Survey for New Exhibit

The Sitka Maritime  Heritage Society is looking for community input for our first exhibit in the Japonski Island Boathouse due to open this May.  Please click on the button below to complete our survey.

Take the Survey for the Final Design!

What do you want to see?

We took your comments from the earlier survey and narrowed them down into three main design ideas.  Please tell us which ideas you think are best and why.  If there is one area of the exhibit that you think should be included but is not in your favorite design, please let us know and we'll try to include it. 

Contact Us!

About the Exhibit project

We at the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society are in the planning stages of building our first exhibit in the Japonski Island Boathouse.  Our goal is to make this space where not just people in Sitka, but visitors, and, via an online version, people all over the world can learn, explore, and better understand  the rich maritime history and culture of our community.

Progress 

Through our social media accounts and our website, we'll let you know how our project is coming along.  You'll also get more opportunities to provide feedback and help built the exhibit as well.  Stay tuned! 
To join the email list, or to give any comments or suggestions on this or any other project, go to our Contact Us page.

Some Ideas for Themes . . .
History of commercial fisheries in Sitka – how Sitka was shaped by trolling, seining, longlining, canning, and how Sitka and Sitkans shaped the forms that industry took – Tlingit ownership and stewardship of resources, government influence, canneries, cold storage, boats, boat building, harbors, herring, halibut, Pacific context of Sitka

Salmon Seining history – a family affair, the “Historic ANB Fleet” of Alaska-Native owned boats, methods, the salmon canning industry, context

Canneries – SE Alaska in context, economy of SE Alaska, how families combined seasonal work fishing and working in canneries with subsistence activities

Herring – history, reduction plants, traditional use, biology, archaeology

WWII – how did it change Sitka, why Sitka had a Navy base, context of Alaska and US, what was life like on base

Boatbuilding – tools and how a boat is built – how boatbuilding was dominated by Alaska Native builders – some of the boats produced, how used, who owned

Canoes – as works of art, different types, history, design, context

Russian ship building – how it fit into their colony, aspirations, and economy, how built, what they looked like, difficulties

Longlining – how halibut nearly wiped out first half of 20th century – the “derby days” of 1980s unlimited participation – Scandinavian heyday, halibut schooners

Coast Guard, and US Revenue Cutter Service – at one point Treasury Department governed Alaska – changing roles and attitudes

Sea otter, seals, other marine mammals – indigenous use and trade, the International Fur Trade, sealing boats, sea otter reintroduction

Trolling – Alaska Native,  1920s European immigrants, 1970s Baby Boomersd, how it's changed our culture in Sitka, highs and lows, Columbia River dams, how it's done, a day in the life

The “Island,” the vanished community of Mt. Edgecumbe, Alaska – once a federal community, nearly self-sufficient, the Shore Boats, BIA

Some Ideas for Exhibits, from Other Museums . . .

The Space . . .