Tanana-Yukon Historical Society
Sharing the history and continuing story of Fairbanks and Interior Alaska
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. Information about our 2025-2026 lecture is will be posted here when available.
All TYHS events are free and open to the public.
Our next event is on Wednesday, 15 April, 2026 at 7PM at the Mining Hall Museum, 406 Cushman Street, next door to McCafferty’s Coffee Shop. The title of our next presentation is Talking Trash: An illustrated lecture presented by Steve Lanford.
Lanford will talk about the artifacts (trash) that he’s worked five years cataloging and photographing – items from a number of collections and from several dumps associated with the Fort Egbert Wireless Telegraph Station outside of Eagle. As Steve will demonstrate, trash does in fact “talk.”
Steve Lanford retired from the US Navy after a 21-year career. Moving to Alaska, he earned a BS in Anthropology from the UAF in 1997. In more than 20 years of fieldwork, with the BLM’s Eastern Interior Field Office, he’s recorded many Gold Rush sites in Alaska’s Interior, and co-authored, “Hills Bros. Coffee Can Chronology Field Guide (2006).” He moved to volunteer status with the BLM in 2024.
As a member of the Alaska Anthropological Association, he’s presented a number of posters with identification and date range (when available) of canned butter labels for tins found throughout the Interior. He is a long-time volunteer with the archaeology laboratory at the UAF’s Museum of the North.
For more information about our past lectures and events please contact us.
Click here to to view Wickersham House.
Click here to view Eagle Courthouse.
Click here to view TYHS Juneau.
Mary F. Ehrlander with Hild M. Peters have now published their new book “Hospital and Haven. The Life and Work of Grafton and Clara Burke in Northern Alaska”. For more information about the book, click here. The book is available at Bison Books, University of Nebraska Press. For 40% off while ordering, use code 6AF23.
We wish to thank our donors, some of whom have been extremely generous this past year. The Tanana Yukon Historical Society depends upon this kind of support and every donation is welcome, no matter its size. With these contributions, we have been able to carry out some projects and acknowledge vital members of our community who have passed on. BUT we need some ideas of how to spend your money. If you have a history-related project in mind please contact us! tyhs@alaska.net.