Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution
Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  July 30, 1999
For more information contact:
Arctic Studies Center Director, Dr. Aron Crowell (907) 343-6162
E-mail: [log in to unmask] or the Alutiiq Museum (907) 486-7004

“LOOKING BOTH WAYS” EXHIBITION AWARDED MAJOR GRANT

The National Endowment for the Humanities this week awarded $252,555 to
the Alutiiq Heritage Foundation to support “Looking Both Ways: Heritage
and Identity of the Alutiiq People.”  This community-based exhibition
project is co-developed by the Arctic Studies Center (Smithsonian
Institution) in Anchorage and the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak.

Receipt of the grant was announced Friday by Ruth Dawson, Chair of the
Alutiiq Heritage Foundation, and by Dr. Aron L. Crowell, director of the
Arctic Studies Center’s Alaska office.  Dawson expressed pride upon
receiving the award, “This exhibit is a celebration of our Nativeness,
our Alutiiq heritage, from Prince William Sound to Kodiak Island to the
Alaska Peninsula.  Our culture should be treasured, not shamefully
hidden away as many of us were taught in schools when we were children.”

The Arctic Studies Center has taken the lead role in planning, research,
organization, and fundraising for the project as part of a broader
effort to enhance access in Alaska to Smithsonian collections and
resources.  According to Crowell, “We’re excited to be working with a
project that brings in such broad-based community knowledge and
participation.”

The exhibition will include museum collections in Kodiak and from the
National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.  Unique clothing,
masks, tools, artifacts, historic photographs, contemporary art and the
perspectives of Alutiiq elders and community members will be featured in
the exhibition.  “Looking Both Ways” opens in Kodiak on May 13, 2000 and
then begins a two-year tour that includes Anchorage, Fairbanks, Homer,
New York City, and Washington D.C.

Educational programs, a CD-ROM, and an exhibit catalog on the Alutiiq
people of south coastal Alaska, featuring prehistoric and contemporary
materials will be produced to accompany the exhibition.  The catalog
will be published by the University of Alaska Press and edited by
Crowell, Amy Steffian, Deputy Director/Curator of the Alutiiq Museum,
and Dr. Gordon Pullar with the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Additional funds totaling $43,000 have been awarded to the Arctic
Studies Center for construction of the exhibition by Koniag, Inc., the
Alaska Humanities Forum, ARCO Foundation, and the National Bank of
Alaska.  “Looking Both Ways” is being designed by Tina Lynch and
constructed at the Smithsonian Office of Exhibits Central.  The
Anchorage Museum of History and Art will contribute to coordination of
the Alaska tour.
***
“Looking Both Ways” is the culmination of three years of planning.
Support during the exhibition’s research and planning phase was provided
by major planning grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities
and the Smithsonian Special Exhibitions Fund.

During this planning phase, the Arctic Studies Center and the Alutiiq
Museum organized a region-wide elder’s conference in 1997 and 1998.
Elders and cultural leaders from Alutiiq communities shared knowledge
about objects and photographs, commented on themes and organization, and
provided insights into subsistence practices, language and cultural
beliefs.  The Elder’s Conference was made possible by the support of the
Alaska Humanities Forum, Koniag, Inc., Afognak Native Corporation,
Bristol Bay Native Corporation, ARCO Foundation, Bristol Bay Native
Association, First National Bank of Anchorage, Era Aviation, National
Park Service, Alaska Development Corporation, Native Village of
Perryville, Chignik Bay Village Council, Chugachmiut, and Far West
Corporation.

The title of the exhibition refers to the philosophy expressed by
Alutiiq elder Sven Haakanson of Old Harbor, Kodiak Island, “You’ve got
to look back and find out the past, and then you look forward.”  Alutiiq
history, extending back more than 7500 years, includes Russian conquest
in the late 1700s, American rule after 1867 and the loss of 80% of the
population during a epidemics of smallpox, influenza and other
introduced diseases.  In more recent history, suppression of the Alutiiq
language in U. S. government schools, and disasters including the Katmai
eruption in 1912, the 1964 earthquake, and the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil
spill have affected Alutiiq communities.   While elders acknowledge that
much has been lost, a cultural renaissance is evident in the wide
variety of programs in archaeology, traditional arts, language, and oral
history that are run by the Alutiiq Museum, Afognak Native Corporation,
Kodiak Area Native Association, Chugach Heritage Foundation and many
other organizations.  All are designed to promote cultural knowledge and
awareness among future generations.  The exhibition itself, including
its catalog and educational outreach program, is viewed as part of this
process of looking forward in order to pass on a rich and unique
heritage.

###

--
Christine R. Marasigan, Programs Manager
Alutiiq Museum & Archaeological Repository
215 Mission Road, Suite 101
Kodiak, Alaska 99615
voice:  (907) 486-7004
fax:  (907) 486-7048
e-mail:  [log in to unmask]

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