Museum

Steve Henrikson (center) smiles with museum colleagues over the Alaska State Museum’s 125th birthday cake on Friday, June 6, 2025. (Natalie Buttner / Juneau Empire)

Locals celebrate the legacy of museum curators

Remembering those who remember: 125 years of Alaska State Libraries, Archives and Museums.

 

Jonas Nordwall performs a noontime concert on the 1928 Kimball Theatre Pipe Organ at the State Office Building on Friday. Weekly concerts featuring various performers at the instrument draw between 20 to 50 people, according to an official at the Alaska State Museum, which owns the organ. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Century-old theater organ in State Office Building at ‘tipping point’ for decision on long-term repairs

Officials say up to $300K needed for rebuilding to keep it playable for decades; otherwise “it’ll die.”

 

Skip Gray holds a simulated conversation on an early 20th-century box phone and his cell phone during the opening of the exhibit “Switch and Exchange: A Brief History of Telephones in 20th Century Juneau” at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum on Friday. Gray is a former resident of the Telephone Hill neighborhood, which got its name when Juneau became the first city in Alaska with an established telephone system and a telephone company called the downtown area home during the early 1900s. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Dialing, cranking and ringing into Juneau’s history as a telephone pioneer in Alaska

Museum exhibit highlights how capital got state’s first phone system and Telephone Hill got its name.

 

Josie Ferrer addresses the audience with announcements during the Filipino Community Celebration on Saturday. Hundreds of people attended the event on Saturday, with more activities planned starting at noon Sunday. (Meredith Jordan / Juneau Empire)

Filipino Community Hall hosts hundreds at celebration

Event is part of larger project after state’s recognizes October as Filipino American History Month.

Josie Ferrer addresses the audience with announcements during the Filipino Community Celebration on Saturday. Hundreds of people attended the event on Saturday, with more activities planned starting at noon Sunday. (Meredith Jordan / Juneau Empire)
The Public Works and Facilities Committee heard a meme from the head of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum outlining some of the issues of the 70-year-old building and a proposal for a new structure on the waterfront on May 2, 2022. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

Public works committee eyes changes to biosolids disposal, new city museum location

A new museum would ease many issues from the current building.

The Public Works and Facilities Committee heard a meme from the head of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum outlining some of the issues of the 70-year-old building and a proposal for a new structure on the waterfront on May 2, 2022. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)
Niko Sanguinetti, the curator of collections and exhibits at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum, arranges artifacts that are being collected to document life in Juneau during the COVID-19 pandemic in the basement of the museum on Jan. 6, 2021. Beth Weigel, director of the museum watches in the background. (Dana Zigmund/Juneau Empire)

City museum documents history in the making

The Juneau-Douglas City Museum is considering how the future may view the past.

Niko Sanguinetti, the curator of collections and exhibits at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum, arranges artifacts that are being collected to document life in Juneau during the COVID-19 pandemic in the basement of the museum on Jan. 6, 2021. Beth Weigel, director of the museum watches in the background. (Dana Zigmund/Juneau Empire)
This composite image shows both the Alaska State, Library, Archives and Museum and the Juneau-Douglas City Museum. Both have made adjustments to a relatively tourism-free summer. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

No tourists means loss and opportunities for museums

The Alaska State Museum usually gets more than 15,000 guests over summer. This year, it’s 500.

This composite image shows both the Alaska State, Library, Archives and Museum and the Juneau-Douglas City Museum. Both have made adjustments to a relatively tourism-free summer. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
Chuck Smythe, Ph.D., History and Culture Director for Sealaska Heritage Institute, standing next to reproduction of Tlingit battle armor by Sitka artist Tommy Joseph, gives a tour of new temporary exhibit, “War & Peace” in the institute’s gallery on Friday, Dec. 6, 2019. The exhibit opens Friday, Dec. 6, for Gallery Walk and will be up until February. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

A wound still bleeding: New exhibit lays bare war and peace in the Southeast

The U.S. military’s treatment of the Tlingit has been an unkind one.

Chuck Smythe, Ph.D., History and Culture Director for Sealaska Heritage Institute, standing next to reproduction of Tlingit battle armor by Sitka artist Tommy Joseph, gives a tour of new temporary exhibit, “War & Peace” in the institute’s gallery on Friday, Dec. 6, 2019. The exhibit opens Friday, Dec. 6, for Gallery Walk and will be up until February. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Dig this: Art and science collide in new Ray Troll exhibition

Dig this: Art and science collide in new Ray Troll exhibition

Ketchikan artist has been drawing dinos with crayons for 61 years.

Dig this: Art and science collide in new Ray Troll exhibition
State museum wants help finishing ‘fantastically large’ octopus project
Video

State museum wants help finishing ‘fantastically large’ octopus project

It’ll take more than eight arms to do this.

State museum wants help finishing ‘fantastically large’ octopus project
Video
Odd museum collection has rhyme and reason

Odd museum collection has rhyme and reason

It’s ekphrastic.

Odd museum collection has rhyme and reason