Alaskan History Magazine

The cover of Volume 5, Number 3 features a stylized icon of the First Alaskan Mission (1794), depicting Sts. Herman, Juvenaly and Ioasaph coming ashore, bringing the Orthodox Faith to the New World, after leaving their ship.

This issue begins with a broad overview of many of the first missionaries to Alaska, who set in place parameters which still affect all Alaskans.

Missionaries in Russian America placed value on the local cultures and encouraged indigenous leadership to gain the loyalty of the indigenous populations, establishing the authority of Church and State. This was originally intended to gain the loyalty of the indigenous populations by establishing the authority of Church and State as protectors of over 10,000 inhabitants of Russian America. But by the 1860s, the Russian government was ready to abandon its Russian America colony. Over-hunting had severely reduced the fur-bearing animal population, and competition from the British and Americans exacerbated the situation.

Hudson Stuck, born in England in 1863, came to the United States at the age of 22. In 1889 he began formal theological studies in Texas and was ordained deacon on Aug. 7, 1892, and an Espicopal priest on Nov. 30, 1892. He served the church in Texas until 1904, when he moved to Alaska to become Archdeacon of the Yukon in the Missionary District of Alaska. He explored the territory extensively and published many articles and several books describing his journeys, including The Alaskan Missions of the Episcopal Church in 1920. This issue includes an excerpt from Chapter IV: By Dog Sled or Launch:

In the roughly chronological order which has been observed in this narrative, this is the place to speak of the Iditarod, and since the history of the Church in that camp is in all probability a closed chapter, the complete incident may illustrate the difficulties in the way of undertaking religious work in a placer mining camp.

The Alaska Railroad Record was the official publication of the Alaskan Engineering Commission (AEC), providing a detailed weekly record of the construction of the Alaska Railroad, along with news, progress reports, schedules, personnel notes, and other material relevant to the federal railroad construction project between Seward and Fairbanks. It was published from November 14, 1916 to June 29, 1920. The entire eight-page first issue is reprinted.

On June 28, 1900, Skagway became the first incorporated first-class city in Alaska. Included in this issue are excerpts from a tourist guidebook titled Skagway, Alaska, designed to promote the city, assembled by The Skagway Commercial Club in 1910, and published by the local newspaper, The Daily Alaskan. In 1910, the Skagway Commercial Club declared Skagway the “Garden City of Alaska,” with the local combination of fertile soil, adequate moisture and long summer days translating into bountiful crops. The booklet was doubtless produced in conjunction with that declaration to promote the growing town. “Let us walk leisurely down the street….”

The Federal Building in Anchorage symbolized the U.S. government’s commitment to the economic growth and development of the territory. Providing residents with a post office, courthouse, and other federal services, it was the first large federal building constructed in Anchorage, and in 1978 the building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

An article by Belmore Browne on the Dogs of the North appeared in Outing magazine in 1914, depicting the differing breeds and their care, feeding, training, and importance to travel in Alaska and the North. The pages are reprinted in this issue, with all of the photographs, paintings, and captions which appeared in the original article.

Alaskan History Magazine, published since 2019, is available at the website for the publication (see below), at Northern Light Media, at Amazon and through your favorite bookstore online or bricks-and-mortar, just give them the title, volume, and number (Volume 5, Number 3). All of the back issues are available, and there are now three anthologies which collect the articles into book format.