The Anchorage (yes another) Museum

Thursday, June 4, 2009 – Day 35

Janet talked us back into the Alaskan Native Heritage Center without having to pay a second time.  She explained that we had been there yesterday but had to leave without seeing all of the exhibits.  We were soon on the grounds visiting the rest of the village sites.  We were glad we did. The Tlingit/Haida house was great. Two massive spruce beams support the wood plank roof and the smell of the cedar roof and wall planks permeates the air.  The young interpreters told us how the warlike Tlingit would take slaves from other clans and how they guarded and protected their fishing and hunting territory.  This is the area where the central totem is located as the Tlingit/Haida were probably the most artistic and talented of all the cultures in Alaska. 

We continued on to the Aleut dwelling where an elder was describing how he as a young child killed a polar bear.  You can understand how the oral traditions were handed down from generation to generation as this elder spoke of his parents and grandparents and the storied just kept coming.  By the same token you can also understand how stories told over time would become embellished, distorted or perhaps forgotten.

The next stop was the Anchorage Museum.  The museum is undergoing some major renovations to its exhibition halls and was difficult to navigate. However we did find our way to the travelling exhibition GOLD.  The exhibit is on loan from the American Museum of Natural History.  The area is well secured and no photography is allowed in this exhibit.  It traces gold from its raw forms to finished jewellery and ornaments and from the earliest times to the present where it is used in some computer circuit boards.  It is the only metal that will not corrode or tarnish. A small piece can be made into a very large thin foil, yet gold is heavier than lead. 

At $ 993.20 US per Troy ounce (the price of gold today) Jerry is worth $2,752,041 while Janet is worth $2,694,104.  Now this is only based on the gold standard and weight without any further commentary.

The second floor exhibit traces Alaskan history from prehistoric time to the present.  It includes a very good display of the Alaska pipeline and the many difficulties it encountered from conception to completion to bring oil to the population of North America. The remainder of the second floor is being renovated and is supposed to make the museum even better next year.  A definite Gem to see.