Museums Alaska Theme: Reflection and Renewal

Keynote Speaker: Bernice Joseph
Executive Dean of the College of Rural and Community Development
Vice Chancellor for Rural, Community and Native Education
University of Alaska Fairbanks

Alaska Historical Society Theme: Energizing Alaska

Keynote Speaker: John R. Bockstoce
Arctic historian and archaeologist
Former Curator of Ethnology at the New Bedford Whaling Museum

Opening reception at the University of Alaska Museum of the North
Wednesday, September 15 6-8pm

** DRAFT SCHEDULE (.pdf)**
** MUSEUMS ALASKA SESSION ABSTRACTS (.pdf) **
** Alaska Historical Society Abstracts (.pdf) **
Conference Activities

Reflection and Renewal:

Looking across vast expanses under an endless sky, Fairbanks, the Golden Heart City of Interior Alaska, naturally encourages introspection and reflection. Every fall, as the landscape turns red and golden and we light our stoves against the deep cold of winter, we reflect on seasons past and begin to turn our thoughts toward renewal during the upcoming year. Attendees at the Museums Alaska 2010 conference will have the opportunity to meet and work with colleagues on important issues that face all museum, cultural center and historical society staff in our current challenging times. Sessions will examine topics applicable to daily concerns of institutional management, cultural and historic preservation, and community and cultural renewal. Conference sessions are designed to meet attendee’s needs through time to connect, time to work and time to think.

Energizing Alaska:

As a frontier state that is rich in natural resources and experiences some of the most extreme environmental and climatic conditions in the world, Alaska has always had a unique relationship with energy. Some connections are obvious: Prudhoe Bay, the pipeline, the proposed Rampart Dam, the Amchitka underground nuclear blasts, and the development of infrastructure to bring heat and power to communities off the road network. Several key elements in the long history of Alaska’s indigenous peoples—subterranean housing, subsistence hunting and fishing, and the keeping of dog teams for examples—have depended on achieving that fragile balance between energy consumption and conservation. We also refer to industries that “fuel” the Alaska economy, as well as people who have been the “sparkplugs” behind significant events. There are volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, wildfires, and other natural releases of energy, of course, that have shaped the Alaskan landscape. The meeting is an opportunity for historians, interested individuals, and researchers in other fields to examine the role of energy in its numerous and diverse forms, in Alaska’s past, present and future.

GETTING THERE

Alaska Airlines is pleased to offer Museums Alaska attendees the following discounts:
7% discount off any published fare (excluding Hot Deals) to Fairbanks, Alaska, from any intra-Alaska or lower-48, Alaska Airlines / Horizon Air flight to/from Fairbanks.
VALID TRAVEL DATES: September 12 to 22, 2010

HOW TO BOOK:
To take advantage of these discounts online at www.alaskaair.com, simply use e-certificate code ECCTA0069 in the Flights Quick Search box.

Or call the Alaska Airlines Group and Meetings Desk at 1-800-445-4435, or your travel agent and reference ID number CTA0069. There is no booking fee when booking on AlaskaAir.com, however, a $15.00 ticketing fee will apply for bookings made by calling into the Group Desk.

Driving
Miles from Anchorage:        359 (~6 hours, Parks Highway)
Miles from Homer:               579 (~10 hours)
Miles from Valdez:                363 (~8 hours)
Miles from Tok:                     202 (~3.5 hours)
Miles from Eagle:                 369 (~8.5 hours)
Miles from Central:              122 (~3 hours)
Miles from Palmer:               329 (~8 hours)
Miles from Copper Center:   259 (~6 hours)

Hotel
Wedgewood Resort (http://www.fountainheadhotels.com/wedgewood/wedgewood.htm)
125 rooms, special group rate held until August 1
$70 single or double-occupancy (1 bedroom deluxe suite with full kitchen)
• add $10 per person up to four
• rate does not include local bed tax (currently 8%)
• rates apply between September 14-19, 2010
• reservations made after August 1 will be made on a space-available basis
• elevators are not available for accessing second-floor suites; if you require a ground-floor room, please request this when you make your reservation.

NOTE: Contact the Wedgewood Resort directly at (907) 452-1442 or (800) 528-4916 and book under the Group Code: MUSEUM1.

Are you interested in helping to sponsor the 2010 Joint Annual Conference? Please contact Bridget Burke, Fundraising Committee Chair, at bjburke@alaska.edu or 907-474-6593.

 

REGISTRATION: Click here to register for the 2010 Conference online.

Keep up to date!
www.ma-ahs.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com (search for Museums Alaska / Alaska Historical Society Joint Annual Conference group)

Things to do in Fairbanks:
Museums and Cultural Centers:
Fairbanks Community Museum
Fairbanks Ice Museum
Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum
Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center
Pioneer Park
    •    Alaska Native Museum
    •    Kitty Hensley House
    •    Pioneer Air Museum
    •    Pioneer Museum
    •    Riverboat Nenana
    •    Tanana Valley Railroad Museum
    •    Wickersham House
University of Alaska Museum of the North

Nature and Wildlife Viewing
Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge
Large Animal Research Station at UAF
Georgeson Botanical Garden at UAF

Your resource for all other things in Fairbanks:
Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau