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Our Story in Many Voices

The Alaska State Museum Catalog and Guide
  • Charles Wohlforth
  • In collaboration with: Sarah Asper-Smith
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2025
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Author / Editor information

Charles Wohlforth is the author of a dozen books and numerous articles covering science and the environment, politics and history, medicine, and as-told-to biography. His book The Whale and the Supercomputer: On the Northern Front of Climate Change won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Among his writing assignments was editing the labels for the Alaska State Museum.
 
Sarah Asper-Smith has worked independently and collaboratively as a curator, exhibit designer, and graphic designer in museums in all parts of Alaska, which included facilitating the co-curatorial exhibit development of the permanent exhibits at the Alaska State Museum

Reviews

"A fascinating treatment of the dilemmas posed in designing a historical museum—the way items in a collection may stay the same, but their meanings change with each generation. Our Story in Many Voices is full of vivid anecdotes that illustrate those challenges."
—Tom Kizzia, author of Pilgrim’s Wilderness and The Wake of the Unseen Object
 
“Thoughtful, fascinating, engaging. The perfect accompaniment to a world-class museum. Wohlforth challenges the reader to consider how stories in the museum are told. Like the museum itself, the book does not purport to be the authoritative account of Alaska’s peoples, cultures, and histories but rather invites multiple interpretations.”
—Ross Coen, University of Washington
 
“This isn’t only an exhibit catalog. It’s a piece of Alaska history. By telling the story of the Alaska State Museum and its efforts to advance community dialogue around the interpretation of Alaska history, Wohlforth illustrates the changing social landscape of Alaska and the opportunities it presents.”
—Amy F. Steffian, Alutiiq Museum
 

Topics

  • Publicly Available

    Frontmatter

    i
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    Dedication

    v
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    CONTENTS

    vii
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    Foreword

    ix
    Steve Henrikson
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    Introduction

    1
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    Maps

    4
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    The Setting

    13
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  • The Story in the Exhibits
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    Native Alaska

    21
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    Conquest and Resistance

    30
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    American Colony

    40
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  • Voicing Alaska’s Story
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    1.

    53
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    2.

    58
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    3.

    67
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    4.

    74
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    5.

    84
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    6.

    90
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    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

    93
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    Sources and Further Reading

    94
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  • Alaska State Museum Collections on Exhibit
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    Across the Cultures

    103
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    Alutiiq / Sugpiaq

    108
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    Athabascan

    109
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    Atrium (Eagle Tree)

    111
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    Earth Sciences

    112
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    Foreign Voyagers

    113
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    Lobby

    114
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    Maritime

    116
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    Mining

    117
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    Modern Alaska

    120
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    Octopus Room

    121
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    Oil and Timber

    122
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    Orientation

    123
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    Origins

    124
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    Political History

    126
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    Resilience

    128
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    Russian Alaska

    132
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    Southeast Alaska

    134
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    Tourism

    137
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    Transportation

    138
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    Unangax (Aleut)

    140
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    World War II

    142
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    Yup’ik / Saint Lawrence Island Yupik / Iñupiat

    144
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    Index

    151
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    ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND DESIGNER

    155
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
May 15, 2025
eBook ISBN:
9781646426522
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
110
https://doi.org/10.5876/9781646426522
eBook ISBN: 9781646426522
Keywords for this book
alaska history and politics; Native American and Indigenous Studies; Museum curation; Alaskan ecology; Alaskan geography; Museum exhibit development process
Audience(s) for this book
General/trade;
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