Salute to early journalists: media pioneers helped shape Alaska history, win statehood.

• Author: Resz, Heather A.
• Position: MEDIA

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Alaska history would read very differently if not for men and women like Bob Atwood, A1 Bramstedt Sr., Kay Fanning, Norma Goodman, Augie Hiebert, Vern McCorkle, Howard Rock and C.W. Snedden who pioneered mass communications here.

Alaska's earliest newspapers--with names like The Esquimaux, The Alaskan, The Sitka Post, The Alaska Appeal and The Alaska Times--were owned and operated by businessmen, miners, military men, several governors and missionaries. They pitched ideas like the settlement of Alaska, home rule and construction of a railroad, according to the book Bent Pins to Chains: Alaska and its Newspapers, by Evangeline Atwood and Lew Williams Jr.

John j. Harrington, a telegraph worker at the Western Union construction camp near Teller, wrote The Esquimaux longhand, binding it with bent pins and releasing it Oct. 10, 1866, according to the book by Atwood and Williams, which details the history of the newspaper industry from that first publication to the decades-long war between the Anchorage Times and the Anchorage Daily News.

University of Alaska Anchorage Journalism and Public Communications Department Chair Fred Pearce said the book was chosen as the text for a new class on the history of Alaska media.

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ROBERT ATWOOD

Gold Rush veterans first published the Cook Inlet Pioneer and Knik News the paper that became the Anchorage Times--in 1915.

That same year, Edward Rasmuson passed the bar exam. He came to Yakutat as a missionary and ended up serving as a teacher and U.S. Commissioner. By 1917, he was president of the Bank of Alaska.

Edward and Jenny Rasmuson had two children, Evangeline Rasmuson Atwood and Elmer Rasmuson. Both left deep marks on the pages of Alaska history and the good work of their respective foundations continues.

Robert and Evangeline Atwood purchased the struggling Anchorage Times in 1935 from the senior Rasmuson and moved to Anchorage. The Atwoods published the paper for 54 years, until they sold it to Bill Allen in 1989. He sold it to McClatchy a few years later and the paper ceased publication June 3, 1992.

"Atwood was a hero. And hated by many," said John Strohmeyer, Atwood Chair 1987-89. Strohmeyer worked with Atwood to write a biography of his life, but Atwood died before it was published and his daughter Elaine sued to stop distribution of the book Alaska Titan.

Strohmeyer said Atwood's work developing the north has earned a place in journalism history alongside legendary newsmen like William Allen White and Col. Robert McCormick, who are credited with helping build the Midwest.

Atwood also deserves credit for his role advocating for creation of the Alaska Permanent Fund.

"Gov. Jay Hammond gets a lot of credit, but Atwood was writing editorials...