed a law in 1924 making us all citizens, and that law is still alive.

Is this done to us because Secretary Ickes tried to protect our lands and because;, we are told, many people in Washington do not like him? Is that why the reservations that were established by other Secretaries of the Interior are allowed to stand, when the reservations that he marked off for us are being wiped out? But we do not pick Secretaries of the Interior, though we wish we could.

We have thought about this matter and talked about it in the long evenings of the past autumn. We have decided that the real reason why our possessions are being taken from us is that we are human beings, and not wolves or bears. The men from Washington have set aside many millions of acres on which wolves and bears may not be disturbed, and nobody objects to that. Perhaps if we were wolves or bears we could have just as much protection. But we are only human beings. There are no closed seasons when it comes to skinning Alaskan natives.

You have asked us not to lose faith in the American people, but to tell our story to those who will listen. And so we are asking Santa Claus, when he rides through Alaska this year, on his way south to gather the cries of our children and to take them with his sleigh bells to the hearts of men and women in the States who will dare to raise their voices in our behalf and to insist that their public servants in Washington shall not enrich their friends by giving away our trees, our fisheries, our traplines, our lands, and our homes. With God's help we still hope that what our parents passed on to us we may in turn pass on to our children and our children's children forever.

Respectfully yours,

AMY HALLINGSTAD,

President.

Credit: Scan of original letter from Curry-Weissbrodt Papers, Box C2A.

Recordings Documenting the History of Wrangell Tlingit Come to SHI

2011-08-30T13:52:00.009-08:00

Recently a set of important recordings documenting the history of the Wrangell Tlingit were donated to SHI. This set of nine recordings, which contains words by Tlingit artist and Raven Kiks.ádi elder Thomas Ukas (1879-1973) and his son Harry Ukas (1915-1993), was donated by Thomas Ukas’ granddaughter and longtime supporter and trustee of SHI, Ethel Lund.

The recordings contain information on various topics relative to the Wrangell Tlingit, such as information on the history of the Wrangell Kiks.ádi Clan and oral history accounts about Tlingit and Russia relations at Wrangell prior to 1867. Many people, including SHI’s incoming Visiting Scholar Emily Moore, would also be interested in Thomas Ukas’ words about his involvement with an emergency relief program called the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the 1930s and his restoration work on the Wrangell Totem Park and Chief Shakes Clan House.

The restoration work on the Wrangell Totem Park and Chief Shakes Clan House was part of a wider undertaking when the federal government, acting through the U.S. Forest Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), hired Tlingit and Haida men to restore or replicate nineteenth-century totem poles from Native villages and repair historic clan houses. The artistic work on these parks and houses represent the first major act of government patronage for Tlingit and Haida art in the United States, and the totem parks and clan houses continue to be important sites for Tlingit and Haida communities today. During this period the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) created totem parks at Saxman, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Kasaan, Klawock, and Hydaburg, and the already existing Sitka Totem Park received restoration work. Two clan houses were also renovated as part of this undertaking, including the Chief Shakes Clan House in Wrangell and Son-I-Hat Whale House at Kasaan.

Overall this new collection housed at SHI is available for study for educational purposes and it documents the important role Alaska Natives play in Alaska’s history, present, and future.

Photograph Credit: Image of Thomas Ukas at the July 1940 dedication of the Chief Shakes House. Linn A. Forrest Photograph Collection, Sealaska Heritage Institute.

A link to the finding aid for the Ukas Recordings Collection can be found by clicking here.

Alaska Native Storyteller Speaks on Research at SHI

2011-08-29T09:10:00.003-08:00

While SHI Special Collections receives many researchers, recently Ishmael Hope, author of the Alaska Native Storyteller Blog, has been spending some time researching archival collections at SHI. He has been writing about his research on land claims, civil rights, Tlingit culture, and the Alaska Native Brotherhood/Sisterhood. Below is a small but important post he made in mid-August 2011 relative to the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Cyril Zuboff. A number of his posts from this period document his research in SHI's collections.

Editorial by Cyril Zuboff in The Voice of the Brotherhood, 1960

This editorial by Cyril Zuboff was originally published in The Voice of the Brotherhood, a newsletter of the Alaska Native Brotherhood, in October, 1960. According to Cyril Zuboff’s (1892-1968) obituary in the Juneau Empire, he was born in Killisnoo, moved to Sitka as a small boy to attend the Russian Mission, and as an adult lived in Juneau. He was a member of the Alaska Native Brotherhood, Camp No. 7 at Angoon, AK. He was an executive member and Grand President of ANB six times. His Tlingit name was Eech T’éi, and he belonged to the Dakhl’aweidí clan and the Keet Hít, the Killer Whale House, of Angoon (Thanks to Harold Jacobs for this information.).

I find this historical document important because Zuboff articulates very soundly how the Alaska Native Brothorhood was successful in integrating older and younger generations, and, like a great orator as his ancestors were and as he must have been, he powerfully combines a rational appeal and a historical perspective with an emotional appeal of Brotherhood solidarity.

Cyril Zuboff at the Wrangell ANB/ANS Convention in 1946. Photo by William Paul, Jr.

The financial standing of the Brotherhood is lower this year than it ever was in the past.

You may rightly ask, “Why?”

I can tell you the recent poor fishing seasons were not the cause. We’ve had hard times before, but the Brotherhood was always able to have money coming in from the camps. But the ANB was never so poor as it is today.

From our beginning 48 years ago we have always advocated giving our younger generation a chance to run the local camps because our founders realized that the youth of today would be our leaders of tomorrow. However, at the same time the “senior members” — men and women who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Brotherhood when the need came to send an ANB attorney to Washington, D.C.

How many of you recall the battles, dark days and victories of former years? Do you recall when we sent legal aid to the nation’s capital on the matter of fish trap abolishment; the Wheeler-Howard Act for Alaska; when some of our people were refused the right to cast a ballot; when our children were barred from public schools; when our widows and destitute children were barred from receiving help by territorial law; and when there were signs in many businesses in Alaska that proclaimed, “White Trade Only”?

And then in 1939 when legislation was introduced in the territorial Senate to “prohibit the sale… or give Indians, Eskimo, Aleut… intoxicating beverages,” and then the discrimination law. Yes, there were these and many more.

These obstacles were met by our “senior members.” Men who, in many cases, could barely read or write the English language, but who were blessed with the brains of our ancestral Indians. These soldiers in our battles were sincere, powerful, honest, and yet humble.

They were always seeking the betterment of our race and to educate our children. Yes, they never lost sight of the virtues and teachings of the past but they realized the importance of providing education for the newer generations. They said, “They must be educated because they will take our place as leaders.. they will be like ‘channel lights’ in a storm… we will depend upon them, for we are all Christian soldiers united in harmony.”

The “senior members” dug deep into their savings in camps from Yakutat to Saxman to finance the Brotherhood and its programs.

We are urgings, dear sisters and brothers, please don’t sidetrack the “senior members” — the ANB-ANS needs them. Some must come as delegates to the convention, others should have positions of responsibility in our local camps. Younger generation and elder statesmen alike have a common meeting place in the Brotherhood.

Together in Brotherhood we can accomplish the goals laid out by our founders and recapture glories of past years.

Thanks very much to Ben Paul for use of the Cyril Zuboff photo, and to the Sealaska Heritage Institute and archivist Zachary Jones for archiving these important documents.

Former Kake family heirloom ordnance de-armed, deactivated

2011-08-12T11:46:00.005-08:00

By Klas Stolpe

JUNEAU EMPIRE

The Organized Village of Kake (OVK) with the assistance of the Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) diffused the historic Civil War Parrott Shell ordnance that a Kake family had passed among family members for decades.

“It has been in our family over 100 years,” Kake elder Michael Jackson said when State Troopers and Elmendorf Air Force explosives experts had first traveled to Kake to investigate the shell on June 23, 2011.

The Air Force x-rayed the contents at that time and had the ordnance placed in a safe building in Kake until it could be diffused.

On July 14, SHI Archivist Zachary Jones secured private consultants who specialize in Historic wartime ordnance. The consultants removed nine ounces of gunpowder and broken fuse particles to make the ordnance inert.

The ordnance could have created a crater about four or five feet in diameter if it exploded.

The diffusion of the ordnance coincided with the OVK 23rd Annual Culture Camp for the Kake youth, and information was shared with the older overnight campers, ages 13-18, and community members the evening of July 14.

“This is the first time we’re bringing it out in public,” Jackson told the youth. “We know you guys are interested in history because you’re learning how to be Kake people, Keex’ Kwaan. You’re part of the ancestry that the U.S. Territorial Army came across. And that they had an encounter with us, a violent one. But it’s part of our history, it’s part of our healing.”

Since the shell was made inert, other Kake community members have shared where other shells are located. Another Parrott shell was donated by a Kake descendant to the Alaska State Museum in Juneau.

The OVK and Kake want to share the shells and their history, working in partnership with SHI, to other communities and the State of Alaska.

SHI’s Visiting Scholar Studies Totem Parks

2011-08-01T10:42:00.005-08:00

In August SHI’s newest Visiting Scholar, Emily Moore, Art History PhD candidate at University of California Berkeley, will begin her studies and fieldwork at SHI. Moore is conducting research on the totem parks of Southeast Alaska. These totem parks, located at Saxman, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Kasaan, Klawock, and Hydaburg, were constructed during the 1930s during the Great Depression (excluding Sitka’s pre-existing park, but it also received restorations during this period).The totem parks were created when the federal government, acting through the U.S. Forest Service and an emergency relief program called the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), hired Tlingit and Haida men to restore or replicate nineteenth-century totem poles from Native villages. The parks represent the first major act of government patronage for Tlingit and Haida art in the United States, and the totem parks continue to be important sites for Tlingit and Haida communities today.

Moore is interested in contacting carvers or their relatives in Tlingit and Haida communities who remember someone who worked on the New Deal totem parks, or details concerning the carving project, as Moore also works to honor the individual carvers who worked on this historic project and the project’s legacy.

If you are interested in being interviewed, or if you have additional information about the carvers, the totem parks, or other factors relative to Moore’s research, please contact emilylmoore@berkeley.edu. Moore will research this topic in SHI’s office from August 29-September 23, 2011.

Photo Credits: Image of Emily Moore, courtesy of Emily Moore.

Top image: Raising of totem at Chief Shakes House, Wrangell, 1939, from SHI L. Forrest Collection.

A rare image and the story of George Schwatka

2011-07-27T09:00:00.003-08:00

Collector Richard Wood this week donated a rare image to Sealaska Heritage Institute showing George Schwatka (Ind-A-Yanek) in Haines circa 1900. Ind-A-Yanek (later known as George Schwatka) was often photographed by early photographers of Alaska, though this image is quite rare--in part because it’s the only known image of a Tlingit on a horse during this period. Ind-A-Yanek of Klukwan is sometimes remembered as a guide to non-Natives who traveled inland during the gold rush era and exploration period, slightly before and after the turn of the century. In 1883 the federal government sent 1st Lt. Frederick Gustavus Schwatka (1849-1892) to Alaska to do a survey of routes from Haines to Fort Selkirk, Yukon. Lt. Schwatka hired Ind-A-Yanek to guide his party for the survey. Ind-A-Yanek did so, but Schwatka refused to pay him after his work concluded. Ind-A-Yanek told Schwatka that he would take his last name for the rest of Ind-A-Yanek's life as a ridicule payment, and thereafter Ind-A-Yanek was known as George Schwatka.

Foresters find historic canoe on Price of Wales Island

2011-07-13T08:36:00.001-08:00

By Pat Forgey

JUNEAU EMPIRE

Sealaska foresters working on Prince of Wales Island have unearthed a partially complete Haida canoe from the forest floor, and are estimating its age at more than 100 years old.

A Sealaska Timber Corp. surveyor working in the area during the winter discovered the canoe. Later, when snow melted, it was confirmed to be an ancient canoe, the company said.

Several cedar trees in the area appear to have been felled with traditional tools, and the canoe was constructed with traditional tools, said Sealaska Heritage Institute officials.

It was likely created before the modern Organized Village of Kasaan was founded nearby, said Rosita Worl, the institute’s president.

“The Sealaska Board of Directors views this Haida canoe as a tangible tie to Haida ancestors, who made this canoe and who left their footprints on the land,” said Clarence Jackson, a Sealaska board member and chairman of the institute’s Council of Traditional Scholars.

Worl said by the time present-day Kasaan was founded in 1900, its residents had commercial tools available. While the canoe pre-dates the newer Kasaan village, the area was traditional Haida territory and other villages were in the area.

The cedar forest around the nearly 34-foot canoe is around 500 years old, said Sealaska Timber Corp. President and CEO Wade Zammit.

University of Alaska Southeast anthropology professor Daniel Monteith surveyed the site for Sealaska, and found evidence that traditional tools, not modern saws, had been used to cut the trees and hollow the canoe.

The carving of the canoe was nearly complete, but it had not yet been steamed, a process used to give the craft its final shape, they said.

Another cedar log that had split when harvested was also at the site, and some of its wood appears to have been salvaged for other uses, Sealaska said.

Worl said the Organized Village of Kasaan will decide what to do with the canoe, but for now Sealaska is keeping the site private and secure.

Worl said she hopes the canoe can be replicated so modern Haida canoe-makers can study its pre-commercial techniques, and that the site could possibly become an educational forum for future carvers.

“The canoe symbolically unites past, present and future,” she said.

“We are taught to honor our ancestors by ensuring that their knowledge is taught to future generations.”

Sealaska is also using the canoe discovery to advocate for the land legislation that it now has before Congress.

“We believe sites like this one will be better protected and preserved under Alaska Native ownership,” Worl said.

Sealaska Executive Vice President Rick Harris said he was proud Sealaska Timber Corp.’s field personnel, who are trained to recognize potential cultural resources, spotted and saved the canoe.

“They are instructed to immediately secure the area, stop any activities that may negatively affect the cultural resource, and contact Sealaska Heritage Institute, which oversees these matters,” Harris said.

Sealaska Heritage Institute gets support from Legislature

2011-07-12T15:10:00.001-08:00

By Pat Forgey

JUNEAU EMPIRE

The Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Native cultural center, named after Dr. Walter Soboleff, is expected to give a big push to the study and preservation of Alaska Native history, culture, art and language.

The center’s building is located across from Sealaska Corp.’s headquarters on a site that once was a downtown eyesore. It is also expected to give a boost to the city’s center.

Sealaska officials are showing off a new architect’s model of the $22.5 million building, as they continue fundraising to get it built.

“It will be a first-institution for the study of Native cultures, preservation of historical papers and ethnographic collections, and the preservation of Native art,” said the Institute’s President Rosita Worl, in information presented to the Alaska Legislature.

The lawmakers came through with $5 million for the project in the budget adopted this year and recently signed by Gov. Sean Parnell. Together with $2 million previously appropriated by the state, the Institute now has substantial funds with which to continue development.

The Juneau legislative delegation, with strong backing from the City and Borough of Juneau and local and regional group, has been a strong supporter of the project as well.

Rep. Cathy Muñoz, R-Juneau, said the new building fills an important need.

“The Sealaska Heritage Institute holds one of the most significant collections of Tlingit archival material in the world,” she said, and the new center will enable the preservation of that material.

“It will have a very strong educational component as well, the active promotion of Tlingit dance, language and art,” she said.

The building will go on the site of an historic building constructed in 1896 that burned in 2004. It had formally been known as the Town Center Mall, but was commonly called the “Skinner Building,” after a former owner. Historically it had been known as the C. W. Young building.

Sealaska Corp. purchased the site a year ago for $800,000 to donate to the institute.

Sealaska’s purchase ended the site’s eyesore phase. After the burned wreckage was removed, all that was left was a hole in the ground known colloquially as “The Pit.”

Sealaska filled and landscaped the site, removing the threat from crumbling sidewalks and its litter-attracting features.

The new building is being designed by MRV Architects, with 29,500 square feet, taking into account Northwest Coast Native art and architectural traditions.

In addition to the historical collections it will house in both exhibits and storage, there will be research space, offices and areas for art demonstration. It will be open the public.

Additional fundraising is needed to complete the project, but U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has praised it and promised to seek support for it from her colleagues.

She called plans for the center and its programs “vital steps in the right direction to creating a knowledge base of Alaska Native history and culture in the heart of Alaska’s capital city.”

Muñoz said the she hopes the federal fundraising will go well, but that with her colleagues in the Alaska Legislature all it took was education about the project to win their support.

The center, she said, will be an important addition to downtown Juneau.

“It’s going to be a beautiful facility,” she said.

AGED BOMB IN KAKE GETS OFFICIAL INSPECTION

2011-06-27T09:57:00.004-08:00

Family heirloom a reminder of clashes with government

By Klas Stolpe

JUNEAU EMPIRE

Della Cheney remembers playing with a family heirloom growing up, a rather strange looking metallic object that wasn’t easily moved about.

“It was very heavy,” Cheney said. “At least 25 pounds.”

The heirloom? A roughly 12-inch long, 30-pound unexploded round of ammunition that struck the village more than 140 years ago.

Or in the words of one of the descendants who found the shell resting on the other side of a hole in a Southeast rainforest soaked stump, “It was an annoying object when you stubbed your toe on it but a great conversation piece.”

Kake elder and magistrate Michael Jackson, Della’s brother, remembers the shell being in the family forever.

Jackson said the shell had been buried in Kake since 1869.

When a Kake resident was clearing property for the building of the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall in the early 1940s, the 30-pound Parrott Shell and other shrapnel was found near a rotten stump with a hole in it.

“That was why it didn’t explode,” Jackson said. “It went through the stump and was laying on the other side of it.”

The late Thomas Jackson Sr., Michael’s father, became the caretaker of the shell and once said, “There will be a time this history and artillery shell will have to be brought out.”

The shell passed within the family without incident for decades until older brother Norman Jackson died in 2005. The shell stayed in his house because no one was staying there.

Recently a nephew wanted to move into the family residence and the shell came up in conversations with a Kake Village Public Safety Officer.

The VPSO contacted Alaska State Troopers in Juneau who contacted Homeland Security who then contacted an explosives unit at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage. The actions happened so swiftly, many in Kake feared the government was again trying to take away a part of their heritage.

“Our hope is it can be determined safe and can remain in the community,” Trooper Capt. Kurt Ludwig said. “We just want to err on the side of caution. Sometimes unexploded explosives that have been around a long time can be even more dangerous.”

An explosives ordnance disposal unit from Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage arrived in Kake on an Alaska State Trooper’s plane Thursday to investigate the shell.

The ordnance was deemed an unknown risk by the bomb specialists and will be left in private care until an expert munitions contractor can come into Kake to defuse it. The Organized Village of Kake will be working with Sealaska Heritage Institute to secure that contractor.

Jackson said after talking among the village elders and looking at historical protocols of the tribe, “Things need to be slowed down because we had a death in the village recently. The healing needs to be complete before we move ahead with the bomb. We had hoped that the bomb squad would stand down and just do an evaluation of it.”

Jackson said all actions beyond Thursday’s assessment were delayed to a later date when the community can fully concentrate on the ordnance issue and begin full consultation with the Department of Defense.

The village expressed gratitude to U.S. Sen. Mark Begich and his staff, state Sen. Albert Kookesh, First Alaskans Institute, Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Zachary Jones and University of Alaska Anchorage’s Steve Langdon for helping to intervene with Thursday’s assessment.

The shell is believed to be part of what Kake villagers and descendants call the “Kake War” in 1869, in which the U.S. Government destroyed the village.

“Kake has a history of being bombed,” Jackson said. “Both by Russians and Americans twice.”

Jackson said good-naturedly the Norwegians around the corner in Petersburg were always friendly, “They dropped off crab whenever they came through.”

The Kake tribe of Tlingits historically controlled trade routes around the Kuiu and Kupreanof Islands in Frederick Sound and would defend their region against other tribes and early European fur traders.

Shortly after the U.S. took possession of Alaska from Russia in 1867, the military began to enforce a controlled environment on Natives there.

A hunting party of Kake Natives who had been camping at the Fort Sitka settlement decided to return home. Military authorities forbade the departure and in an ensuing scuffle a non-native sentry killed one of the Natives. The party was then allowed to leave.

A Kake elder said the steamer officer “was doing target practice.”

The Tlingits encountered two miners, Ludwig Madger and William Walker, camped near Point Gardiner on Admiralty Island. In accordance with their traditional custom, the slain Native’s family atoned for the death by killing the two miners. Their bodies were mutilated and the cove is now known as Murder Cove.

When news of the killings reached Sitka, the U.S. Navy dispatched the armed vessel Saginaw to Kake and shelled three Kake village sites and three smaller campsites and canoes. The vessel’s crew then proceeded to destroy, burn, and pillage the tribal houses and food caches in the heart of winter, leaving the families homeless.

The natives were forewarned and escaped but lost most of their canoes and shelters. Kake residents dispersed to other villages to live and it would take two decades for Kake to reconstitute itself.

In 1970 one local Kake elder stated, “No compensation or reparations for this injustice were ever sought by the Kakes, nor was there an apology or reparation payments offered by the United States of America.”

Jackson stated that the unexploded ordnance is the property of the tribe and the village.

“We are erring on the side of caution and safety for the tribe,” Jackson said. “But we want to turn it over to the bomb squad formally, in our own way. They will have to admit that it is Department of Navy ordnance (from) 1869. It is a real part of evidence of Alaska natives encounters with the U.S. Navy back in those days.”

Jackson said the tribe wants to give the ordnance to the Sealaska Heritage Institute or the State Museum and be held as Kake history but also as Tlingit history with the Navy.

The bomb has been documented in photos and sent to Jones at Sealaska Heritage Institute and Steve Hendrickson at the State Museum.

“It is just over 121/2 inches long,” Jackson said. “And weighs over 30 pounds.”

Similar shells have been found at village locations in Sitka, Wrangell, Haines, Klukwan, Yakutat, Kodiak and Angoon.

The Angoon shelling occurred 13 years after Kake’s. A native was accidentally killed on a whaling ship operated by Northwest Trading Company, which had a herring and whale reduction plant south of the village at Killisnoo. A whaling gun exploded and fragments struck Tlingit Tith Klane, a medicine man from Angoon.

According to Congressional reports the Natives demanded 200 blankets in retribution for the life of Klane. It was alleged the Natives took over the whaling station and would burn the buildings and kill their white prisoners if demands were not met.

The Navy sent in the USS Adams, the Sitka-based revenue cutter Corwin, and armed the whaling tugboat Favorite. The Natives released control of the station. Capt. E.C. Merriman of the Adams then demanded that the natives turn over 400 blankets to the Navy. According to the Corwin’s commanding officer, Lt. M.A. Healy, and Angoon village records 82 blankets were offered, so more than 40 canoes were destroyed and the village shelled and burned.

“The shell is a real reflecting situation,” Cheney said. “With all the war situation that occurred with it, there is a lot of history, healing, and some government acknowledgement that this came from them.”

“The bomb has just been sitting here. It isn’t going anywhere… we hope,” Jackson said.

• Contact reporter Klas Stolpe at 523-2263 or at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.

Alaskan Haida Words for Cultural & Ethnographic Objects

2011-06-22T14:38:00.004-08:00

As an organization representing the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people, and an organization that also cares for cultural and ethnographic objects, Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) occasionally receives inquiries about the linguistic terms for cultural and ethnographic objects. These inquiries come from practicing artists, educators, museums, and other interested researchers. As a result, Sealaska Heritage Institute compiled a list of Haida language terms for cultural objects and material types from Dictionary of Alaskan Haida, which was compiled by Dr. Jordan Lachler and published by SHI in 2010. While this list is not exhaustive, it does provide Haida words for the most common cultural objects and material types. For those interested in examples of how the Haida language has been used in art publications, for Alaskan Haida see; Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska (2010), and for British Columbia Haida see; The Spirit Within: Northwest Coast Native Art from the John H. Hauberg Collection (1995).

To view this list please click here.

Credit: Image above shows Ken Haida Doll, by Holly Churchill, in the collections of Sealaska Heritage Institute.

SHI JOINS NEW INTERNSHIP PROGRAM TO FOSTER MORE NATIVE ARCHIVISTS

2011-06-17T14:53:00.001-08:00

First Native intern wins full scholarship to pursue masters in library science

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has joined with a state university in an internship program designed to foster more archivists and museum curators.

SHI’s first Tlingit intern under the program, founded this year by the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS), was just accepted into graduate school to pursue a career in archives and given a full scholarship.

The news was gratifying because there are so few Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people working in the field of archival science, said SHI Archivist Zachary Jones, who cares for the institute’s ethnographic and archival collections.

“It’s really important to have Native archivists working in the profession because a lot of times they bring a special perspective and understanding of materials that concern their own people,” Jones said. “I think the field also needs diversity.”

Traditionally, Native history is preserved orally—stories are passed from one generation to the next. Native history also is preserved through material culture. For example, crests worn on regalia often document Native history. The modern age has brought with it photographs, documents and recordings, and special training is required to properly preserve them.

For Alyssa Peterson—SHI’s first Tlingit intern under the program—the internship made her change course. Peterson, Deisheetaan from Kake, wanted to be a librarian when she was younger. But she abandoned that plan in college, where she became more interested in anthropology and Northwest Coast art. Jones, SHI’s archivist, met Peterson through a class he teaches at UAS on archives and museums theory and practices. He encouraged her to intern at the institute.

“When I started interning at SHI, I realized that I could combine my interests with a career in archives. It was a bit of a revelation,” Peterson said. “I can do what I love and still work toward cultural preservation. SHI has definitely shown me that.”

Jones helped her to apply to graduate school, and Alyssa was recently accepted to San Jose State University in California and given a full-ride scholarship to pursue a masters in library science.

The program at UAS is open to all students, and SHI welcomed two non-Native interns this year as well. Students who participate in the internship program receive UAS credit.

CONTACT: Zachary Jones, SHI Archivist, 907-586-9261

Colors Created from Organic Materials Found in Southeast Alaska

2011-06-03T13:05:00.002-08:00

Sealaska Heritage Institute has many collections that have potential for study and are of educational value. One recently accessioned collection of interest is a Dyed Yarn Exhibit, an exhibit that was created during the 1990s to show how Chilkat weavers can (and did) create colors to dye their weavings. This exhibit shows the color combinations that can be generated by combining certain natural and organic materials found throughout Southeast Alaska. These combinations were used to dye the yarn, which yielded a color spectrum of browns, yellows, grays, and pinks, and a simple but informative exhibit was created to show the results and the combinations used. Below are images of these two exhibits. Although this exhibit is certainly not comprehensive, as additional colors are found in historic blankets, this exhibit raises interesting questions about colors appearing in historic blankets.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a Native nonprofit established in 1980 to administer educational and cultural programs for Sealaska, a regional Native corporation formed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The institute’s mission is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures. The institute collects Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian art for study, education, and exhibition.

Artistic Heritage & a Unique Object at the British Museum

2011-05-26T08:30:00.007-08:00

In April 2011 the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) sponsored a trip for a delegation from SHI to travel to the British Museum to document and study their Southeast Alaska Native objects. The end goal of this undertaking is to produce a book on the collections at the British Museum, and work toward an exhibition of Masterpieces. SHI’s delegation was accompanied by Tlingit master carver Nathan Jackson and Tlingit artist Donald Gregory, who closely examined the pieces and gave information about them. While the British Museum’s Southeast Alaska Native object collection is not as large as some of those in the United States, some objects in the British Museum are very old and many are quite unique. A study of the British Museum’s collection can teach today’s practicing artists about traditional methods and mediums.

One object and medium of special interest was a baleen box dated to 1868, modeled after the style of bentwood box. It was attributed as likely being of Tlingit origin by Nathan Jackson. (image of box below) The baleen is brown, either from the artist dying it, or was naturally that color (which would be unusual for a humpback whale, if the baleen is in fact from a humpback). Nathan Jackson had not ever encountered a baleen box, and was unfamiliar with artists using baleen in boxes. Nathan Jackson stated he was inspired to attempt carving and making a similar baleen box. SHI’s Native Artist Committee recently held a meeting, and issued the challenge to Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian artists to study, learn, and revive historic artistic techniques.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a Native nonprofit established in 1980 to administer educational and cultural programs for Sealaska, a regional Native corporation formed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The institute’s mission is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures. The institute collects cultural art for study, education, and exhibition. If you would like to donate cultural art to the institute contact the institute’s curator.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas.

Project Jukebox’s Online Oral History Recordings

2011-05-13T09:02:00.004-08:00

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) oversees and cares for over 7,000 recordings that concern the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people, and seeks to make these materials available to the public. SHI regularly assists researchers and educators by providing access to our growing collection of recordings. While most of our historical recordings are not available digitally and online (though an inventory of our holdings is online), SHI has placed many language resources online. Many of these online language recordings assist with the language learning process. (click on image for example)

For those interested in oral history recordings online, SHI recently examined some of those online through Project Jukebox. While some individuals may have heard of Project Jukebox, a digital branch of UAF’s Oral History Program, it is unclear how many people know the details of the content available through Project Jukebox. Perhaps up to 50 recordings on Project Jukebox directly concern the Tlingit and Haida people and contain important cultural and historical information.

For those not familiar with Project Jukebox, their website states that the Oral History Program is part of Alaska & Polar Regions Collections of the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The program was established in 1981 to collect and curate audio and video recordings that relate to various aspects of Alaska's history and the people who have contributed to its rich heritage. The collection contains over 9,000 individual tapes, including interviews with politicians, pioneers, and Native elders. Key collections include "Alaska Native Songs & Legends" by the Alaska Library Association (searchable index located on ANKN site), "Early Day Alaskans" by the Tanana-Yukon Historical Society, "The Alaska Native Elders-In-Residence Program" by the UAF Alaska Native Studies Department, and "On the Road Recordings with Old Timers.”

In regards to some specific digital recordings that concern Southeast Alaska Native cultures, two larger projects include the Dry Bay Project and the Sitka National Historical Park Project.

Project Jukebox describes the Dry Bay Project in the following way;

“The Dry Bay Jukebox Project is the result of a collaborative effort between the traditional clans of Dry Bay (Gunaaxoo), the National Park Service (NPS), the National Forest Service (NFS) and the University of Alaska Oral History Office. The project was funded by the NPS, which currently manages a large portion of the traditional territory of the Gunaaxoo Kwáan, extending from Lituya Bay in the south through Glacier Bay National Preserve to the Alsek River in the north. Traditional Gunaaxoo Kwáan lands north of the Alsek River to the Italio River are presently administered by the Yakutat District Ranger's Office of the Tongass National Forest, which supported the project by providing transportation, professional expertise and access to many important places.”

The Dry Bay Project provides oral history information on the Tlingit habitation of the Dry Bay area and life in and around Yakutat, Alaska. Another segment of Project Jukebox also contains oral histories concerning Yakutat, which may prove of interest to researchers.

The Sitka National Historical Park Project is, according to the Project Jukebox website,

“comprised of fourteen oral history interviews, photographs, and a walking tour of the Russian Bishop's House. It is designed to provide an overview of the Sitka National Historical Park; its history, its facilities, and its importance to members of the Sitka community. This project was created to let Sitkans explain in their own words what the park means to them. It offers a wonderful perspective on "the meaning of place" to a community.”

The bulk of the interviews included in this digital project are with Tlingit elders, artists, and National Park Service employees. It provides important information on the Tlingit and Haida art at Sitka National Historical Park, and important information about historical relations between the Tlingit and Russians during the pre-1867 period.

In summary, Project Jukebox has placed a number of important oral history recordings online that are of educational value to the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people. UAF Alaska & Polar Regions Collections also has additional recordings on the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian that are not available digitally and online, but are available for research. While SHI’s holdings on the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian are larger than UAF’s, it’s important that researchers know about the resources also available at universities in the state such as UAF.

IMLS & SHI sponsor project to document Native objects at The British Museum

2011-05-10T09:49:00.009-08:00

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and SHI sponsored a trip to the British Museum in April to document and study their Southeast Alaska Native objects. Staff was accompanied by the famous Tlingit carver Nathan Jackson, who closely examined the pieces and gave information about them. SHI plans to publish a book on the collection.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas.

ANB donates historical photos to SHI

2011-04-12T14:59:00.001-08:00

The Alaska Native Brotherhood Grand Camp has donated a collection of historical photos to SHI. The collection includes a number of great images showing ANB and ANS members. The collection also documents some important moments in history, such as ANB leaders including William L. Paul meeting with Sen. Ernest Gruening about the proposed land claims bill for the Tlingit and Haida. See them online!

Archaeological discovery suggests first Americans followed Alaskan coast

2011-04-12T14:56:00.002-08:00

Scientists have uncovered a stunning collection of stone artifacts at least 15,500 years old from a central Texas archaeological site, proving that people were living in North America thousands of years earlier than previously thought.

The discoveries, reported this week in the journal Science, provide dramatic evidence that people had colonized the middle of the continent long before glaciers melted back to create an ice-free migration corridor from Alaska through Canada.

The inescapable conclusion essentially rewrites the first chapter of Alaska’s prehistory and what’s known about the initial colonization of the New World. (click hear to read rest of the story)

Alaska Native Role in Shaping History

2011-03-21T09:17:00.006-08:00

The Sealaska Heritage Institute houses a number of archival collections, but two I’d like to highlight in this post are the Walter A. Soboleff Papers and the Curry-Weissbrodt Papers.

The Curry-Weissbrodt Papers are a seventy-one box collection of papers associated with attorneys James E. Curry and I.E. Weissbrodt. Both Curry and Weissbrodt served as the lawyers and legal representatives for the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) and Sisterhood (ANS) from the 1930s to the post-land claims period. The collection contains a few thousand legal documents and papers, as well as thousands of letters between ANB and ANS officials to government entities regarding their efforts towards equal rights, land claims, and a host of other subjects. For anyone interested in the history of the land claims by the Tlingit and Haida, this collection is the definitive source.

The Walter A. Soboleff Papers is a collection of more than thirty boxes of materials concerning ANB. The magazine First Alaskans recently published a biography on the currently 102 years old Dr. Walter A. Soboleff, which speaks about Dr. Soboleff’s accomplished life. This collection consists of ANB records from the 1920s to the present and is rich with correspondence, meeting minutes, and ANB files of various type. The collection documents the extraordinary life of Dr. Soboleff and important undertakings of ANB.

I recently did a little research within these collections for an exhibit and stumbled upon some pretty impressive pieces. It really is quite hard to explain the gravity and importance of the documents within these collections—and the copious amount of documents within these collections—but perhaps a few samples help give credence to their contents. Some of those I recently encountered are highlighted below.

W.A. Soboleff Papers; Box 1.

This scan of a handwritten statement from the ANB Camp 2 Meeting Minutes Ledger dates to March 19, 1945 and documents the Alaska Native Brotherhood & Sisterhood’s efforts towards the passage of Alaska’s Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945, Alaska’s most recognized civil rights legislation. The Anti-Discrimination Act was signed on February 16, a day now recognized annually as Elizabeth Peratrovich Day in honor of Elizabeth Peratrovich and her efforts towards the bill’s passage. Shown above are the handwritten meeting minutes from the first meeting held by ANB and ANS Camp 2 in Juneau after the Anti-Discrimination Act became law. The bottom paragraph captures Roy Peratrovich’s (Elizabeth’s husband) words about how the Anti-Discrimination Act helped in “eliminating discrimination.”

Curry-Weissbrodt Papers: C2A; 21.1

This 1947 letter is correspondence from ANB lawyer James E. Curry to Territorial Governor of Alaska Ernest Gruening, in which Curry writes the Governor about documented discrimination against Alaska Natives, and counsels the Governor to address the situation. This letter, among the many in the collection, documents the role Alaska Natives played in shaping Civil Rights in Alaska.

Curry-Weissbrodt Papers: C1A; 14.1

This 1951 letter is correspondence between ANB lawyer James E. Curry and Territorial Representative E.L. Bartlett about opposition ANB mounted against an Alaskan Statehood Bill, which failed to pass in part because it neglected to address Alaska Native land claims. This document shows the Alaska Native role in shaping Statehood.

Curry-Weissbrodt Papers: C1A; 14.1

This 1951 letter is a reply written by newly elected Senator Richard Nixon (later the 37^th U.S. President) to ANB lawyer James E. Curry to acknowledge his support of Alaska Natives regarding land claims. Herein Nixon stated he did not support the proposed Alaska Statehood Bill because it neglected to address Native land claims. Twenty years later, then as President of the United States, Nixon would sign the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act into law.

All in all, these are just a miniscule sample of the important and telling archival materials housed in the collections of at Sealaska Heritage Institute. These collections are open to the public for research and educational purposes.

The Alaska Native Libraries, Archives, and Museum Summit (4/27-4/30/2011)

2011-03-10T10:17:00.000-09:00

This summit is intended for professional and paraprofessional staff members working in Alaska libraries, museums, and cultural centers that serve a significant Alaska Native population or who work with Alaska Native cultural materials. This summit was envisioned by a focus group of Alaska Native librarians, archivists, and cultural center staff. The Summit will offer training at the paraprofessional and professional level as well as serving as a launching point for a strategic plan to make training in our fields more accessible for cultural heritage agencies throughout Alaska.

Registration

Registration is now open! Register Now

Scholarships are available that cover lodging, travel, and registration - Application (Word) (PDF). Apply by March 15, 2011

Pre-conferences Wednesday, April 27, 2011

AHSRAB: Archival Collection Care and Preservation Training (full day)
Libraries: Sharing Our Stories and Cultures (full day)
Museums: Disaster Preparedness Planning for Small Institutions (full day)
Storage Mount Making at the Anchorage Museum (half day; morning or evening)

Conference Training Tracks (Thursday, April 28, through Saturday, April 30th at 1:00 pm)

Grants and grant-writing
Archives
Museums
Libraries
Alaska Languages

Basic to advanced training levels will be offered.

Invited Speakers include

Willie Hensley, First Alaskans Institute
Sven Haakanson, Jr., Alutiiq Museum & Rep
Paul Ongtooguk, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Cheryl Metoyer, University of Washington
Dr. Gregory Cajete, University of New Mexico
Dr. Loriene Roy, University of Texas, Austin
Alison Freese, Institute of Museum and Library Services
Jill Norwood, National Museum of the American Indian
Dean Dawson, Alaska’s State Archivist
Bill Schneider, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Joan Kane, Award-Winning Poet
Susan Means, National Archives Pacific Region
Dr. Ann Fienup-Riordan, Anthropologist
Dr. Paul John, Yup’ik Elder

Events

Alaska Native Heritage Center Opening Ceremony and Celebration 4/28/2011
Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center, Anchorage Museum and National Archives Tour 4/29/2011

For more information contact our Project Coordinator:
Angela Demma anlams@alaska.gov
907-717-9112 800-776-6566 (in Alaska)

Major funding provided by:

EIGHT OBJECTS TO COME HOME TO HOONAH CLAN -- Forty-two objects still held by museum

2011-02-15T10:54:00.002-09:00

Eight old, cultural objects illegally sold to an east coast museum in the 1920s are returning home to the T’akdeintaan Clan, Snail House, of Hoonah.

The clan has been trying for 16 years to repatriate a collection of 50 objects owned by the Snail House (a sub division of the clan) but held by the Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The museum sent a letter to the clan notifying it of plans to send eight of the objects home.

“I can hardly believe that it’s really going to happen in mylifetime,” said Marlene Johnson, a member of the Snail House and a co-signer on the original repatraition claim filed in September 1995. Johnson also serves as chair of the Huna Heritage Foundation and vice chair of Sealaska Heritage Institute, which assisted in the effort, along with the Huna Totem Corporation, Hoonah Indian Association and Sealaska Corporation.

The repatriated objects include a wooden box drum, a robe known as the Lituya Bay Robe, a mask known as Owl of the Heavens, a mask known as Commander of the Tides, a headdress known as Little Ravine, a head cover formed from a corner piece of a Chilkat blanket, a rattle featuring a loon, human and raven’s head and a tobacco pipe.

The museum first agreed in 2009 to send the eight objects home to the clan, after receiving the clan’s repatriation claim 14 years earlier. In November of 2010, a delegation representing the clan traveled to Washington, D.C. to argue before the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Review Committee for the return of all 50 items. The delegation argued that the seller did not have permission from the Snail House to transfer the collection to the museum. The committee--a federal advisory panel--agreed, saying the museum did not acquire the 50 objects with the consent of the T’akdeintaan Clan, Snail House.

The clan is waiting to see if the museum will return the other forty-two objects.

“We are at a loss to explain how the museum made the distinction between these eight objects and the remaining objects in the collection since they are from the same collection, have the same cultural attributes and meet the same standards for repatriation,” said Johnson. “Based on the NAGPRA Review Committee findings and the fact that the museum did repatriate the eight objects, we remain hopeful that the museum will repatriate the remaining collection.”

CONTACT: Huna Heritage Foundation Chair Marlene Johnson, 321-8335; SHI President Rosita Worl, 463-4844

MLIS Scholarships for American Indians and Alaska Natives - Apply Now for Circle of Learning for Fall 2011

2011-02-09T08:17:00.001-09:00

This is an opportunity for Native American Indians and Alaska Natives who want to earn a fully online ALA-accredited Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree. This qualifies individuals to work within libraries and archival repositories.

The Circle of Learning program http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/circleoflearning/ is offered through a partnership between the San Jose School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) and the American Indian Library Association (AILA), and is made possible by a generous grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Current SLIS students as well as prospective students who plan to apply for admission to the School’s MLIS program for the Fall 2011 semester are eligible for Circle of Learning scholarships.

Please note that Circle of Learning students need to be admitted to the School’s MLIS program before being considered for scholarship funding. Applications are being accepted now through March 31, 2011 for admission to San Jose State University’s School of Library and Information Science for Fall 2011. Fall classes begin August 24, 2011. For more information about how to apply to the School’s fully online MLIS program, please visit: http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/admissions/mlis_application.htm .

Students interested in applying for Circle of Learning scholarships should take note of upcoming scholarship application deadlines. The Fall 2011 deadline to apply for Circle of Learning scholarships is March 25, 2011.

Details regarding eligibility and application materials are available on the project website at http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/circleoflearning/. We also invite you to contact Heather Devine, the Circle of Learning Project Manager, at hhdevine@gmail.com. Heather would be happy to talk with you and answer any questions you may have regarding this scholarship opportunity.

You may also attend the Circle of Learning Open House on Elluminate on March 3^rd to learn about the program from current students and project managers.

To learn more about the American Indian Library Association and its initiatives to improve library and information services for American Indians, visit http://www.ailanet.org/ .

SHI ACQUIRES RARE CEDAR-BARK HAIDA MAT, HALIBUT HOOKS

2011-01-21T09:59:00.004-09:00

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has acquired a rare cedar-bark Haida mat traditionally used as bedding or as room dividers in clan houses plus two old halibut hooks.

The items were kept in the seller’s family for generations, and the seller approached the institute because she wanted them to stay in Southeast Alaska, said SHI President Rosita Worl, noting the mat is very rare.

“Haida cedar mats of this quality don’t very often come up for sale, so we were really pleased when they brought it here,” Worl said. “It’s a beautiful mat. It’s in great condition, despite its age.”

The halibut hooks are unusual because it appears they were used to fish, as opposed to similar hooks made for display. One of the hooks appears to have grooves made by fish teeth, said Worl, adding that preliminary assessments date all of the items to around circa 1900.

The institute acquires cultural objects and archival materials for research purposes and to preserve the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian histories. Although grant funds are available for purchase of new art, it’s difficult to find funds for old objects. The institute was able to purchase the mat by using donations received in 2010 from the Pick.Click.Give program, which allows Alaskans to donate a part of their permanent fund dividends to Sealaska Heritage Institute and other nonprofits.

“The permanent fund donations don’t make that kind of designation--that it’s only for newer objects--it gives us the flexibility to use money to acquire things that are really important for our exhibitions,” Worl said.

The institute plans to show the mat to cedar-bark weavers to encourage more artists to make traditional mats.

CONTACT: Dr. Rosita Worl, SHI President, 463-4844

Andrew P. Hope & Ellen Hope Hays Papers at SHI

2010-12-31T11:15:00.004-09:00

SHI Special Collections recently obtained a large and very significant archival collection documenting the history of the Tlingit and Haida people. The fifty-five box collection consists of papers relating to Andrew P. Hope (shown in photograph) and Ellen Hope Hays' activities in various Alaska Native tribal, community, and civic organizations between 1947 and 2002. The collection contains detailed materials documenting the activities of the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indians of Alaska (CCTHIA) and the history of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971.

Andrew Percy Hope (1896-1968) born in Killisnoo, Alaska, the son of Percy L. Hope and Mary Williams, and was a Tlingit activist, community leader, tribal leader, and politician. He was of the Eagle moiety, Kaagwaantaan Clan, and of the Eagle Nest House. His Tlingit name was Kaa.oosti. After spending his early childhood in Killisnoo and Angoon, he moved to Sitka to study at the Sheldon Jackson School, and later studied carpentry and boatbuilding at the Cushman Indian School in Tacoma, Washington before obtaining his diploma. In 1912 Hope married Matilda `Tillie´ Howard (1896-1975) of Sitka, who bore Hope 14 children. Howard was a Raven of the Kiks.adi Clan, Point House.

Hope was "an early member and organizer of the Alaska Native Brotherhood" (ANB), served as President of ANB Grand Camp for several terms (his first term began in 1922), and remained active in ANB affairs until his death. (Dauenhauer, 1994). From 1924 to 1936 he served on the Sitka City Council, and from 1945 to 1953 and 1957 to 1963 Hope served in the Alaska Territorial House of Representatives and State Legislature. For twenty-six years (1940-1966), he served as the president of the Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indians of Alaska, a federally recognized tribal government. He was also active in other national and state organizations, and was a member of the National Congress of American Indians and active in Alaska Federation of Natives. He died in Sitka in 1968.

Ellen Hope Hays is the daughter of Andrew P. Hope (1869-1968). She is a Tlingit Indian activist, community leader, and cultural educator. She is of the Raven moiety, Kiks.ádi Clan, and of the X’aaká Hít (Point House). Her Tlingit name is Yaa Yeil Tin. She obtained her basic education from Sheldon Jackson Boarding School in Sitka. Early on she became active in Tlingit affairs at Sitka. She joined the Alaska Native Sisterhood, worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, worked for the National Park Service, became superintendent of the Sitka Totem Park, worked for the Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indians of Alaska, and became active in the Alaska Federation of Natives. As of 2010 Hays resided on Bainbridge Island, Washington.

Ellen Hope Hays was also interviewed about her life and work as part of Alaska’s Project Jukebox, and the audio for her interview can be listened to by clicking here.

Overall, this collection documents the activities of these two individuals, and others who worked for the same causes, as they sought to support and fight for the rights of Alaska Natives. To view a descriptive inventory of the collection’s contents, click here. The collection is open to public research for educational purposes.

Angoon leader concludes Sealaska lecture series with historical bombardment account

2010-12-14T14:45:00.002-09:00

By Jonathan Grass | JUNEAU EMPIRE

As Native American Heritage Month has come to a close, Sealaska Heritage Institute concluded its lecture series Monday with a lecture on the importance of Tlingit communications and understanding.

Cyril George Sr. spoke to a packed room on how failure to communicate led to problems between Angoon Natives and the federal government that last to this day. George is a clan leader of Deisheetaan of Angoon and Kaakáak'w Hít. He spoke on how proper communications and cultural understandings are integral to Tlingit relations, both in the past and today.

The focus of his story regarded an 1882 incident when the U.S. Navy bombarded Angoon based on such misunderstandings, an incident for which Angoon Natives are still awaiting a formal apology.

This bombardment followed the death of a Native shaman who was accidentally killed on a whaling vessel. The Angoon people demanded payment for this death in accordance with Tlingit law, but were seen as a threat and attacked.

SHI's Head of Special Collections & Adjunct Instructor of History at UAS, Zachary Jones, added the funerary celebrations were also misinterpreted as preparations for war, which further incited the Navy to the attack which ultimately killed several children and destroyed much of the village and food supplies.

George recalled that "The main point is from the first time I hear this bombardment story, we were always told it was an accident. We need to set the record straight," he said on how even though it was based on an accident, the devastation was based on cultural misunderstandings and continue along similar lines today.

"The Navy has not apologized," George said.

Jones said it was an example of how Tlingit cultures have been misunderstood and resulted in shooting first and sometimes asking questions later.

"In looking at the historical documents of the individuals who perpetrated this attack, you can see how they spent a lot of time justifying what they had done, more time than was necessary," said Jones.

The Navy did pay $90,000 following a 1973 damages lawsuit. George said the insulting aspect of this is that the amount not only valued the property at their 1880s values instead of accounting for a century of inflation, but also, in a way, valued the deaths of seven children within this amount.

George said the Navy acknowledged its attack should not have happened, but never apologized.

George also shed light on different connections he's encountered to the incident. He told of how his work led him to talk to several people through the years that felt the effects from the attack, including a woman who found a letter from a relative that gave a first-hand account of it.

A commemoration of the event was put on in 1982. "I got to talk to some of the old people on how they hurt," said George.

To illustrate how much Tlingits value cultural understanding, he expressed how appreciative they were on Angoon when a descendant of one the Navy personnel in the attack came forward to offer a personal apology for his relative's role some years ago.

Elder John Martin gave a tribute to the speaker at the speech's end and said George showed a refreshing perspective on history that demonstrated a need for people to learn to understand each other, linking the past and the present. He said the bombardment story brought out the importance of respect and understanding between cultures. He said this incident also helped introduce Tlingit law to the United States, saying "respect comes from individuals in any man's world."

"It was about setting the record straight from an accurate historical perspective of bombardment and parables and little stories about the duty and love of Tlingit culture," said Tlingit storyteller Ishmael Hope. "He's one of the last tradition bearers that can tell traditional stories in both Tlingit language and English. He's a living cultural treasure and these people, they're like diamonds in the rough because you only have written accounts of things Cyril just knows and he talks about."

George's granddaughter and Sealaska Corp. director Barbara Cadiente-Nelson said as an elder, he serves as a conscience and a voice to those past who suffered the injustice that stemmed from cultural misunderstanding and differences. She said he expressed that hardship and that no matter what the government said it did to alleviate the suffering, it struck a deadly blow to the community. She said his speech expressed the Tlingit virtues of respecting all things and living those values.

Besides this historical incident, George gave several personal stories that helped illustrate Tlingit values. George's speech also likened the bombardment to the loss of language, culture and traditions, and that Angoon is doing its part to recover it by living those values. He said he hopes as time goes on, these traditions will become more widely known and respected.

"Now there are people interested in learning our way and we're thankful," said George.

Martin said these personal stories demonstrated a methodology of survival with a message to try not to violate Tlingit laws of respect.

George was mayor of Angoon for many years and interim director of the original SHI board of directors. He has also been a Kootznoowoo Permanent Fund trustee and chaired the Kootznoowoo Heritage Foundation.

SHI sponsors moccasin workshop with Anita Lafferty

2010-12-13T10:23:00.001-09:00

Anita Lafferty told us this year that she was worried that the knowledge about how to make moccasins was being lost. So, in December SHI sponsored a workshop on how to make moccasins--taught by Anita Lafferty! We were able to accommodate twenty people and we received many more applications, so SHI might sponsor another workshop. Thank you Anita for an instructive workshop! (Photos)

Native leader explains Tlingit education's relevance for all societies

2010-12-07T08:16:00.003-09:00

By Jonathan Grass | JUNEAU EMPIRE

Tlingit educational values have kept its clans alive since before European contact in Alaska, and Tlingit leaders recognize how the pillars of that education are important to Native and non-Native students alike, a speaker discussing Native education said Monday.

David Katzeek, who goes by Kingeisti, is a leader of the Eagle Thunderbird Clan of Klukwan. He's spent years discussing education with students across Alaska for years, and shared the insights of that journey as part of Sealaska Heritage Institute's lecture series.

Kingeisti detailed how the spirit of encouragement and intelligence has kept Tlingit prosperous generation after generation. What's more, he said this spirit isn't for Tlingits only. It should be something encouraged in all children to help them reach their full potential.

Through anecdotes and lecture, Kingeisti explained how Tlingit clans are studied more for culture and not education, but this is inadequate because that "culture includes education."

He said even ancient clans survived with a strong utilization of math, science and history. Even today, Tlingits become lawyers, teachers, ministers and business people, all drawing from the midst of how they were taught and their ancestors were taught.

"We have had an impact on society from the beginning and the hard part is people don't want to accept that instead of just acknowledging our culture," he said.

He discussed traditions of the Tlingit educational system that have built that impact. The system focuses as much on the students' selves as much as reading and writing.

One of these main points is human beings have a unique ability to learn to listen for a purpose. He said this ability to learn to listen requires students to really focus, to not just hear what someone is saying but really comprehend it and to think about it if not immediately understood.

"When students are taught as respected human beings instead of being talked at, and these are two different things, students will respect you and want to work and understand more," said Kingeisti.

This respect is another pillar. Kingeisti explained respect is needed to practice and utilize intelligence because every human possess it.

"Every human that has that power to listen will find its not hard to learn," he said.

This notion of intelligence in every child measured through encouragement rather than judged by a single test score is another foundation of Tlingit education.

"Intelligence is probably one of the most traditional things any human being has," he told the audience.

He said Tlingit students are recognized as being precious and intelligent, and this can be lacking some other educational systems. He said when young people realize how precious they are, they really start to focus and control their minds, bodies and spirits.

"Basically to accept that if a man learns to listen he'll learn and gain knowledge, and accepts that he is intelligent and he'll gain more intelligence," he said.

Another pillar he discussed was the concept of "woocheen," which means "working together."

"The most important thing for me is that these particular truths are timeless. Truth never gets old. It's just as right now as it ever was. Truth is truth," he said.

Kingeisti has also worked in management and Tlingit cultural consulting since 1971 and served as president of Sealaska Heritage Institute for 12 years.

Watch the full lecture online here.

Did you miss one of our lectures?

2010-12-02T08:02:00.001-09:00

No problem--you can watch it online! Videos of lectures by Madonna Moss, Dan Monteith, and Zachary Jones are now posted in our video library. Check back soon for more coverage of lectures sponsored by Sealaska Heritage Institute in celebration of Native American Heritage Month!

A New Look at an Old Battle

2010-12-01T09:11:00.006-09:00

By Pat Forgey | JUNEAU EMPIRE

"It was called the "Kake War" of 1869 but few people today know of it, said Zachary Jones, archivist with the Sealaska Heritage Institute and Adjunct Instructor of History at University of Alaska Southeast.

Among those who are aware of it are the Kéex' Kwaan Tlingit of the Kake area, as well as other areas where related battles were fought, including Sitka, Wrangell and Cape Fox.

Jones spoke of his research as part of a series of talks held at the Sealaska Building during Native American Heritage Month. He's been using Tlingit oral histories to add to the official record of the clashes, and has been filling in a picture that's been based mostly on Caucasian written records.

The picture history paints does not reflect well on the U.S. Army, he said.

"This is a situation where the U.S. Army attacked the Tlingit people," he said.

In 1869, the United States had just purchased Alaska from Russia, but the residents of Alaska, including the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska, weren't happy about that, Jones said.

"Was the land for sale?" asked Nora Dauenhauer, who already knew the answer.

Jones said one of the reasons for difficult relations between the Tlingits and the U.S. Army, which has been put in charge of the newly acquired territory, was the Tlingits didn't think their ancestral homeland was the Russians' to sell.

The military commander in Alaska, Jefferson Davis, served as governor of the area and enforced the rule of the United States with the cannon of the U.S.S. Saginaw, a gunboat operated by the army.

Davis, unrelated to the Confederate president of the same name, noted at the time the Native people didn't like the U.S. intrusion on their lands.

"The Tlingit do not like the idea of whites settling in their midst without being subject to their jurisdiction," Davis reported in 1869.

Those resentments, as well as communication errors, led to clashes at Sitka during which unarmed Kéex'' Kwaan who were visiting there were killed, and then retaliatory killings that escalated things, Jones said.

Davis sent the Saginaw to punish the Kéex'' Kwaan, but it arrived to find several communal houses apparently vacant, Jones said.

Failing to find anyone to fight, the soldiers shelled the village and burned the houses, destroying stocks food and plank houses needed for shelter.

Sadly, one fatality was documented, Jones said.

"An old lady was burned in the fire because she was too old and frail to rise from her bed (and flee) and most likely assumed that the soldiers wouldn't hurt her," he said.

The soldiers reported their actions had not killed anyone, which was reported in the official account, but Jones said he learned from oral histories not only of the Kake death but the Tlingit side of how the conflict developed.

The previous colonial narrative of the U.S. Army fighting "criminal" Alaska Natives has been reassessed, broken down, and corrected with oral histories that explain the Tlingit side for the first time, Jones said.

These includes a series of errors by the army, and their brutal - and likely illegal under the laws of war - retaliation on the innocent Tlingit, he said.

Contact Zachary Jones by clicking here.

Watch the full lecture online here.

Southeast Native Radio Collection Open to Public Research

2010-10-20T10:55:00.001-08:00

The Sealaska Heritage Institute Special Collections Research Center has a recently acquired collection of recordings that is now available to the public. The Southeast Native Radio Recordings Collection was acquired by SHI from Juneau’s KTOO-FM radio station in April 2010 and Stephanie Brown, Assistant Archivist, recently finished processing the collection (organizing it according to archival standards).

Southeast Native Radio was a program which ran on KTOO-FM in Juneau, Alaska from 1985-2001. The collection contains programs from the show, which broadcast everything from performances by music groups to discussions of serious issues which were important to the Native community. The collection is an invaluable resource for Alaska Natives who wish learn more about their heritage and various issues affecting their community. The collection is a valuable resource for researchers studying Native history and an educational resource for those who are not Native as well, as it provides an opportunity for them to learn about cultures and ways of life they might not be very familiar with. Those interested in the collection can access the finding aid by clicking here. SHI is proud to make this collection available to the public for educational purposes.

SHI TO SPONSOR LECTURES, DANCE PERFORMANCES, ART MARKET FOR NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

2010-10-08T10:57:00.000-08:00

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) will sponsor a noon lecture series, dance performances, and a Native art market to celebrate Native American Heritage Month in November.

The brown-bag lunch series will focus on topics such as Tlingits and combat and Native history and language. The program this year will include dance performances at the Juneau-Douglas High School by groups from Washington State and Angoon. A Native artist market will be set up in the commons of the school during the afternoon of the performances.

The celebration of Native dance, art, culture and history are free and open to the public, said SHI President RositaWorl, adding she hopes attendees will learn more about Southeast Native cultures.

“I hope they learn more about Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people. I hope they learn about the history of our region. I hope they know also that we’re still alive and that our cultures are still here and still vital,” she said.

November is appropriately Native American Heritage Month—during this month, our nation celebrates Thanksgiving, and we should be reminded that Native Americans played a major role in the origin of Thanksgiving, Worl said, noting the colonists were celebrating their successful settlements and their survival. They acknowledged the Native Americans and the land and food resources they obtained from them; it was a history repeated as the colonists moved westward across America, said Worl, adding she hopes teachers in November show “For the Rights of All”—a recently released documentary about the civil rights movement in Alaska for which the institute is developing complimentary curriculum.

The lecture series will kick off Oct. 25 with a lecture by Fiona McDonald of University College London, a visiting scholar to the institute who is studying button blankets for her research on woolen trade blankets in the Pacific Northwest and New Zealand. Other lectures include (Print Schedule & Lecturers' Abstracts):

Professor of Anthropology Madonna Moss from the University of Oregon will present on Friday, Nov. 5. Her topic will be “Pre-Contact Tlingit Warfare: What Do We Really Know?”

Professor of Anthropology Dan Monteith from the University of Alaska Southeast, will present on Monday, Nov. 8. His topic will be “Tlingit Oral Narratives and Deep History.”

SHI Archivist Zachary Jones (who is also an Adjunct Instructor of History at the University of Southeast) will present on Monday, Nov. 15. His topic will be “Un-silencing the Past: Reassessing American Military Relations with the Tlingit in 1869.”

Professor of Slavic Languages Edward Vajda from Western Washington University will present on Monday, Nov. 22. His topic will be “Languages Across Bering Strait: My Siberian Odyssey and the Reconnecting of Asia and America.”

Professor of Molecular Anthropology Brian Kemp from Washington State University will present on Monday, Nov. 29. His topic will be “Just Because You Have Studied One Native American Population, You Haven’t Studied Them All: Insights from DNA about Prehistory in the Americas.”

SHI will round out the events in December with presentations from traditional scholars. David Katzeek, leader of the Shangukeidí Clan of Klukwan, will present on Monday, Dec. 6. His topic will be “The Traditional Tlingit Education System.”

Cyril George, Sr., leader of the Deisheetaan Clan of Angoon, will present on Monday, Dec. 13. His topic will be “Tlingit Oral Traditions.”

The lectures will be held from 12-1 pm in the 4^th floor boardroom at Sealaska Plaza in Juneau. Attendees are invited to bring their own lunches.

SHI will sponsor three dance group performances on Nov. 5 at the Juneau-Douglas High School. The Git-Hoan Dancers of Washington State and the Xudzidaa Kwáan Dancers of Angoon will perform at 10 am for elementary students, 1 pm for junior high and high school students, and at 7 pm for the community. (Print Flyer)

“This is another opportunity for the public to see our regalia in movement—used by people, not just a sterile photo of clan objects in a magazine or a book or in an exhibit, but now you can really see how our people use their ceremonial objects,” Worl said.

SHI will also sponsor a Native Artist Market from 5 pm-9 pm in the commons.

SHI RECEIVES MAJOR DONATION OF RECORDINGS OF NATIVE ELDERS, LEADERS

2010-09-30T15:15:00.001-08:00

Local radio host Cy Peck, Jr., has donated to Sealaska Heritage Institute a major collection of recordings capturing the words of Native Elders and leaders.

The recordings, which have been digitized, include interviews with many Native Elders and leaders, including Cy Peck, Sr., Matthew Fred, Austin Hammond, Charlie Jimmie, and Walter Williams to name a few.

“I think it’s found a home here,” said Peck at a recent ceremony in Juneau where the collection was formally presented to the institute. “I want everyone to know where to come and hear the Elders speak in their original way they spoke at potlatches and ceremonies and honoring people.”

The collection consists of mostly audio recordings that date to between 1978 and 1985 and document the fledgling First American Emphasis Week, a celebration of Native cultures recognized in places throughout the country. The Johnson O’Malley Program (JOM) joined with the Indian Studies Program to celebrate the event for the first time locally in March of 1978, and the organizers were overwhelmed by an unexpected, huge turnout of Native people, who came from across Alaska and the Lower 48, said former JOM Project Director Sharon Vavalis-Olsen.

“We didn’t think we’d have that many people attend, and I can remember my JOM staff running around trying to find out how they were going to keep the coffee pot filled and how we were going to get juice, and how we were going to feed all these people that we didn’t expect,” said Vavalis-Olsen, who estimated the crowd at 1,500 people.

It was during that time—when Peck had access to Native people from across the region—that the recordings were made. The recordings were broadcast locally, then flown to Fairbanks and broadcast there, said Peck, adding the event wouldn’t have happened without help from many volunteers, organizations and businesses.

The donation ceremony at Sealaska Plaza was attended by Elder and Deisheetaan Clan Leader Cyril George, who noted a resurgence of interest about Native cultures among young people in recent times. Many years ago, the Elders saw the Native way of life slipping away, George said.

“Now it’s a different story I’m seeing with our young people—interest in our language. Our way of life,” said George, who donned regalia and a Clan hat for the event.

The institute will take care of the recordings and ensure they are available to SHI’s patrons, said SHI Archivist Zachary Jones.

“We are grateful—Sealaska Heritage Institute is—and honored to have them. We realize the importance of what they are,” said Jones, adding the collection also includes a box of materials donated by Ray Peck that includes programs, newspaper clippings, correspondence and other items documenting the event.

Sealaska Heritage Institute's Visiting Scholar Program

2010-09-23T10:27:00.001-08:00

Sealaska Heritage Institute sponsors a Visiting Scholar Program for graduate students enrolled into an accredited educational institution or professors engaged in research that advance knowledge of Tlingit, Haida or Tsimshian culture, language, arts, or history. SHI will provide visiting scholars with logistical support, access to SHI’s library, archival collections, and ethnographic collections, and the support of SHI staff for the scholar’s research. In some situations, SHI can provide an honorarium and support toward a book publication.

Scholars who participate are required to adhere to traditional protocols and laws in respecting clan ownership and clan attribution. Scholars will be required to provide SHI with a gratis copy of their final research paper, dissertation, or publication, as well as provide one public lecture at SHI or in Southeast Alaska on their research.

For further information contact the Head of SHI Special Collections Research Center.

Button Blanket Project
SHI Visiting Scholar, Fiona McDonald, is conducting a research project in which she will investigate how button blankets are made, how they are used today and how they become at.óow. She will interview and record and/or film button blanket markers and those who receive the blankets. She will provide those she will interview the questions she will ask one week in advance of the scheduled interview.

We think this is an important project that will record the continuing importance of button blankets. If you are interested in being interviewed or know of someone who could make a contribution to this project, please contact fiona.mcdonald@sealaska.com

Copies of the recordings will be held in SHI Archives and available for educational purposes. Fiona will also make her written work available to SHI.

Reassessing the Native history of Metlakatla

2010-08-26T13:13:00.007-08:00

I recently came across an online version of an essay that caught my attention by Mique’l Askren, a graduate student working toward her Ph.D. in Art History at University of British Columbia. Mique’l (pronounced my-key-el) Askren is Tsimshian and Tlingit from Metlakatla, Alaska, and I recently met her at SHI’s Celebration 2010 where we discussed her research. In addition to her scholarly work, she is a member of Git Hayetsk Dancers, an internationally renowned Northwest Coast dance group based out of Vancouver, BC.

In regards to the essay she recently composed, entitled "Bringing our History into Focus: Re-Developing the Work of B.A. Haldane, 19th Century Tsimshian Photographer," she discusses the problems with the colonial narrative of Metlakatla’s Native history. By using photographs taken by Tsimshian photographer Benjamin Alfred Haldane (1874-1941) and other sources, she offers a new perspective on Metlakatla’s past. She shows how Tsimshian at Metlakatla did not abandon their cultural values and practices for Christianity after moving to Metlakatla in 1887, but retained them, and even held cultural celebrations against rules of the religious community. Overall, it’s great to see scholarship that makes use of archival resources and challenges current perceptions of Native history. To read the article you can click here.

Image shown below is a view of Metlakatla circa 1895, SHI Special Collections.

Lecture by Robert Davidson now available online

2010-07-19T08:23:00.005-08:00

If you missed Robert Davidson's lecture at Celebration 2010, you can now watch his talk in its entirety online. Robert Davidson's lecture drew a huge crowd at Celebration 2010. Robert Davidson is an internationally-acclaimed Haida artist and one of Canada's most respected and important contemporary artists. His lecture--Being Successful is no Accident: The Business of Art--is not only for artists. In his talk, he incorporates important life lessons that can be appreciated by people from all walks of life. (Robert Davidson's Lecture) (Video Library)

Lecture by Dr. Brian Kemp now available online

2010-07-13T10:13:00.004-08:00

If you missed Dr. Brian Kemp's lecture on DNA samples collected during Celebration 2008, you can now watch his talk in its entirety online. Dr. Kemp summarized his findings at Celebration 2010 in a talk sponsored by Sealaska Heritage Institute. Researchers screened participants' mitochondrial DNA for the genetic markers that define haplogroups A, B, C, and D--if you participated in the study, click here to view your results. The results from the first phase of the study were released in December 2008. Kemp's lecture in June emphasized the second phase of the study, which focused on genetic variation among Alaska’s Natives and other indigenous populations, genetic continuity of populations in Alaska and their relationships to other indigenous populations, and reconstruction of population history. (Dr. Kemp's Lecture)

Digital Cultural Objects Collection

2010-07-09T13:43:00.002-08:00

SHI Special Collections is working to put digital images of its ethnographic collection online. This link routes researchers to a selection of online photographs showing the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian art held by SHI Special Collections. SHI’s cultural objects collection contains materials of various genres and of a wide date range, from ancient stone items to modern art created by practicing Native artists. This web album will continue to grow as materials are added by Special Collections staff. (Cultural Objects Collection)