The TYHS has an active schedule of speakers at our free monthly public lectures. The lectures start at 7 PM, unless otherwise noted, on the third Wednesday of the month. 

March 22, 2023 @ 6:00 PM – “Ice Palace”, the 1960 historical drama film based on Edna Ferber’s novel. Fairbanks entered the ‘skyscraper’ age in 1951, with two buildings: the Northward and Polaris.  Now, the Polaris is on the brink of its long-sought demolition.  Celebrate the survival of the other building with this over-the-top film adaptation of Edna Ferber’s curious history of its creation.  This 60+ year-old movie about Alaska as it moved through the first half of the 20^th Century was dismissed by the critics but continues to be loved by fans.  Ice Palace offers us not much fact but a lot of fun. Journalist & historian, Dermot Cole, will introduce the show, offering his take on the film and its history. Noel Wien Library Auditorium.

April 26, 2023 – Ray Bonnell:  Capturing the Interior and Alaska through sketches and historical research. Noel Wien Library Auditorium.

All TYHS events are free and open to the public.

 

‘Wickersham:  Finding His Way Home’, a joint collaboration between TYHS and Hyperborea Pictures is the story of Judge James Wickersham. Settled in Tacoma since 1883, James Wickersham was a successful lawyer and probate judge, looking for new opportunities to use his talents and immense energy. What he got, in 1900, was not quite what he had in mind:  appointment as a district judge in Alaska. And so began a decades-long journey throughout the territory and on to Washington DC. Resting briefly during his frequent travels in roadhouses, hotels, on shipboard, he stayed longer in only three places – where he sought to create amore permanent home for himself and his wife:  Eagle, Fairbanks, and Juneau. Those properties were discussed by researcher and actor Steve Mitchell and illuminated by videographer Bryan Whitten in a presentation made on January 25, 2023 about James Wickerhsam and his journey. Click here to view the presentation.

 

 

This artist talk by Laine Rinehart (Tlingit) was the third event in the Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum’s Winter Share Your Culture/ Share Your Research Series in 2022. The talk was co-sponsored in a partnership with the Tanana-Yukon Historical Society. The Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum are grateful to the Tanana-Yukon Historical Society for partnering and to Laine Rinehart for speaking. Laine Rinehart (they, them, theirs) speaks about the history of Chilkat weaving and how it has been passed between tribes over time. Additionally they share how mountain goat wool is prepared to weave and give and update on their progress on their robe that they worked on while an artist-in-residence at the Sheldon Jackson Museum in 2021. You can access this talk on YouTube here.