Alaska State Archives wins $220,146 to index statehood records

The Alaska State Archives has $220,146 and two years to make its statehood records findable. Most of them will still be paper in Juneau when it is done.

The federal grant covers archival processing, fuller catalog descriptions, transcription and digitization limited to audiovisual material. The main product is a single online guide to statehood-related records now spread across multiple record groups, so a researcher can learn what exists and where it sits without already knowing which group to ask for. Staff will also write four lesson plans for grades 9 through 12 from the newly described material.

The records are not idle. Legislators pulled from the Alaska Constitutional Convention proceedings this year during the fight over Senate Joint Resolution 29, the proposed constitutional amendment creating a dedicated education fund. Rep. Neal Foster told the House Finance Committee on April 28 that he had been reading the convention minutes, and that the framers rejected dedicating revenue to specific purposes.

The National Endowment for the Humanities made the award through a program marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The archives was one of 33 recipients chosen from 103 applicants. The project centers on Alaska's constitutional development and self-determination, with archivist Leah Hainebach as project manager.