by J. Pennelope Goforth
Barbara Sweetland Smith joins the
honored inductees of the Alaska Women’s
Hall of Fame Class of 2014 (http://alaskawomenshalloffame.org/).
The Induction Ceremony will be held Friday, February 28, at Wilda Marston
Theatre at Loussac Library in Anchorage. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., program
starts at 6:00 p.m., and light snacks will be served.
Last year the Alaska Historical
Society passed a resolution nominating Barbara Sweetland Smith, to the Alaska
Women’s Hall of Fame for her life-long work in preserving Alaska’s Russian
history and culture. As a member and consultant she served in many
groundbreaking capacities for the society, among them initiating the respected Alaska History journal. A friend to all
researchers and historians, she spent many years preserving early Russian
iconography residing in the state’s Russian Orthodox chapels and cathedrals. Her
expertise and dedication helped make possible the restoration and preservation
of rare icons and historic Russian Orthodox churches in the Aleutian and
Pribilof islands damaged during World War II. Among other things, Smith was
instrumental in securing major funding to conserve, catalog and restore icons
of the Holy Ascension Church in Unalaska, perhaps the largest single collection
of pre-20th century art in Alaska.
Smith also curated major
exhibitions for the Anchorage Museum of History and Art: “Russian America: the
Forgotten Frontier,” “Heaven on Earth: Orthodox Treasures of Siberia and North
America,” and “Science Under Sail: Russia’s Great Voyages to America
1728-1867.” These popular, world-class exhibits, some of which traveled the
country, portrayed how the Russian presence has shaped Alaska’s history and
cultures. She was also active in advocating for private, state and federal
funding and support for archives, historical programs, and museums.
As a quiet but tireless
humanitarian, Barbara served as president of the Anchorage Fellowship in
Serving Humanity (FISH) for 28 years, working with the Food Bank of Alaska to
provide food pantries for those in need. She also served as a board member and
President of Soroptimists International of Anchorage, a group dedicated to
improving the lives of women and girls locally and around the world, and as a
board member of the national archives of the Episcopal Church.
She passed away last year,
mourned by the many who knew her, and those who were touched by her long legacy
of scholarship. Read her biography at http://alaskawomenshalloffame.org/2014/01/26/barbara-sweetland-smith/
The Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame
was initiated in 2008 by the Alaska Women’s Network and joined by several other
women’s groups as part of the upcoming celebration of Alaska’s fifty years of
statehood. This collaboration of the Anchorage YWCA, Zonta Club of Anchorage, Alaska
Women’s Political Caucus, Anchorage YWCA, University of Alaska Anchorage, and Anchorage
Commission on Women crafted the foundation. March was chosen as the annual date
of the induction to coincide with Women’s History Month. Nominations were
solicited from across the state.
On March 6, 2009, the website,
which hosts the biographies of the honorees, premiered with 50 women inducted
in to the Class of 2009. Among them historians, writers, community activists,
Native leaders, dog mushers, lawyers, journalists, politicians, and educators. Their
activities touched the lives of all Alaskans. In their various roles they
helped to create the unique state we live in.
Political
activist Evangeline Atwood, third-generation Alaskan born 1910, led the
struggle for Alaska statehood.
Civil rights
activist Elizabeth Peratrovich, born 1911, worked tirelessly to pass
Alaska’s Anti-Discrimination Act in 1945, the first such law in the nation.
Historian and
anthropologist Dr. Lydia Black, born in 1925 in Stalinist Russia, whose
research and many popular books restored to Alaskan peoples important features
of their history and culture.
Yu’pik
traditional healer Rita Blumenstein, born on a fishing boat in 1936, is also a
member of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers.
Philanthropist
Mary Louis Rasmuson, born 1911, founded the Anchorage Museum of History
and Art.
Four-term
Alaska State Representative and historian Thelma Bucholdt, born 1934, was
expert on Alaskan/Filipino History writing Filipinos
in Alaska: 1788-1958 and produced a documentary film on the topic.
You can read all the their
inspiring biographies, along with those of all the inductees since at: http://alaskawomenshalloffame.org/alphabetical-list/
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