The Sheldon Jackson Museum September 2025 artifacts of the month are a set of Athabascan ashtrays (SJ-2025-4-1A, B). The ashtrays were donated by Sara King, along with a pair of beaded coasters, in memory of her father James ‘Jim’ King who passed away in 2024.
King was born in Portland, Maine and grew up in New England. He served in the marines and then attended Harvard briefly, beforei going to the University of Alaska in Fairbanks and Washington State University. He arrived in Alaska in 1949 and worked on the railroad outside of Denali National Park. After that, he become a game warden for the US Fish & Wildlife Service, and eventually, a flyway biologist. During his career as a biologist, he monitored bird populations throughout Alaska and northwestern Canada. Although he retired in 1963, he continued working with birds until he was well into his eighties. His favorite activity, according to his obituary, was to fly around at low altitudes looking for birds “and other interesting things anywhere in Alaska.” He went on to write a memoir of his life entitled “Attending Alaska’s Birds.” It was during his career and travels that King collected the ashtrays and coasters donated to the museum by his daughter, Sara.
The ashtrays are made with commercial metal centers, stamped “made in Japan” and feature elaborately beaded smoked moosehide sides with floral motifs. The beaded designs on the first ashtray include two patterns repeated on opposing sides. The first and third sides have a large light pink flower and four leaves, reminiscent of a Sitka rose, and the second and fourth sides have a large light blue flower with four leaves, similar to a forget-me-not. A navy blue beaded border frames each side of the ashtray. The background consists of white beads. The second ashtray displays a single design on all four sides – a beaded burgundy flower and a teal flower extending from one stem, with two leaves attached to each flower. The border framing the sides and the background are comprised of white beads.
Although there is no documentation about the maker or when the beaded ashtrays were created, we know that King collected the pieces in the 1960s in the Bethel area. Beaded ashtrays like this are quite rare in museum collections, though there is one similar ashtray with beautiful floral beadwork and smoked moosehide in the collection of the Anchorage Museum. That ashtray was also collected by a pilot, Dr. Milo Fritz. Fritz was a surgeon who lived in Alaska from the 1940s until his retirement. He specialized in providing care for deaf and blind people in remote Alaskan villages.
Visit the museum to see the September artifact of the month. Except for holidays, the Sheldon Jackson Museum is currently open Monday–Saturday, 9 am–4:30pm. Admission is $9, $8 for seniors, and free for ages 18 and under and active military and their families.
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