Looking North to Alaskan History

[Carole]

Looking North to Alaskan History, Pt. 1

 
 Fairbanks museum draws attention
 

 
 
Workers in Fairbanks are putting the final touches on a building that is arguably the most unique in the state. (Eric Sowl/KTUU-TV)
 
 
 
Museum Director Dr. Aldona Jonaitis said the building is designed to inspire curiosity. (Eric Sowl/KTUU-TV)


 
 
The museum houses more than a million Alaska artifacts and has been around for generations. Several years ago the school began a $42-million expansion and facelift. (Eric Sowl/KTUU-TV)
 
 
 
Designers said they were inspired by ice, but Jonaitis said each person can interpret the building in their own way. (Eric Sowl/KTUU-TV)
 

 
The construction was originally supposed to cost $31 million, but there were a number of changes made to the plans and the price tag went up to $42 million. (Eric Sowl/KTUU-TV)
 
 
by Steve MacDonald
Wednesday, May 16, 2007

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Alaska isn't particularly known for its architecture. But, workers in Fairbanks are putting the final touches on a building that is arguably the most unique in the state.     

The building is so unique that it's getting national and international attention and putting the University of Alaska Fairbanks on the map.

The Museum of the North is an eye catcher; gleaming white building sitting along a ridge on the campus of UAF.

Museum Director Dr. Aldona Jonaitis said the building is designed to inspire curiosity.   

"When you see this building from the air when you're landing in Fairbanks, chances are you'll say, ‘I want to see that close up. What is that?'"

The museum houses more than a million Alaska artifacts and has been around for generations. Several years ago the school began a $42-million expansion and facelift. The size of the building doubled and its exterior took on a look never seen in these parts before. 

"We decided then if we're going to have an art gallery, then we should have a building that itself is a form of art. And a work of art that expresses the sense of Alaska," Jonaitis said.

The building is outlined by sharp corners and gently sloping lines.     

"The outside is a sculptural statement, when you walk around the building it's really three-dimensional. Every angle that you position yourself at you see something different," Jonaitis said.

Designers said they were inspired by ice, but Jonaitis said each person can interpret the building in their own way.

"People see in the building glaciers and icebergs and diving whales and mountain ridges," Joanaitis said.

Inside its all about space. There are high ceilings, elegant stair cases and windows that take advantage of the natural surroundings.     

Kerynn Fisher said there's also a living room for patrons to take a break.

"They have all of this mental stimulation looking at the exhibits and they come out of the museum and they're exhausted. So this is a place to sit and relax," Fisher said.

Museum management said the building is living up to its advanced billing.     

"No matter how good we are, if we're just a box we don't call attention to ourselves, no one is going to recognize that we're special," Jonaitis said.

And being special means landing in some major publications.

"When I had said, ‘You know, what do I want? What would please me the most?' The answer was, I want to get into the New York Times and we did it, which is so great," Jonaitis said.     

And according to Jonaitis, the publicity means more people at the box office.     

She said tourism groups are putting the museum on their lists of places to stop.

"We are at heart a research and teaching institution. That attention is bringing more visitors here. Those visitors, in addition to getting a unique experience of Alaska, they are helping us support the true mission of this museum," Jonaitis said.

A museum embracing Alaska's history with a futuristic look.

The construction was originally supposed to cost $31 million, but there were a number of changes made to the plans and the price tag went up to $42 million.

The university is also disputing claims by construction company Alaska Mechanical that it owes $17 million for additional work. That disagreement will likely be settled in court.


http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=6528641

[Carole]

Looking North to Alaskan History, Pt. 2

 
by Steve MacDonald
Thursday, May 17, 2007

Anchorage, Alaska -- When the Museum of the North in Fairbanks expanded, it meant displaying more Alaska artifacts for the public. But even with all that extra space, the vast majority of the museum's collection remains underground.

It was a $41-million construction job that dramatically altered the Museum of the North, but the project did more than create modernistic architecture at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. There was also a practical purpose.

The project doubled the size of the museum, giving museum workers like Archeology Curator Dr. Daniel Odess a lot more room to display treasures such as Alaska Native artifacts dating back more than 2,000 years.     

"The material here wasn't display before this gallery opened because there just wasn't a place to do that," Odess said.

The museum boasts the largest and most important collection of Alaska archeological material in the world.

"We do a lot of processing of collections from all over the state. We're the main repository for the state of Alaska. We have roughly a million objects," Odess said.

But even with more display space, the vast majority of artifacts reside in what's called the collections area. Odess said less than one percent of the museum's collection is on display.

Museum employee Kerynn Fisher said many items don't need to be viewed by the public.

"A lot of it isn't the most photogenic stuff," Fisher said. "One of two pieces that are representative of a collection is enough to give people an idea of what's in a collection, but we may have 20, or  2,000 or 20,000 more of them."

There are aisles upon aisles and shelves upon shelves filled with Alaska's past. One drawer held artifacts unearthed near the town of Healy including an arrow head likely 5-6,000 years old.

The items located in this section are mostly for researchers studying the origins of Alaska, while the truly good stuff is upstairs on public display in the main gallery.

One of the biggest attractions at the museum is known as Blue Babe. It's a 36,000-year-old bison. A mummy almost perfectly preserved.

"Some how, buried. Maybe the bank fell in on it or the stream washed material on top of it, but it became sufficiently insulated with this frozen ground that it froze itself," Odess said.

The animal was uncovered by a gold miner working a claim during the 1980's near McGrath. Researchers believe the bison was killed by an American lion.

"They know an American lion was involved because they found a lion tooth broken off in the hide," Odess said.

Babe sheds light on what roamed the great land so long ago. Many other artifacts show how people and events shaped present day Alaska all under one new and very unique roof.

Less that one percent of the museum's 1.5 million artifacts is on display for the public to see, which is the norm for any museum, according to curators.

A number of researchers from around the world come to the museum to study the artifacts.   

Of particular interest is the material collected from Dry Creek near Healy. Japanese researchers have come over to study those findings.

Odess said some of the Dry Creek artifacts contain markings similar to artifacts found in parts of Asia.   

Researchers said the markings prove that the first Alaskans came from Asia.

http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=6534499