"148,650 stories are assembled here from life oral history interviews with 2,695 historically significant African Americans as of December 15, 2021.” As of 12/15/2021, 276 stories carried a mention of Alaska.
Juneau
The Alaska State Library and State Archives will be closed on Friday, December 24 and December 31 for the Christmas and New Years holidays. The Alaska State Museum will be closed on Friday and Saturday, December 24-25 and December 31-January 1 for these state-observed holidays.
Discounted winter museum admission rates are: adult - $9; senior (65 & older) - $8; all youth (18 years & younger), as well as Friends members and museum pass holders are free. Assistance is available for visitors with special needs. Please contact Visitor Services at 465-2901 before the visit.
Sitka
The Sheldon Jackson Museum will be closed on Friday and Saturday, December 24-25 and December 31-January 1 for these state-observed holidays.
All of us at the Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums wish you the best of the winter season and a happy and productive 2022!
As announced in the last Friday Bulletin, Kate Enge is the new Online With Libraries (OWL) Librarian and is assuming responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the OWL Program. Questions about library broadband assistance under OWL and general program questions should go to Kate. Her e-mail is kate.enge@alaska.gov and her phone number is 907-465-2271.
Questions about video operations – Zoom in general and Zoom with library endpoints, should go to Kyle Williams, OWL video technician. He can be reached by phone at 800-478-8226, option 1 and by e-mail at ua-owlvideo@alaska.edu. Kyle is also available for on-demand Zoom training. And if your library has not signed up for a free OWL Zoom account and you are interested in offering programming via Zoom, please get in touch with Kyle as soon as you can.
Please note that Daniel Cornwall is NOT a contact for OWL issues, having joined the State Library’s Information Services staff as their Continuing Resources Librarian.
Left: Using a ruler loom. Right: Showing off the finished product.
On 12/11/2021, Kay Field Parker led an amazing Ravenstail necklace bag workshop at the Father Andrew P. Kashevaroff Building in Juneau for 14 tweens and teens. She made looms out of yard sticks and brought a team of experienced weavers to assist. Participants learned basic weaving techniques, wound their own cord, and made buttons to decorate their bags, and a handful of participants explored the Ravenstail and Chilkat weavings on display in the Museum. It was a busy morning, but everyone left with a beautiful necklace bag! Huge thanks to Kay and her weaving helpers, Leah, and the Friends for making this workshop possible.
Taking polaroid photographs of historic photos.
Claire Imamura, coordinator of the division’s grant-funded youth activity offered this report on photographer Ben Huff’s educational event at the end of November 2021:
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We had a fun, throwback workshop with solo artist and photographer Ben Huff last month. Eight intrepid Juneau kids joined us on a very snowy day to look at historic photos of downtown Juneau and then set out to take Polaroids that would work in conversation with a historic image of their choice. The camera batteries drained quickly in the cold weather but lasted almost as long as we did. We discovered that the black-and-white film worked better in the low light of a snowy Juneau day, and snowflakes falling on the Polaroids made for interesting star effects.
Thanks to Ben, and to Kim Metcalfe and family for donating prints from HC negatives to be used in programs like this!
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If your library, archives or museum recently ran a program (in-person or virtual) that you felt went well, please drop us a line and tell us how it went!
At the end of October, Christopher Russell delivered another intriguing story prompted by his explorations in the Alaska Digital Newspaper Project, which has been digitizing hundreds of thousands of historic Alaskan newspapers over the past several years. His 10/29/2021 blog post, A daring Filipina Spy, explores the story of Josefina Guerrero, a Filipina spy and member of the underground resistance against the Japanese in World War II. Guerrero carried messages, delivered food to U.S. POWs, mapped enemy defenses, delivered critical information to U.S. forces, and helped save numerous American soldiers and civilians during the Battle of Manila.
Ms. Guerrero was usually called “Joey” by the Marines and in the press. She suffered from Hansen’s disease, better known as leprosy, and used her condition like a cloak of invisibility. To read more about her exploits and how veterans and others rallied after the war to get her the medical treatment she needed and deserved for her service, read:
A daring Filipina spy. By Russell, Christopher. Alaska’s Digital Newspaper Project Blog, 10/29/2021.
On 12/3/2021, the Cordova Times noted that the Cordova Public Library and the Cordova Historical Society and Museum received a total of $92K in easy and project grants funded by the American Rescue Plan Act through the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and awarded by Alaska’s Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums (LAM).
To learn how this money will be spent to improve the experience of visitors to both facilities, read:
$92K in ARPA grants go to Cordova library, museum. By Staff Writers. The Cordova Times, 12/3/2021.
Public Radio Station KDLL recently reported that the Soldotna Public Library is partnering with Lora Hagelund of the Stellaria Trial Garden in Kasilof to offer a seed library. According to the article, a seed library is “a place where growers can borrow and lend seed packets.”
For more about Soldotna sprouting seed library, read:
Seed library sprouting in Soldotna. By Sabine Poux. KDLL, 12/2/2021.
For more about seed libraries in general, you might be interested in this archived WebJunction webinar from June 2021:
Food Access and Seed Libraries in Rural Public Libraries (6/9/2021) Presenters from small and rural locations in South Carolina share their experiences with seed libraries and community refrigerators. The event page also features a list of resources.
Want to know more about gardening in Alaska? Check out the University of Alaska’s Cooperative Extension Service Lawn & Garden page.
As they have for several years, the Juneau Douglas City Museum spent the month of November providing free notecards and a free postage stamps to individuals to invite them to send a note of encouragement to someone they know. This program was started to honor the late Dr. Walter Soboleff, a well-loved citizen of the Juneau community who was the first Tlingit ordained to the ministry in the Presbyterian Church. Among much other service, he served two terms as a Sealaska board member, from 1980-1988. Since 2014, November 14 has been celebrated as Dr. Walter Soboleff Day in Alaska.
For more about the Juneau Douglas City Museum’s initiative, read:
Program honoring Soboleff sees over 200 letter materials distributed. KINY News of the North, 12/3/2021.
From our friends at Exhibit Alaska:
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Are you looking for a fun, engaging, and educational traveling exhibit to share with your community? Designed and developed by ExhibitAK and the Alaska State Museum, Illustrating Alaska: Artists Making Children’s Books explores the colorful and intriguing process of illustrating children’s books through the lens of four different Alaskan illustrators: Jim Fowler, Evon Zerbetz, Michaela Goade, and Mitchell Watley.
There are two exhibit options available to ship to your community: a full exhibit with artwork and graphic panels, or a smaller pop-up exhibit available to libraries, schools, and other places that don't have the ability to display artwork.
For more information and to learn how to have this Alaskan designed exhibit available in your community, visit https://exhibitak.com/illustrating-alaska/ or https://museums.alaska.gov/traveling_exhibits/illustrating-ak.html.
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If you’re having in-person programming, you might consider a (jigsaw) puzzle club like they’re running in Gustavus this winter. According to a recent flyer that crossed our desk, the club meets every Thursday from 3:30–7:00 pm. It’s open to all ages. They ask that kids 8 and younger come with adult supervision. Puzzles for younger kids will be 100-300 pieces, and older humans of many ages can work on the 500-1000 piece puzzle the library will have going. Sounds like a fun way to enjoy a dark winter’s night.
Do you have a creative program for this season? Let us know!
For those of us who cheer physical formats like printed books, some good news from our friends at the Census Bureau:
Despite all the advances in digital technology, bookstores still fill our need for knowledge and the written word and harken back to simpler times when we were not so tethered to our electronic devices.
According to data from the Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns, while the number of U.S. Book stores (as listed in the North American Industry Classification System) dropped from 12,151 in 1998 to 6,045 in 2019, there were still more bookstores than some other types of retail businesses that are ubiquitous in our communities, including Home Centers (5,952 establishments) and Department Stores (3,856).
Continue reading to learn more about:
For the full story, read:
Despite Our Love of All Things Electronic, Bookstores Still Relevant This Holiday Season. By Andrew W. Hait. America Counts: Stories behind the numbers. 12/15/2021.
From the Natural History Collections listserve:
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and, all through the collections,
Were boxes and boxes of unprocessed accessions.
Nothing was hung by the chimney with care.
There was no space—just more boxes there.
When the pandemic hit, and life faded to gloam,
We locked the front door and sent the staff home.
But no one remembered, as odd as it sounds,
That the post office couriers would continue their rounds.
Sure enough, they pressed on through snow, rain, heat, and gloom,
Plague, fire, and all other perils that loom.
As promised, delivery was swift and complete,
And boxes arrived every day at our feet.
The result was a backlog that just kept progressing
Of hundreds of objects, all awaiting processing.
One crate from E. Schrödinger was left on our mat:
Did it move? Did we have, did we not have a cat?
There were boxes with labels in old faded writing,
And boxes which looked very much uninviting.
There were boxes that clinked, there were boxes that oozed.
There were none with directions, and I was confused.
I sat down at my desk and took out my flask
(Then realized that I couldn’t drink through my mask).
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter
I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew—okay, walked—like a flash,
But tripped over a cat (or I didn’t), and crashed.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Was covering even more boxes below.
It seemed there was no end to the incoming stuff.
Getting rid of it all was going to be tough.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear
But a miniature sleigh and eight vaccinated reindeer?
With a little old driver so lively and quaint
I knew in a moment that it must be the Saint.
Faster than budget cuts his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
“Now Tyvek and Dry Gel, now Poly and Ester,
On Resistal and Neoprene, on T-Tech and Leicester!
To the top of the building, get over the boxes!
Now dash away, dash, just like flying foxes!”
With his sleigh on the roof, the Saint shouldered his load
And, very slowly, down the freight elevator he rode.
He set down his sack, and shook off the snow,
And said “You expected, what? Marie Kondo?
Then he looked in his sack, looked again, grabbed his hat,
And he pulled out and didn’t pull out that same cat.
“It’s time to get organized! Look smart, be swift!”
Then he tossed me a bundle of blank deeds-of-gift.
“I would have brought help, but I’m fresh out of elves,
So, you fill out the forms while I fill up the shelves!”
With a wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
I knew there would be much more accessioning ahead.
(The cat soon lost interest, and, after cleaning its fur,
Curled up in a box, where it did/did not purr.)
As you might expect that St. Entropy would,
He accessioned all of the objects he could,
Every form was filled out, to the last jot and quantum,
(Though I did leave a few small tittles to taunt him).
The shelves were soon filled, the cabinets were crammed.
(The Saint’s long-time motto: “Collection policy be damned!”)
With all of the empties, the Saint built a fine fort,
A place for curators to meet for a snort.
He spoke not a word, but seemed pleased with the job,
As for me, my poor head was beginning to throb.
Then, laying his finger inside of his nose,
He made a rude sound; up the elevator he rose.
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like a heat-seeking missile.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight
“We got it all done in exactly one night!”
As I watched them arise, getting darker and colder,
I saw and did not see a cat on his shoulder.
(John Simmons and Sally Shelton do and do not have anything to do with cats, saints, or boxes.)
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