It was a busy end to the year; things are still happening in the Archives even as students leave campus. Arlene used the holiday break to label all our brand new shelves. If you notice increased speed in our retrieval of items for you, it’s thanks to her hard work! Gwen spent some quality time with our new collections from the Alaska Historical Society, including reviewing the papers of nurse Mary Louise Peters for protected health information. It’s important to balance access to information and patient privacy in the Archives. Gwen scanned the original documents and redacted identifying patient information from the digital copies. We keep the originals intact but ask researchers to use the digital copies instead of the paper. It takes a LOT of time to do this work, but it makes items accessible that otherwise might have to be completely restricted. Becky continued working on the Helen D. Nienhueser papers — most of the ephemera described this month come from her collection!
Newly described:
EPH-0588: Boreal: The Alaska BioRegional Journal newsletter; 1990-1991. 0.01 cubic feet.
EPH-0589: Southeast Alaska Conservation Council Chilkat eagle poster; 1979. 0.1 cubic feet.
Additions to EPH-0006: Alaska Conservation Foundation records; 1980-2009. 0.25 cubic feet.
EPH-0590: State of Alaska. Department of Natural Resources. Division of Parks trail brochures; circa 1974. 0.01 cubic feet.
EPH-0591: Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship “Our Children’s Religious Education Program”; circa 1966-1967. 0.01 cubic feet.
EPH-0592: Anchorage Convention and Visitors Bureau visitors guide; 1986. 0.01 cubic feet.
EPH-0593: Valdez Convention and Visitors Bureau visitors guide; 2012. 0.01 cubic feet.
EPH-0594: Alaska League of Women Voters Alaska Voter newsletter; 1975 March. 0.01 cubic feet.
EPH-0595: Alaska Statehood Silver Anniversary Ball program; 1953 January 3. 0.01 cubic feet.
EPH-0596: Chugach State Park Ad Hoc Committee “Chugach State Park: A Proposal”; circa 1969. 0.01 cubic feet.
EPH-0597: Midtown Park and Trail Committee “Does Midtown Need More of This or This?” brochure; circa 1998. 0.01 cubic feet.
HMC-1476: Helen D. Nienhueser papers; 1960-2023. 20.5 cubic feet and 163 MB. Papers of a land use planner, political activist, and author of 55 Ways to the Wilderness in Southcentral Alaska.
HMC-1481-AHS: Gibbs family letters; 1941-1942. 0.2 cubic feet. Letters to family members from a woman and her teenage daughter living in Ketchikan.
HMC-1483-AHS: Marie Louise Peters papers; 1933-2002. 2.0 cubic feet. Papers and scrapbooks of a Regional Nursing Administrator with the Alaska Department of Health.
Classes & events:
Becky visited a history class this month with a selection of rare books. Students got to handle 16th-century books (with clean, dry hands), and it was a great opportunity to discuss books as primary sources and artifacts.