University of Alaska Museum of the North
In Fairbanks, Alaska, you'll visit one of the
finest museums of the north located on the campus of the
University of Alaska that was originally called the University
of Alaska Museum, that had been mandated by the legislature in
1917, with the first president of the university, Charles E.
Bunnell instructing Otto Geist to begin accumulating unique
items for the museum's new collection. It would wander around
the campus until 1936, when it would be moved into Signers'
Hall, eventually overflowing the area assigned to it, and the
new museum structure would be opened in 2005, with a few
galleries opening in 2006. Their collections include; the bird
collection, Alaska Center for Documentary Film, marine
invertebrates collection, Alaska Frozen Tissue collection,
mammal collection, Arctic Archival collection, fish, amphibian
and reptile collections, archeology collection, herbarium, earth
sciences collection, fine arts collection, entomology collection
and the history collection. Upcoming exhibitions include, the
Chocolate Bash, Artisan Expo & Sale, Tracking Alaska's Jurassic
Dinosaurs and Coffee: The World in Your Cup; with an exciting
new exhibit coming that discusses the balance of power in Alaska
called the Power Play: Energizing Our Lives, Fueling Alaska's
Future. Their outstanding permanent collections house over 1.4
million relics and specimens that represent millions of years of
biological diversity and thousands of years of cultural
traditions that has happened in the north country. The
archaeology collection alone holds over three-quarters of a
million relics, with their earth science collection containing
over 60,000 specimens that have been divided into two
sub-collections; of geology and paleontology. The entomology
collection houses over 223,000 specimens from the state and
other areas the include eastern Russia, Canada and the United
States. The ethnology collection contains over 12,000 objects
that have been created and used by the natives from the mid1800s
to the current day, that includes beadworks, tools, clothing,
basketry, masks, ivory carvings and dolls. The fine arts
collection holds over 3700 works of art that is specific to the
state.
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