By Susannah Dowds
stdowds@alaska.edu
Note: The exhibit “Mapping Alaska” is now on
display in the Ted Stevens Gallery at the Rasmuson Library, University of
Alaska Fairbanks.
The story of this exhibit
starts with a pair of shoes. Last April, toward the end of the semester I came
home after an exhausting day to find that my roommate's new dog had gone up to
my room and chewed:
1. The pump to my air
mattress
2. A pair of gloves
3. Worst of all one just
one of my Sacha London black stilettos. I found a little gold buckle in the
living room, and various pieces of black satin in a trail to the kitchen.
My first thought was that
this dog needed to go to the pound—but my second thought was:
“Oh thank goodness he
didn't touch my Xtra tuffs.”
This was the story that I
told people back home in Haines, and more often than not it got a laugh; but
the tale of the mangled stiletto also demonstrates how important it is to have
the right footwear in Alaska. Fishermen in southeast put on a pair of Xtra
tuffs, while workers in the interior have depended on bunny boots and even here
on campus when the thermometer reads 20 below students cannot walk around in
anything less insulated than snow boots. Without coats and boots and hats and
gloves the Alaska elements could be life threatening. Climate shapes daily life
in Alaska, and regardless of maps or GPS, each Alaskan has an intimate
relationship with the weather outside.
While most people
associate Alaska with harsh weather, for several years after statehood
Americans both in Alaska and the lower 48 had difficulty understanding how
Alaska fit within the geographic context of the rest of the United States.
After all, at the nearest point Alaska is 500 miles removed from the contiguous
states and 1/5 the size of the rest of America.
After Alaska attained
statehood in 1958, cartographers struggled with this new northern state,
ultimately deciding to place Alaska in an insert south of California. A 1958
title in the New York Times read “Alaska as State no Map Problem,” with the
subtitle “Cartographers Aim to Keep it an Inset Off West Coast, but with New
Coloring.” The article continued, correctly supposing that Hawaii would join
Alaska in a box the following year.
 |
| USGS Map US10A, 1975, USGS |
Maps of the United States
included the detached 49th and 50th states until 1975 when Senator Ted Stevens
spearheaded an effort to create the first USGS map displaying an accurately
proportioned Alaska in the Arctic Circle and Hawaii in the Central Pacific.
Following the release of the USGS map US10A, the office of Senator Stevens sent
copies to every school in Alaska. Teachers across the state responded with
requests for duplicates so that students would understand Alaska’s location
within the United States.
Of course, modern maps of
the United States still commonly show Alaska and Hawaii in various disembodied
boxes and misunderstandings about Alaska’s location still exist. In 1975, a
fifth grade student from Massachusetts made a bet with her friend that Alaska
had a capital city, her friend did not think so. To settle the matter she wrote
to the office of Senator Ted Stevens who verified that Alaska did indeed have a
capital city, through some Alaskans were campaigning to move it from Juneau to
elsewhere. Vicki from Massachusetts won the wager. The debate about Alaska’s
capital continues today, but more recently, the Alaska Geographic Alliance is
agitating for an alternative map of the United States with Alaska in the
forefront and the contiguous states in a box.
 |
"Mobile office of Sen
Ted Stevens" in front
of Bridal Veil Falls, Valdez. Photo from
Ted Stevens
Papers Collection.
|
An accurately proportioned
map can easily communicate the position and size of a state, and some
geographic features like mountains, coastline and rivers. But another aspect of
Alaska that often is overlooked is geographic diversity. Much to the chagrin of
Texas, Alaska is known for being the largest state in the union, but it is hard
to explain that Fairbanks is different from Dutch Harbor, which is much
different from Barrow, which is much different from Seward.
Subsequently in this
exhibit I wanted to communicate geographic diversity. I felt so lucky to be
able to work with the very enthusiastic and talented Angie Schmidt at the
Alaska film archives who put together a collection of film clips that show
various maps of Alaska in addition to clips of Alaska scenery. In a campus full
of students from various parts of the state I hope that those who walk through
the gallery will be able to recognize something from home.
I also wanted to
communicate regional differences through photography. Last summer and this fall
I asked Alaska youth pre-K through high school to submit photos showing what
their area looked like. I was fortunate to be able to travel to schools in
Gustavus and Haines to do a quick geography and photography lesson before we
sent the kids out with cameras. In all we had about 50 photo entries from
schools in southeast and south central and 10 were selected for the display. I
hope to visit more schools as the year continues so that the gallery can rotate
photos throughout the school year.
 |
Paraeuchaeta barbata is a copepod or a small crustacean
found in the water column of the Beaufort Sea. Photo by
R. Hopcroft |
Geographic familiarity
also extends to the university level, and Alaska is full of undiscovered
research possibilities, modern technology, GPS especially, has revolutionized
how we chart remote areas. I talked to a couple of scientists at University of
Alaska Fairbanks who send me some pretty spectacular photographs of their research.
One came from Dr. Chris Larsen who monitors over 150 glaciers across Alaska and
another came from Caitlin Smoot, a fellow graduate student who is working with
Dr. Russell Hopcroft to investigate marine life in the Beaufort Sea.
When I was writing up the
labels about both research projects, I learned a lot more about the sciences
than I would have otherwise, yet learning outside of my comfort zone is my
favorite thing about museum work. To put together an exhibit or a program
museum professionals are constantly learning. In addition to my graduate course
work in Alaska history I have also learned about geodesy, the benthic zone and
DGPS.
Of course the research
mentioned above uses highly specialized GPS applications, but in reality really
we use GPS every day. One popular GPS recreation activity is geocaching.
Essentially geocaching is a treasure hunt where individuals hide caches and
then register the latitude and longitude online so that fellow seekers can find
the location. Visitors to the cache write their name in the logbook and maybe
exchange a couple of trinkets. A search for a geocache is like a mini adventure
with an updated compass and a digital treasure map.
While familiar landmarks
remain guiding features, maps and new technology are changing how we view our
surroundings. Photographs and film can instantly remind someone of home while
GPS readings can pinpoint glacial changes and geocaches. But whether you travel
by plane, by boat or by car—in Alaska, it’s always advisable to bring the right
pair of shoes.
The Elmer E. Rasmuson
Library Oral History Program and the Institute of Arctic Biology at the
University of Alaska Fairbanks are pleased to announce the completion of the
Dangerous Ice Research Project. With funding from the National Science
Foundation, this research brought scientists and local experienced river
travelers together to investigate ice conditions on the Tanana River in
Interior Alaska.
