2017 Annual Humanities Grants
Northern Narratives Digital Hub Anchorage Museum Association Anchorage / $8,000
A chemistry class at Sheldon Jackson School in Sitka in the 1950s. The teacher is Gladys Whitmore. Sheldon Jackson College collection, Alaska State Library Historical Collections. Voices of Sheldon Jackson: Outdoor and Online History Exhibit and Educational Materials Alaska Arts Southeast / Sitka / $6,000 Sitka’s Sheldon Jackson High School and College operated from 1878 to 2007. Formerly the Sitka Industrial and Training School attended by Alaska Native boys, the school burned down and nearly closed in 1882. However, due to the fund-raising efforts of a Presbyterian missionary named Sheldon Jackson, the school was re-opened. Reverend Jackson died in May 1909, and the school was renamed after him in 1910. Project director Rebecca Poulson grew up in Sitka and returned after college to study wooden boat repair.
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During her studies, she discovered that the Alaska Native men she was learning from all had connections to the school, and she began researching its history and impact on the area. Voices of Sheldon Jackson aims to educate the community about the history of the institution via public meetings, newly illustrated historical signs placed around the school grounds, and student resources and school lessons collected online. A dedication ceremony will “recognize all those who were affected by, or [were] part of, this institution over the years.”
A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M S U M M E R 2017
In conjunction with the fall 2017 opening of the Anchorage Museum’s 12,000-square-foot Alaska Exhibition, and 25,000-square-foot Art of the North gallery expansion, the museum will launch Northern Narratives, a digital collection of teaching tools, curricula, and syllabi for K-12 educators and higher education. The grant from the Alaska Humanities Forum will be used to develop content related to the museum’s new spaces, incorporating decolonizing methodologies and interdisciplinary approaches to teaching and learning about Alaska and the North. The Digital Hub will include teaching guides focused on objects in the Anchorage Museum collection, with high-resolution images, research on the objects, cultural and historical contexts, and questions to prompt inquiry and conversations. Hands-on activities involving scientific experiments, creative writing, and making art will be featured.