Museum of the North, Fairbanks- August 9

We've got a couple days of touring on our own before we meet up with the tour group, so we visited the Museum of the North, on the University of Alaska campus.  I could spend days there! We stepped into the bookstore first and noticed the distinctive Russian influence in the Christmas ornaments, batik eggs and nesting dolls. I wondered about that until I read that a Russian expedition led by Vitus Bering was credited with discovering Alaska.  Once the settlements began, the Russian Orthodox church had a big influence.  Alaska was purchased by the United States in 1867 as a territory.

Seeing the Russian artifacts from the church, etc, was also very interesting because my sister-in-law, Barb, had given me a book called "Winter Garden" which I read on the plane.  In it, a woman tells of living under Stalin, her escape and the tragedy of her family told as a fairy tale to her children until the truth is revealed. So, as I read in the book about a samovar, it came to life by seeing one in the museum.

 At the entrance to the exhibits is an 8'9" brown bear nicknamed "Otto", weighing in at 1250 lbs and scored at 28 8/16 in Boone and Crockett.  He was taken back in 1950 at Herendeen Bay.  There was also a blue phase bear on display that was interesting and something I'll have to look up.

Back at the Lodge, Debbie Eberhardt had referred to the Native potlatch, and that they could take a moose out of season for that purpose, and according to the museum a potlatch is a social and ceremonial event to share a communal feast, and recount history.  It reminds me of the Hmong celebrations, where relatives come from all over the country to celebrate a wedding or death.  There was special display and videotape about the Japanese internment during WWII, called "Forced to Leave." I knew the Japanese in the lower 48 were rounded up but never realized what the impact was to Alaska, where many Japanese had married native women. This left the families facing winter without their head of household. Many died in internment. And if that wasn't bad enough, on June 7, 142 Japanese forces invaded Attu and took prisoners to work in Japan!

I'll bet you didn't know the U of Alaska has a rocket range?-- Poker Flat. Seriously.

There were some incredible women who helped to settle Alaska. One woman, Harriet Pullen, carried her sewing machine with her and sewed to make a living as she searched for her son who had gone off to make his fortune. She made three trips but never did find him.  Such famous names as Klondike Kate, Ethel Bush Berry and Sinrock Mary Antisarlock Changinak were part of the museum discussions.

We elected to pay for audio headsets and that was well worth the money because we could listen to additional information about the displays throughout the museum. I think I spent four hours there, and could easily have spent more.