If you don’t follow us on Facebook, you might not know about our annual staff portrait tradition. In past we’ve taken inspiration from pop culture (Star Trek, Scooby Doo, Holy Grail, Wizard of Oz) but for the past several years we’ve gone to our collections for inspiration. This year, in honor of our newly refurbished collections space, we found a photo of librarians working on the new APU Library in 1960. And so here we are!
Archives 2024 staff portrait
In case you’re wondering why we have a smiley face in lieu of the 5th librarian, well, that’s because we’re currently in the process of hiring an archival tech for a 3 year position and wanted to make sure our portrait included that person, even if in absentia. Thanks again, as always, to Kevin Tripp of AMIPA for being our able and patient photographer and director.
Also if you’re interested in finding us on Facebook and following us there, you can find us there by searching Archives & Special Collections, UAA/APU Consortium Library.
Now available
Additional description added to the Iris V. and James W. Cunningham scrapbook; 1942-1945. HMC-0911.
Additions added to the Alaska cocktail napkin collection; circa 1941-1945. EPH-0523
HMC 1482: Randall Renner papers; 1971 April. 0.01 cubic feet. Negatives and proof sheets of an Alaska Mountain Rescue Group search for Dr. Grace Hoeman and Hans van der Laan in an avalanche on Eklutna Glacier.
EPH-0585: Alaska Chapter, Sierra Club newsletters; 1968 October-1969 May. 0.01 cubic feet.
EPH-0586: Common Sense for Alaska newsletters; 1994-1996. 0.01 cubic feet.
EPH-0587: Juneau Empire 20th Anniversary Permanent Fund edition; 1997 February 25. 0.05 cubic feet.
New online
Subject guide to collections with materials on Anchorage Community Councils.
Events
We participated in UAA’s STEM Day on Saturday, November 2. Approximately 1,000 community members attended this event. At our table we displayed a huge chart of the results of the Anchorage Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count results and asked people to tell us what they saw in the data. But the more popular activity, dreamed up by Gwen, was to teach about how acidity affects paper preservation. We had participants test various kinds of papers for acid content with a pH testing pencil. (No archival documents were harmed in this project: only materials headed for the recycling bin, we promise.) STEM Day is a great opportunity for us to highlight how archival materials can be used in a variety of different disciplines, and it’s always great to see all the kids and adults excited about STEM activities.