TO: Assignment and Features Editors
FROM: College of Liberal Arts, Department of History
EVENT: Alaska Living History Series
Author Jean Potter "The Flying North"
DATE, TIME: Monday, April 29 - Wednesday, May 1, 1996
PLACE: UAF Main Campus
Jean Potter Chelnov, the 81-year-old author of the 1940s book on bush pilots called "The Flying North," will be a guest of UAF's Alaska Living History Series.
According to UAF history professor Terrence Cole, Chelnov spent about a year and a half writing the manuscript for "The Flying North" in a UAF Eielson Building office supplied by the university's founding president Charles Bunnell. Chelnov hasn't been back to Fairbanks since she wrote the book 50 years ago. She came to Alaska on a research assignment with Fortune Magazine at a time when the publication refused to allow women writers on its staff. She left Fortune to become a book author. Coincidentally while in Fairbanks, she met "Maltese Falcon" author Dashiell Hammell, who was stationed in the U.S. Army at the time.
"Jean Potter's 'The Flying North' is still the best overall account of the history of Alaska aviation," said Cole. The book provides a first-hand account of the experiences of some of Alaska's most famous pilots, including Noel Wien and Bob Reeve.
Schedule for Jean Potter Chelnov:
Monday, April 29
10:20 - 11:20 a.m. History of the U.S., 408 Gruening
12 - 1:30 p.m. Luncheon, Wood Center Conference Room
Tuesday, April 30
10 - 11 a.m. Advanced News Gathering, 122 Bunnell
Wednesday, May 1
11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. Book Signing, UAF Bookstore
6 - 7 p.m. History of Alaska, 301 Gruening
CONTACT: UAF History Department Chair Terrence Cole, 907) 474-7126,
or UAF Public Information Officer Debra Damron, (907) 474-7581.
DPD/4-26-96/96-71med.adv.