Anchorage Museum's Community Photo ID Project Hits 10-Year Mark at AFN Convention

Alaska Native Elders and community members collaborate with museum share knowledge of place

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA – This week, Anchorage Museum staff and volunteers are collaborating with Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) Convention delegates, attendees and visitors to identify people, places, landscape features or waterways, and elements of the built environment in historic photographs from the museum’s collection. The AFN Convention is the largest indigenous convention in the United States, with more than 6,000 Alaska Native people from across the state in attendance.

The project is part of the museum’s Community Photo Identification Project established in 2013 to collaborate with community members across Alaska in the stewardship of shared identity and culture. Since the project’s inception, thousands of photographs have been partially or completely identified by Alaska Native Elders and community members. Information shared through the project broadens the context and information of the records held at the museum, to present a more authentic narrative of place and people.

Each year, the museum receives thousands of photos with little or no identifying information accompanying them. Without the input from AFN Convention attendees – including many Alaska Native Elders from remote parts of the state – irreplaceable knowledge of place is at risk of being lost forever. For example, one Elder attending AFN several years ago was able to identify a photograph showing the original location of her village, which had been relocated decades earlier, adding to Alaska’s historical and environmental record.

In addition to collaborating on shared information, the project seeks to provide an opportunity for people to connect with the past, as well as other communities from across Alaska. Museum archives and collections staff attending AFN for the photo ID project often see people make connections with their own history, identifying family members, friends and even themselves in older photos.

Photo Identification at Alaska Federation of Natives Convention

The museum’s Community Photo Identification Project will be located at booth 182 inside the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center during AFN exhibition hall hours — Thursday, Oct. 19 through Saturday, Oct. 21. Previously, the Photo Identification Project has been recognized with an award from the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH)  and a History in Progress (HIP) Award.

The museum’s library and archives, with collections in history, ethnography, science and art of Alaska and the North, includes more than 750,000 photographs, 15,000 books, 800 rare books, 800 maps, auction catalogues, periodicals plus artist files for thousands of Northern artists.