Senate panel holds Alaska state seal redesign resolution

The Alaska Senate State Affairs Committee heard testimony Tuesday on a resolution to establish a commission that would evaluate redesigning the state's official seal, which has never undergone public vetting since its administrative adoption in 1913.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 11, sponsored by Senate President Gary Stevens, would create a commission of artists, designers, and historians to review whether Alaska's seal should be redesigned to better reflect modern Alaskan values and all of the state's people. The resolution calls for philanthropic funding to minimize state costs and would provide at least a year-long public process for community input.

The current seal, adopted administratively in 1913 when Alaska was still a territory, removed Alaska Native representation that appeared in earlier territorial seals and instead emphasizes industrial development. Stevens traced the seal's evolution through Alaska's history, noting how earlier versions depicted igloos, kayakers, forests, an aurora, and Native fur seal hunters.

"The earliest seals you'll see show things like igloos and kayakers and forests and actually an aurora and Native fur seal hunters," Stevens said. "But the original icons sort of disappeared as time passed. And what we see in the current seal that we have is things like smelters, mining smelters and hills with all the trees cut off and locomotive engines and cargo ships and horse-drawn wheat harvesters."

Stevens argued the seal should be reconsidered to represent contemporary Alaska. "Maybe it's time, I think, to have a more comprehensive seal that really casts a wider net, that captures a more modern emblem of Alaska and represents our values and all of the people of Alaska," he said.

Cordelia Kelly, testifying on behalf of the Alaska Humanities Forum, said the current seal raises questions about who it was designed to serve. She noted that unlike the state flag, which was chosen by schoolchildren, or the state bird, which 6,000 students voted on, the seal was never subject to public input.

"The only human that is present on the state seal is with the plow and horses, and is that really the best representation of Alaskans today?" Kelly said. She pointed out that the seal depicts an ore smelter that does not currently exist in the state and references commercial seal hunting contracts that have long since ended.

Kelly cited a 1911 article from Alaska Yukon Magazine that described the seal's rays of sun as representing "the dawn of the commercial and industrial era in Alaska." She asked whether Alaska is "a colony for America or are we at home."

Chad Hutchison, Director of State Relations for the University of Alaska, testified in support of having a seat on any commission that might be created, noting the university's expertise in indigenous studies, natural resource development, and workforce development.