Two years ago, historian Pennelope Goforth discovered six ledgers from the Alaska Commercial Company gathering dust in a friend’s basement. Now, she’s using the "Lost Ledgers" to bring a distant chapter of Aleutian history to life.
The Alaska Commercial Company dominated the fur trade in the Aleutians during the late 1800s. Trading station agents used ledger books to keep careful records of business transactions and correspondences. But the agents didn’t limit their writing to just business.
The Museum of the Aleutians will soon be closed for several months of renovations. Museum director Zoya Johnson says the plan is for a new, expanded permanent exhibit.
"This is a complete redesign of our museum. We are changing everything," says Johnson. "We are telling our story in a different way."
The title of the new exhibit is "The Aleutian Islands: Crossroads of the North Pacific." Johnson says that it's difficult to explain exactly what the installation will look like. There will be new artifacts on display from the museum’s permanent collection, but the main goal will be to provide visitors with a more complete understanding of Aleutian history.
Captain Bill Choate sits with passengers in front of his commissioned tour boat, the Pukuk, on July 2, 2013. (Audrey Carlsen/KUCB)
A travel company specializing in military history has set its sights on the Aleutian Islands. A WWII-focused cruise from Attu to Unalaska marks the beginning of what may be a new wave of interest in "the Forgotten War."
Unalaska is the last stop on the twelve-day cruise, which started in Adak, went west along the Aleutian chain to Attu, and then back again, visiting important WWII sites along the way.
Although travel company Valor Tours offers over 20 military history expeditions every year, trip leader John Cloe says that this tour was the first of its kind.
There’s a full schedule of Independence Day activities planned for tomorrow in Unalaska.
The day will kick off with the annual 4th of July parade. Coordinator Albert Burnham says so far eleven floats have registered to participate.
“Which is a little down from last year, but we usually have five or six people show up day-of with floats too. There’s no charge to be in the parade, and if they show up, they just get to let line up at the back of the parade, and we let them go.”
Jack Wiegand in Unalaska on June 25, 2013. Credit: Stephanie Joyce
Over the weekend, 21-year-old Jack Wiegand became the youngest person to ever fly solo around the world. Before making it back to California though, he stopped in Unalaska, where KUCB’s Stephanie Joyce caught up with him.
Vincent Tutiakoff and Arnold Dushkin (L-R). Credit: Lauren Adams
Elders from around the Aleutians gathered at the Grand Aleutian Hotel earlier this month for a summit on healthcare and aging. Most of their time was spent in workshops, but they carved out space for a potluck dinner of traditional foods at Unalaska's senior center.
That night, a few elders shared stories of their first subsistence hunts. KUCB's Lauren Rosenthal was there, and has this audio postcard of Larry Dirks of Atka, Vincent Tutiakoff of Unalaska, and Arnold Dushkin of Nikolski discussing the subsistence way of life.
The Pribilof island of St. Paul lost an important elder this month. Mary Nicolai Bourdukofsky passed away on June 2 at age 90. As KUCB’s Lauren Rosenthal reports, Bourdukofsky was devoted to preserving Unangan culture and history.
Federal budget cuts are squeezing Alaska’s culture and science camps. The Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska has traditionally sponsored summer programs within the state’s many refuges, but with sequestration, that funding was eliminated this year, leaving some camps scrambling.
Unalaska’s Camp Qungaayux has relied on the Fish and Wildlife Service’s support for more than a decade. Last year, the federal agency contributed $15,000 outright, and $5,000 in the form of an instructor.
Jeffery Watson Instructing Students at Unalaska Elementary School /Credit: Stephanie Joyce
Getting a group of elementary school students to sit through a lesson on classical music is no simple task, but on Friday, visiting pianist Jeffery Watson managed to do just that. Watson is a professor of music at George Washington University, and is in town to perform at the Aleutian Arts Council’s “Just Desserts” event.
KUCB’s Stephanie Joyce sat in on one of the lessons, and talked to Watson about teaching, and playing, music.
