Smithsonian Loan Brings Alaska Native Treasures Home

A major new exhibition opened at the Anchorage Museum on May 22, 2010 featuring 600 Alaska Native objects loaned from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and National Museum of Natural History.

 The exhibition titled “Living Our Cultures: Sharing Our Heritage” brings back to Alaska objects which were collected from Native communities as long as 160 years by Smithsonian anthropologists and others. Since then they have been stored more than 3,000 miles away, making them inaccessible to the peoples who created them.

The Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center of the Natural History museum curated the exhibition in Anchorage with Native elders from across the state. The loan will last seven years.

But if the scale of this exhibition is epic, it is also human. Some of the first visitors talked about their impressions.

Andrew Abyo, a 40-year-old Alutiiq carver who teaches Native arts in Anchorage schools, stood in front of a Sugpiaq wood mask he’d only seen in books. Fifty one centimeters tall, and three dimensional with marks left by the carver still evident, the mask was collected in1884 from a village on the Alaska Peninsula. Shaking his head, he said, “It was so flat and small in the book.”

His wife Melinda was moved to tears when she saw a century old woman’s beaded headdress which she copied from a book.

Abyo, whose work is in museums in Alaska, Japan and Ireland, is known for carving visors, but wants to make more of the tools of his ancestor’s everyday life like bows and fishing gear. But the skill that it takes to make tools that are functional as well as beautiful takes in depth study with the ancestors.

“As many accomplished artists as there are today, these are the works of the masters,” Abyo said. “They didn’t have our technologies, but we don’t know all of their technologies either. We can’t fathom how they did some of this.”

Another visitor, Darline Kygar, of San Diego, California, happened to visit the museum on the first day the exhibition was open to the public. She admired the intricate stitching in the clothing and the diversity of the many Native cultures from Alaska. 

Kygar said, “I really had my eyes opened.” 

Comments

[Laura H]

This is what should be done with all the treasures that are stored away and never displayed. We are discovering more and more that our ancestors from times past were much smarter that we have given them credit.

[mike]

This is a real nice museum

[Susan Martin]

As for me, it's very important for people to be aware of their culture. Though, unfortunately, most of young people are ignorant in history of their native land or even of the state they live in. They don't attend museums and it seems to be absolutely not interesting for them as they would rather find all the necessary information via Internet.

[Mike P]

It is great to see an exhibition of this magnitude based on cultural recognition. 160 years is a lengthy time to collect pieces, the vast quantity of different Alaskan cultural objects must be mesmerizing to see in person. A 7-year-loan is a long time for people to be able to experience and try to understand the deep and exciting roots of the Alaskan heritage. I hope to be able to view this exhibition soon.

This is excellent for preserving the Alaskan culture for future generations.This must be done for more cultures all over the world.

[Matthew]

This sounds like an amazing exhibit. It's a great opportunity for Alaskans to have this kind of exhibit made available to them. Can't wait to see it next time i'm in Anchorage.

[roffe]

thanks for a good blog.. great that the alaska treasures are coming home!

[10DollarMall]

Kids clothing can look great and make the child feel good too. Thanks and fine luck. ;)

[Mike from Debt Advice]

This is an amazing museum and great culture preservation

[Paul]

I love fishing and it's good to see artists like Abyo wanting to recreate the fishing tools of his ancestors.

Paul

I went to the smithsonian last sping, and found it to be rather insightful. I loved it, amazing thread.