Collaborations

Sperm Whale Project

Hanging the sperm whale skeleton in Homer High SchoolIn 1988, the carcass of a sperm whale washed ashore on East Chugach Island about 40 miles south of Homer, Alaska. Using the salvaged skeletal remains as an inspirational focus, the Pratt Museum developed a unique community-based marine science education program in close partnership with Homer High School. This online exhibit highlights what happened to that 41-foot whale skeleton: research, documentation, preservation, articulation, exhibition, and interpretation.

 

Shorebird Festival

Red Necked GrebeThe Pratt museum collaborates with other partners in the annual Shorebird Festival. For more information, check with us in the spring to see our calendar, including shorebird-related activities. Check out the Shorebird Festival website for current information or other birding sites, such as the American Bird Center.

 

The Gathering

Traditional Dancers and Kayakers at The GatheringTamamta Katurlluta: A Gathering of Native Tradition

Based on an idea formulated by Sugpiaq Nick Tanape of Nanwalek, this collaboration between the villages of Nanwalek, Port Graham, and Seldovia and the Pratt Museum, this event has been a biennial celebration since 1998. A welcome to the hunters returning home by kayak, blessing and dancing on the beach, a potluck, and evening of dance have been the core activities. The Alaska Native Harbor Seal Commission has sponsored educational programs about seal harvest and nutrition and Native Youth Olympic demonstrations.

 

Kenai Fjords Oral History and Archaeological Project

Kenai Fjords Oral History and Archaeological Project was an exciting four year project partnering the Pratt Museum with the villages of Nanwalek, Port Graham, and Seldovia, the Smithsonian Institution's Arctic Studies Center, and National Park Service. In 2001, Arctic Studies Director Dr.Aron Crowell and Pratt Museum Director of Education and Exhibits Gale Parsons traveled to the villages to ask permission to do the project and seek collaborators. With the blessing of the villages and direction of archaeologist Crowell, a four year project explored a beautifully rugged wilderness, excavated three sites that were dated between A.D. 1000 and 1810, and educated participants ranging in age from 15 to well past 60. Oral histories taken both on site and back home in the villages tell memories of stories told by ancestors who had lived in and hunted from the sites and of feelings experienced by present day visitors brought to the excavation. These video tapes are the basis for two educational videos, “Archaeology and Memory: Ancestral Alutiiq Villages on the Outer Kenai Coast, Alaska,” produced by the Arctic Studies Center and “Bringing the Stories Back,” produced by the Pratt Museum. The Pratt will integrate “Bringing the Stories Back” into the second phase of our Master Exhibit Plan, now under development.