“History keeps getting bigger all the time,” Steve Henrikson, curator of collections, began his presentation on the 125-year history of Alaska State Libraries, Archives and Museums.
This is especially true for curators at the Alaska State Museum, who tell the complex history of Alaska through objects. On June 6, 1900, Congress approved the creation of what was originally the Alaska Historical Library and Museum. Members of the public were invited Friday to commemorate the anniversary with a presentation on its history by Henrikson.
Henrikson’s presentation followed the State Museum and Library as it slowly grew in size, starting from a room in the governor’s house in Sitka and ending in the museum’s current home in the Father Andrew P. Kashevaroff Building. The Museum and Historical Library was joined by the Alaska State Library in 1955 and the Alaska State Archives in 1970.
Specific artifacts surfaced in the presentation as examples of the power of objects in conveying history. Karen Hofstad’s donated salmon can collection shows the changes in brand marketing and local art, as well as the political legacy of salmon canneries and the stories of cannery workers. Henrikson said displaying objects that show conflicting perspectives on history challenges the viewer’s perception.
“We don’t want to make it easy for people,” he said.
The presentation was followed by birthday cake and button-making, allowing participants to take home their own artifact of the occasion.
This anniversary also marks a fraught time in the national relationship with museums and libraries. An executive order signed into effect on March 15 of this year resulted in the staff of the National Institute of Museum and Library Services being laid off, pausing grants that many museums and libraries rely on.
Henrikson mentioned his personal observation of a long-term local trend of increased trust in the museum.
“We’re hearing less and less calls to get the state out of the museum business, or that this is a tourist facility and the cruise ship companies should pay for it,” he said.
When asked if the Alaska State Museum had been harmed by funding cuts, Henrikson spoke to the fickleness of the field.
“My first year here, the deputy commissioner of the Department of Education, Steve Hole, came over to the museum staff meeting and put us all on layoff notice,” he said. “And he never rescinded that notice, so I feel like I’m still on 24-hour layoff notice, and you just never know what’s going to happen.”
• Contact Natalie Buttner via editor@juneauempire.com or (907) 744-1980.
