SEALASKA INTERN SPOTLIGHT: Archives Interns Take You on a Tour of William L. Paul Sr. Archives at Sealaska Heritage Institute.
By: Alicia Duncan, Breylan Martin and Miranda Worl, 2019 Archives Interns, Sealaska Heritage Institute

William L. Paul Sr. Archives
Hello from the William L. Paul Sr. Archives at Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI). Today we’d like to give you all a quick tour to show what resources are open to anyone interested! The Walter Soboleff Building houses nearly all of SHI’s operations, including the care and management of both SHI and Sealaska collection items, as well as the management and showcase of these items on exhibition in our exhibit gallery.

The Exhibit
Sealaska Heritage rotates through exhibits every few months. Currently on display is a Nathan Jackson exhibition featuring both the early and later works of the master artist. Located on the other side is “Our Grandparents’ Names on the Land,” including three different educational sections on halibut hooks, salmon people, and a Southeast Alaska Native place-names map with interactive features.

The Archives

Art and Ethnographic Collections
The Art and Ethnographic Collections housed at SHI include both exemplary historical objects and contemporary art by modern Alaska Native artists. For our larger tunics, button blankets and Chilkat robes, we have flat storage. This ensures that the beading is flat, and no material is creased. Housing them like this ensures their preservation as well as allowing them to be safely accessible to anyone looking at them.

Basketry
We have a vast collection of basketry. These are popular items for researchers, and we often have weavers coming in to look at them to study a wide range of styles.
Our artwork is ever evolving and adapting to new methods of creation

These decorative paddles showcase some of the older items as well as modern examples of artistry that we house. Our artwork is ever evolving and adapting to new methods of creation and we are proud to have a wide range of styles in our collections.

We hope you enjoyed our tour! If you are interested in either donating items or completing research, academic or personal, contact the institute’s archivist at SHIArchives@sealaska.com. You may also visit the Culture and History Department’s webpage at sealaskaheritage.org/institute/culture-and-history, for more information.