Homer Alaska - Opinion

The culmination of many years of dedicated work by hundreds, indeed thousands of people culminated on May 22 with the opening at the Anchorage Museum of the new Smithsonian's Arctic Studies Center. The complete $110 million museum enterprise also includes a space age Imaginarium, a new planetarium, not to mention a moon rock from NASA, all contained within a revitalized, reenergized, expanded Anchorage Museum. Excitement ran high with dances and dedicatory speeches, thudding drums and accolades, Native chants and riotous applause.

More than one person was seen puddling up as tears streaked the cheeks of the young and old, some in coat and tie, others dressed in moose hide. Alaska was honored by a dedicatory speech by Wayne Clough, secretary of the Smithsonian. Anchorage's Mayor Dan Sullivan promised ongoing support for this terrific addition to Alaska's cultural scene. Alaskans are being given a whole new understanding and appreciation of our first people.

The centerpiece for me is the Smithsonian's respectful and interactive display of the spectacular and iconic cultural items. About 90 percent of the 600 items have never been seen by the public before, many of them gathered before the Civil War, according to Aaron Crowell, director of the Smithsonian's Arctic Studies Center in Anchorage.

The world-class interpretive display of these extraordinarily beautiful items was the collaborative dream of Crowell and Bill Fitzhugh, who traveled to Alaska with staff members from the Natural History Museum on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Crowell and Fitzhugh combine as the most talented and inspired anthropologists and archaeologists ever seen in the Far North.

They bring to this setting an unusual amount of respect and empathy for the First People of the North as demonstrated by the fact they took people from villages around the state to the Smithsonian to help select the 600 items from the tens of thousands of Alaska items in the vast collections there.

The honoring of and ongoing interaction with the First People in this dazzling presentation is a great honor to the creators as they in turn honor Alaska Natives.

The Smithsonian has a long history in Kachemak Bay. William Healey Dall, member of the Western Union Telegraph Expedition of 1886 and later to live in one of the Smithsonian towers, named most of Kachemak Bay's glaciers for those who had preceded him in early mapping and discoveries in Alaska. Our own Pratt Museum has had a lively interaction with the Smithsonian.

I stood spellbound for long moments gazing at the Yup'ik and Alutiiq masks, at the skin boots from St. Lawrence Island and at the young girl's face carved into a cedar mask with a long train of ermine skins. Sea lion whiskers surrounded the brim like a little fence. It was filled with eagle down which floated down to the viewers as she danced. The colors, the vibrancy, the artistry, the craftsmanship, the imagination expressed in the items exceeded anything I imagined possible.

The items and the interpretive information accompanying them gave me a whole new understanding of the culture and creativity of the people who populated this great land before the first white people arrived.

The engaging presence of the First People of Kachemak Bay among us represented by our neighbors at the Seldovia Native Association and the Seldovia Village Tribe, the village people of Port Graham and Nanwalek, remind us of how lucky we are to have these interactions and how much richer we are for them.

The Smithsonian's process in selecting items, the respectful display and interpretation, the ongoing interaction with the ancestors of these spellbinding items is a role model example for us in how to interact with each other. Your visit to the Anchorage Museum might just enhance your appreciation for the beautiful place we call Homer on the shores of Kachemak Bay.

Michael McBride was the first Alaskan elected to the Smithsonian's National Board and served with that group in Washington for six years. He sponsored the board's visit to Homer with the secretary in 2002. He lives in China Poot Bay.