General information
Inaugural Museum Newsletter
The Simon Paneak Memorial Museum is preparing to launch our new quarterly newsletter. Entitled “Sightings”, it is intended to bring villagers and other interested parties in the sciences, the general public and the museum community, up to date on new and current developments at our museum as well as the community of Anaktuvuk Pass.
Currently in its draft and design stage, it is anticipated that the newsletter will encompass a number of regular features such as:
- The artifact of the quarter.
- Highlights of various on-going programs.
- Profiles of elders, both past and present.
- Ongoing activities in and around the community of Anaktuvuk Pass.
- Progress on our Endowment Fund drive.
- Updates on our research projects and joint efforts with other museums, researchers, universities and state and federal agencies.
Initially, “Sightings” will be available to interested parties over our web site. However, with time and the accumulation of sufficient funds, print versions will become available. We anticipate that the newsletter can play an important and supporting role in our Endowment Fund effort, as we can bring the existence, programs and value of our museum to a wider public audience and to acknowledge, in this forum the contributors to our fund.
Museum Publication Series
The Paneak Museum is also planning, in the very near future, to begin issuing a suite of three series of Occasional Papers. These papers are tentatively entitled:
- Traditional Technologies and Material Culture.
- Traditional Strategies and Practices.
- Wildlife and the Environment.
Based upon Museum research and oral history work with local elders, each series will offer detailed, informative and, we hope, interesting presentations of, and insights to, traditional Nunamiut knowledge and lore. They are designed to both elaborate upon various exhibit and display topics presented in our museum and to bring the accomplishments, ingenuity and resourcefulness of the Nunamiut people into much sharper focus than ever before.
Additionally, these materials are being provided to the North Slope Borough School District as resources which can be drawn upon for use in their Bilingual / Bicultural curriculum office. To this end, all units are comprehensive, though not exhaustive, in their coverage of each topic, but are generally written in a non technical manner so that they can be read and enjoyed by most everyone. Each unit is richly illustrated with both historic and contemporary photographs and drawings in order to make them visually interesting as well as informative.
We anticipate that these Occasional Papers will be of interest to a number of different audiences, including:
- Educators and students.
- The general public.
- Other museum and archives.
- The scientific community, including anthropologists, archaeologists, biologists, botanists, earth scientists and others.
- The environmental community.
The first group of 10 papers are nearing completion, and pending final proofing, and their turn over to the North Slope Borough School District, copies of these papers will be available through the Paneak Museums sales desk. Earnings from the sale of these materials will be directly incorporated into our Endowment Fund drive.
