The Constitution of the State of Alaska was adopted by the Alaska Constitutional Convention on February 5, 1956 and ratified by the people of Alaska April 24, the same year. We now celebrate April 24th as Alaska Constitution Day (which was yesterday). We’ve highlighted some resources below so that you can dive deeper into the Alaska State Constitution!

The book Alaska’s constitution: a citizen’s guide by Gordon Harrison is a good primer if you’re not familiar with the Alaska Constitution. The fifth edition was updated in 2021 and summarizes the creation of the constitution and discusses some of the political history and judicial interpretations since then. It is available at the Consortium Library to be checked out. You can read Alaska’s Constitution in full here.

The book Alaska’s constitutional convention by Vic Fischer was published by ISER in 1975. Fisher served as one of the delegates to the constitutional convention and recounts the story of how how the Alaska constitution came to be. Find this text at the Consortium Library in the Alaskana Collection or in ARLIS. Vic Fischer was the last surviving signer of Alaska’s constitution and passed away at the age of 99 in 2023. You can read more about him here.

The article Alaska Native perspectives on the Alaska constitution by William L. Iggiagruk Hensley and John Sky Starkey provides a counter-perspective on the creation of the Alaska Constitution and the ways in which Alaska Native voices were excluded from the process. Part one of the article was adapted from a panel discussion that took place in 2018. Find the full text here (be sure to login for off-campus access first if you are accessing from home).

The Alaska Law Review had a number of articles addressing varying aspects of the Alaska Constitution and how it impacts Alaskans. These include:

• The unique promise of the Alaska constitution: the right to rehabilitation by Adam Beyer, published 2023.
• Alaska’s constitution and felony disenfranchisement: a historical and legal analysis by J C Croft, published 2019.
• Of time, place, and the Alaska constitution by Alan G Tarr, published 2018.
• The Alaska constitution and the future of individual rights by Erwin Chemerinsky, published 2018.

Want to explore further? The Archives and Special Collections has a number of collections related to the Alaska Constitution, including the personal papers of some of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention. Browse through the collections here and contact the Archives directly to make an appointment to see the collections.

Exploring the collections of poetry available at the UAA/APU Consortium Library isn’t just for English majors – there’s a poet out there for everyone! If you’re feeling inspired to dabble in poetry this month, we’ve highlighted a few titles that are available here at Consortium below. This is just a small taste – there’s a lot more that you can find in the catalog!

In the Current Where Drowning is Beautiful by Abigail Chabitnov is a collection of poems that use both English and Alutiiq to respond to the silencing of indigenous women, especially in light of the crisis of murdered and missing indigenous women and girls. This is the author’s second collection of poetry and was published in 2022. Chabitnov is a member of the Tangirnaq Native Village in Kodiak, Alaska, and grew up in Pennsylvania. She is also the winner of the Colorado Book Award for Poetry.

Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry, edited by Joanne V. Gabbin and Lauren K. Alleyne, is an anthology of more than one hundred African American poets, many of whom are award-winning. Spanning generations and aesthetics, this collection was made with the intent of creating a narrative of African American poetry through the 20th and 21st centuries. Anthologies are an excellent way to be exposed to different poets, poetry styles, and subjects.

Daughters of Latin America: An International Anthology of Writing by Latine Women, edited by Sandra Guzman, is a collection that includes works by 140 Latin poets, writers, and activists from around the world. It spans different languages, traditions, and genres and includes both classic and contemporary works.

Poetry Unbound: Poems and New Media from the Magic Lantern to Instagram by Mike Chasar isn’t a collection of poetry but it explores the ways in which poetry has transformed to fit the mediums of the 21st century, making poetry more easily accessible and widely consumed by the public.

Continue to explore the books of and about poetry in the Consortium Library catalog.

March is Women’s History Month! There is a lot to explore in the collection that can help you delve into women’s history in the United States and around the world, but we wanted to share one particular resource that you may not know about.

While the Quicksearch finds eBooks among all the materials it searches (including books, journal articles, etc.), there are two databases that you can use to more narrowly search for eBooks: eBook Collection and eBook Central.

Simply searching “women’s history” through either database brings up an varied selection of books on women’s history. Here are a few highlights:

Put Your Hands on Your Hips and Act Like a Woman : Black History and Poetics in Performance by Gale P Jackson

Women’s Medicine : Sex, Family Planning and British Female Doctors in Transnational Perspective, 1920–70 by Caroline Rusterholz

A Black Women’s History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross

Inside the Expressive Culture of Chinese Women’s Mosques : ‘This Turmoil of the Soul’ by Maria Jaschok

Reshaping Women’s History : Voices of Nontraditional Women Historians, Edited by Julia Gallagher and Barbara Winslow

Women’s Private Practices of Knowledge Production in Early Modern Europe, Edited by Natacha Klein Kafer and Natalia da Silva Perez

Westerns : A Women’s History by Victoria Lamont

A History of Women’s Boxing by Malissa Smith

We hope you’ll explore this wide and diverse collection of books!

Winterfest is kicked off this week at UAA! Winterfest features lots of different activities on campus and around Anchorage – and it has us thinking more about the winter celebrations in Alaska – we’re highlighting a few of them here on the blog!

The Iditarod is a long distance race of dog teams that has been happening annually since 1973 – while the race used to run from Anchorage to Nome, due to lack of snow conditions, the start in Anchorage was modified to be a ceremonial start with the race re-starting in Willow. This year’s ceremonial start will be held in downtown Anchorage this Saturday, February 28th.

The current race route is based on the original Iditarod trail that was used by dog teams to transport freight every winter into the 1920s, when the use of airplanes became more common. In 1925, dog teams saved the day when a diphtheria epidemic threatened Nome. There wasn’t a pilot available who could handle the difficult flight, so a relay of dog teams transported needed serum to Nome in time to prevent an epidemic (Bowers). The race was introduced in 1973 as a way to commemorate the historic trail and continue the tradition of using dog teams.

The Iditarod Trail Annual is an annual book that was released each year and featured information about the route, official entries into the race, as well as stories from the trail from the previous year, including a diary that followed the progress of the mushers each day and profiles of the finishers. We have copies of the Iditarod Trail Annual that you can browse in the Alaska Collection – find them at call number REF ALASKA SF 440.P43. This one is from 1985!

The Fur Rendezvous Dog Mushers’ Annual also includes lots of great photos of the dog teams and their mushers – the one below is from 1965. Find these in the Alaska Collection at call number REF ALASKA F 914.A4 F9

You can also search for photos in the Alaska Digital Archive to see photos of the mushers and dogs at different times in Alaska’s history – how does this photo from the 1966 start in Anchorage look different from today? Do you recognize any landmarks from downtown Anchorage?

This from photo from the Iditarod start in 1966 was taken by Robert Fortuine.

We hope that you enjoy the winter festivals that Alaska has to offer and that you’ll explore their history in the collection!

References for this post:

Bowers, Don. “Booms and Busts: Iditarod Trail History.” Iditarod, https://iditarod.com/booms-and-busts-iditarod-trail-history/. Accessed 20 February 2025.

Winterfest kicked off this week at UAA! Winterfest features lots of different activities on campus and around Anchorage – and it has us thinking more about the winter celebrations in Alaska – we’re highlighting a few of them here on the blog!

Kivgiq (Messenger Feast) has been celebrated by the Inupiaq for centuries. Kivgiq would be hosted by a whaling captain who would send kivgak (messengers) to invite other nearby communities to participate. The celebration would include an exchange of gifts, trading of goods, dancing, and storytelling, building relationships between communities. In the early 20th century, previous iterations of the festival were discontinued – although it’s not entirely clear why, it was likely due to the collapse of commercial whaling after 1915, pressure from missionaries to abandon traditional practices, the flu epidemic, and later the Great Depression (Ikuta 347-8).

In 1987, the North Slope Borough Mayor George Ahmaogak Sr. began a revitalization effort. He and other elders were concerned about the potential loss of cultural practices and values in the face of increased Westernization and assimilation policies in the 20th century, so they sought to create an event that could lift the spirits of the community. After collecting interviews about Kivgiq traditions from elders and researching oral history and ethnographic sources, a new iteration of the celebration debuted in 1988 (Ikuta 344). You can see a video from that celebration – the first in 70 years – below!

Now, Kivgiq is celebrated at the discretion of the North Slope Borough Mayor – and they celebrated most recently this year! Read more about Kivgiq and the impact that its revitalization has had in Utqiagvik in the article Iñupiaq pride: Kivgiq (Messenger Feast) on the Alaskan North Slope, written by Hiroko Ikuta, which you can access through the UAA/APU Consortium Library databases.

Ayyu Qassataq, who earned an M.A. in Rural Development from UAF, also wrote about Kivgiq, among other dances and ceremonies in her Master’s project When Uŋalaqłiq danced: stories of strength, suppression & hope. She explores the historical factors that led to cultural traditions no longer being practiced in Uŋalaqłiq (Unalakleet) with the goal of understanding how to “lay a foundation to promote healing and strength through the potential revival of ancestral traditions” (2). In her work, she writes about the revitalization of Kivgiq in Utqiagvik and Nuurvik and how understanding those efforts might aid in community healing in Uŋalaqłiq. You can read her project and browse those of other students through Scholarworks @ UA.

References for this post:

Qassataq, Ayyu. When Uŋalaqłiq Danced: Stories of Strength, Suppression & Hope. 2020. University of Alaska Fairbanks, Masters Project.