There’s a story behind how many of the objects in the Father Andrew P. Kashevaroff State Library, Archives and Museum arrived. For some of those objects, and for many recent events, that story includes The Friends of the State Library, Archives and Museum.
The Friends regularly raise money and volunteer to make the museum’s programs possible, including many associated with Alaska Positive.
“Our functions are truly varied,” Friends vice president MaryLou Gerbi said.
During Alaska Positive, the Friends organized a lecture series to pairs with the show, funded the opening reception and raised money for the awards.
Recently, the group bought two self-portraits by Nome photographer Hazo Hamemoto. Hamemoto, who signed many of his works “HAZO,” was a Japanese immigrant to Alaska who took photos more than 100 years ago, around the turn of the 19th century. The Friends also raise money to take care of the organ in the State Office Building, which belongs to the museum. They’ve organized all of the museum’s First Friday events since it opened in June, they were very involved in the Shakespeare First Folio arrival this summer, and they offer the Ethel Montgomery scholarship, which goes to Alaska Native students “studying museum, historical library, or library sciences,” Gerbi wrote in an email.
The group is always recruiting members, Gerbi said. There are around 440 right now.
Membership to the Friends is on a sliding scale, with the lowest being $25 for students or seniors. Individual memberships are $40, a family membership (two nontransferable year-round museum passes, with kids getting in free) is $75, and a sustaining membership is $125. That gets a member one nontransferable and one transferable pass, allowing a member to bring a friend. A lifetime membership is $1,000 and a corporate membership is $2,000.
“We just do a real variety of things, and that makes it fun,” Gerbi said.
To find out more about the Friends, go to www.foslam.org. Applications for the Ethel Montgomery scholarship are due at the end of November.
