Alaska Historical Society

10/16/2026

Banquet and Award Photos!

10/16/2026

Coverage of our conference from KBBI AM 890 radio!

The Alaska Historical Society held their annual conference, “New Directions in Alaska History,” at Homer’s Kachemak Bay Campus last week with people and speakers attending from across the state. Emilie Springer spoke with Homer conference chair Jeff Meyers about what this year’s event entail...

10/15/2026

Tonight at 7 p.m. at the Anchorage Museum and online: Matthew Peterson - Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the Adoption of the Alaska Constitution

The presentation will review the development of civil government in Alaska's territorial period and the statehood movement; the 1955-56 Alaska constitutional convention; the rights of citizens, the structure of our government, and innovations in our constitution, and amendments to date.

In-person at the Anchorage Museum auditorium and online via Crowdcast. Free and open to the public. Please use the Museum’s 7th Avenue entrance.

Register for the online event: https://www.crowdcast.io/c/4yhbg7i463cm

10/14/2026

On Friday and Saturday, the Alaska Historical Society Conference was full of presentations on topics like baseball in Alaska's history, boarding schools, scrimshaw on mastodon tusks, birthright citizenship, ANCSA, Latin cultural spaces in Anchorage, and more. Plus, we had our Annual Meeting where we voted for the Society to take on two advocacy projects, voted in board members including new board member and UAA student Zachary Dailey-Payne, and reported on Alaska History Day and the fundraising progress and leadership transition we look forward to for this school year for Alaska's students.

10/12/2026

“You’ve probably heard the saying we walk in two worlds - and I used to be in that thinking. However, it is THE world we’re walking in today. There are no other two ways about it!”

Today is Indigenous People’s Day. Sharing Indigenous histories is part of our mission to share Alaska history. This weekend, we had the honor of hearing from longtime educator and culture bearer Pausauraq Jana Harcharek about the Iñupiaq Learning Framework and how the collaborative group of people developing it integrated cultural values into North Slope Borough School District learning.

Knowledge systems are vital in maintaining cultural integrity as they encompass the frameworks through which communities understand and interpret their experiences, values and traditions. The development of the Iñupiaq Learning Framework was an act of self-determination in education that safeguards cultural integrity, nurtures a sense of community and centers Iñupiaq ideologies.

In the coming weeks, you’ll be able to listen to Pausaurek Jana Harcharek’s full talk on our website.

10/11/2026

On Friday, Sam Mihara joined us as our first keynote. In 1942, when Sam Mihara was 9 years old, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II. Shortly after, he and his family were forced from their San Francisco home by armed military guards and sent to the Heart Mountain prison camp in Wyoming. The government removed all people of Japanese ancestry and placed them into desolate prison camps under Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Mihara’s family would live crowded into a single 20-by-20-foot room for the next three years.

Mihara discussed the racial hysteria ramped up by the media, the steps the U.S. government took to remove Japanese-Americans from their homes, legal cases brought by Japanese-American individuals against the government, interactions with people who lived adjacent to the camp, the requirement that residents sign a loyalty affidavit and serve in the military during the war, and the difficult years of reintegration into society after the war. He also made a point of challenging the audience to ensure that similar policies are never again enacted in this country.

His talk led to great discussion and meaningful questions among audience members, and the recording will be available in the coming weeks.

10/10/2026

Thank you for an amazing first day of conference yesterday! Incredible presentations and tribute to Steve Haycox. What a wonderful turnout to learn about Alaska history.

10/09/2026

Thank you to those who attended our Wednesday opening reception at the Porcupine Theater! It was a lovely evening where we were welcomed to Homer by Representative Sarah Vance, Mayor Rachel Lord, and Director of the Kachemak Bay Campus Brian Partridge.

Thank you for the warm welcome, Homer.

10/09/2026

Phil Wight in his Festschrift presentation on “Myths and Materialism: Alaska’s Energetic Past and Fractious Future”. The Festschrift sessions all represent chapters of a book that will debut in the next few years honoring the work of Steve Haycox. The full recordings of each session will be available on our website within the month.