More Than a Museum: The Alaska Native Heritage Center strengthens cultural connections.

• Author: Perry, Richard
• Position: ALASKA NATIVE

Alaska Native Heritage Center (ANHC) is not just a life-sized diorama--although visitors can certainly find one there. Anchorage's answer to Colonial Williamsburg or Tombstone, Arizona features six dwellings clustered around a pond named Lake Tiulana, albeit not in a way that the original Dena'ina Athabascan inhabitants of the Muldoon neighborhood would have recognized. The ersatz village represents, in one spot, the five major cultural strands throughout Alaska, which ANHC organizes geographically into Southeast, Southwest, Western, Northwest Arctic, and Interior territories.

ANHC is the only statewide cultural and education center dedicated to celebrating all Alaska Native cultures and heritages, including Ihupiaq, St. Lawrence Island Yupik, Athabascan, Eyak, Haida, Tsimshian, Tlingit. Unangax, Alutiiq/Sugpiaq, Yup'ik, and Cup'ik.

At the far end of Lake Tiulana is an iconic whalebone arch more than 12 feet tall. In each of the dwellings along the shore, culture bearers answer questions and introduce guests to traditional lifeways.

"Our people did not traditionally live in isolation, so for Native people, partnership and interdependence are key," says ANHC Operations Director Nikki Graham. "From teaching people about interethnic communication and Alaskan history from the Native perspective, we are here to tell our own story and to share our history through our own lens."

As a member of ANHC senior leadership, Graham provides operational and strategic support to programs grounded in Alaska Native values which are fundamental to ANHC's mission and community impact. Graham herself is of Yup'ik/Blackfoot Indian/Dutch descent. She is originally from Homer, an enrolled member of the Ninilchik Village Tribe, and a shareholder of Cook Inlet Region, Inc.

"While tourism is a big part of what we do in celebrating, educating, and preserving our culture, we are also very engaged with our community and connect people worldwide about who we are as Native people," says Graham. "Our first customer always has been and always will be the Alaska Native community."

Gathering Place

The Alaska Federation of Natives called for the creation of a heritage center in a resolution adopted in 1987. Making that vision a reality took another dozen years. ANHC opened in 1999, not only with the village around Lake Tiulana but with a glossy new building that contains the Gathering Place for performances and presentations and the Hall of Cultures for exhibits and activities.

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