Releases

2011 News Releases

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Wyman watercolors return to Anaktuvuk Pass (November 28, 2011)
Reproductions of paintings created during a 1950s retreat to the Brooks Range have been donated to the community of Anaktuvuk Pass.

Museum completes Russian blockhouse preservation (October 28, 2011)
An 1841 Russian blockhouse is again sitting tall on the grounds of the University of Alaska Museum of the North.

Noatak prehistoric site contains new artifacts for Alaska (September 7, 2011)
Archaeologist Scott Shirar expected to find boulders adorned with petroglyphs during his expedition to Northwest Alaska’s Noatak National Preserve this summer. When he and members of his team began small-scale excavations at two of the sites, they made a new discovery: four decorated clay disks that appear to be the first of their kind found in Alaska.

Low tide reveals rare reptile fossil find (July 26, 2011)
Sometimes finding a fossil is as easy as a walk on the beach. That’s what happened in May when a member of a geological team working in Southeast Alaska chanced upon a marine reptile fossil during an extremely low tide.

Exhibit examines balance of power and energy in Alaska (May 5, 2011)
Early humans relied only on the power generated by their own bodies: energy in the form of food. Then they discovered fire. Suddenly, our ancestors were able to access the energy stored over decades, not just days or months, and transform it into heat and light. That was the beginning of the balancing act humans play between the need for power and the forms of available energy.

Science fair projects supported by musuem collection (April 12, 2011)
After Marlene Bond watched the movie An Inconvenient Truth, the 13-year-old grew curios about the phenomena of global warming. She learned that scientists in Alaska are measuring melting glaciers, thawing permafrost, and the migration of shrubs north into the tundra, but she wanted to know more.

Former PBS host shares grandfather's Point Hope legacy (March 4, 2011)
A recent donation to the University of Alaska Museum of the North’s ethnology collection chronicles a family’s connection to the village of Point Hope back to the early part of last century. The items come from the personal collection of Steve Thomas, the former host of PBS’ “This Old House.”

Museum Filmmaker debuts new work in New York (February 11, 2011)
Leonard Kamerling wanted to make a film with the composer John Luther Adams, but nothing stuck. Then a musician who had already performed "Strange and Sacred Noise" outdoors wondered what it would be like to return to the scene of the glaciers, rivers and mountains that inspired it.

The world of coffee comes to the museum (January 12, 2011)
More than a thousand years have passed since people started drinking a brew made from the beans of the coffee tree. A new exhibit at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, Coffee: The World in Your Cup, explores the web of stories connected to every cup of coffee we drink.

Museum features beloved photographer's work (January 4, 2011)
When Barry McWayne died in the summer of 2010, just a few years after retiring from his position as fine art curator at the museum, he left behind a treasure trove of photographs. Some of them are now featured in the Rose Berry Alaska Art Gallery.

In the Media

Historic Russian blockhouse nears end of restoration (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Oct. 2011)

Assignment Alaska: Noatak Discovery (KTUU, Sept. 2011)

New testing puts dinosaurs at a much earlier period (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Dec. 2010)

A lively volcano (The World, August 14, 2009)

Song of the Earth (The New Yorker, May 12, 2008)

Project Portfolio: Museum of the North (Architectural Record, January 2007)

In Tune With the Voices of the Midnight Sun (Associated Press, August 2006)

New monkey genus is first in 83 years (Scientific American, May 2006)

Using an Iceberg to tell the Colorful Tales of Alaska (New York Times, March 2006)