Sheldon Museum & Cultural Center Inc

“The collection's 4,499 objects include tlingit regalia, some of which is clan trust property for both the chilkoot and the chilkat tribes (such as the mid-18th century murrelet hat), intricate spruce root baskets, ravenstail robe weavings, tlingit carving (large and small), traditional native fishing implements and native-made tourist items from the early 1900s. The museum holds several examples of the chilkat blanket, including many pieces by our last master weaver, jennie thlunaut of klukwan, as well as native weavers maria ackerman miller, daisy phillips, and june smineoff pardue. In addition, the museum recently acquired a large collection from alaska indian arts, a key player in the alaska arts resurgence in the mid and 20th century. The creation of a presbyterian mission in 1881, followed by schools and an orphanage, as well as the growth of early and current industries of tourism, fishing, logging, gold mining, hunting and agriculture are documented in the objects and in 3,465 archival papers and 2,715 historic books about the region. These include letters to a local madam, scrapbooks and teacher's logs from the schools, ships logs, census records, and the first published tourism book, by scidmore, about alaska. Dating from the 1880s to the present, our 11,253 photographs capture people, places and events throughout the history of the area. Many are key-worded and identified and available for searching via our cataloging program. They include rare interior shots of the klukwan whale house, haines house (the early school and orphanage), as well as our early and current industries of fishing, mining, logging, hunting and agriculture. Several hundred oral histories of early haines residents have been recorded and transcribed and are available for research. These include oral histories of the eldred rock lighthouse keepers, original pioneers of the region, and native elders. Films and videos record subsistence, still an important part ofalaskan's yearly life cycle. Eulachon "saak" fishing and creation of the eulachon "saak" oil, the essential trade item from this area, are part of our film archives. Culture bearers continue to contribute rare documentation - oral histories and films - of tlingit traditions. Our collection includes interviews with louis shotridge, the first native anthropologist and curator at the university of pennsylvania museum and austin hammond, head of the raven house.”

“The endowment is establised to be a permanent source of income for the museum.”