News and A New Publication
Lots to catch up on!
It’s been a while since I wrote, but I have filled that time with many projects and new developments, and I have a lot to share with my dear readers!
First up is an official press release last week from the Western Spirit Museum in Scottsdale, Arizona, where I’ve been helping curate the history behind the upcoming exhibit of my friend Veryl Goodnight’s incredible sled dog paintings. The exhibit opens July 17 and will run for nine months, and next February I will join Veryl at the museum for a presentation on the history. You can visit Veryl’s website to see her paintings, and a video of her “Gold Rush Dogs.”
I was surprised to read the kind description of myself in the press release; it always surprises me to see such praise for my work, as I’m simply doing the best I can to help preserve and promote the history of our sled dog heritage. I’ll post the full press release at the end of this newsletter for those interested in reading it.
Northern Light Media published another book in June, The First Newspapers of Knik and Anchorage, Alaska: The Knik News and Cook Inlet Pioneer 1914-1916, by Helen Hegener. You can read a brief history of the newspapers at the page for the book linked here; it was produced from the actual pages of each publication, reprinted in full from archives at the Library of Congress.
An important era in the history of Alaska is well preserved in these pages from the Knik News and the Cook Inlet Pioneer and Knik News, which would in time become the Anchorage Times. The book is 6″ x 9″ format, B/W, 298 pages, ISBN 9798325527074. $24.95 plus $5.00 shipping from Northern Light Media.
I have still been working with my friends Rod Perry, Jim Huettl and others on the Anchorage Mushing District, and the plans are progressing quite nicely for the historical interpretive signage, banners, the inlaid bronze dog paws and husky heads along the sidewalks, and the beautiful steel dog team arch across Fourth Avenue! There are also plans for an app-based walking tour, a summer interpreter program, and a booklet detailing the historic components of the Mushing District. You can learn more about the project at the link above.
I have been following renewed progress on the Leonhard Seppala House Restoration Project in Nome, spearheaded by several of my longtime friends. With the 100th anniversary of the great Serum Run to Nome coming up next year there will hopefully be much more interest in helping to preserve this historic building. The Leonhard Seppala House Restoration Project is an effort to save what many believe to be a key piece of Alaskan history, the home of the legendary musher, a three-time champion of the All Alaska Sweepstakes, who played a central role in saving the town of Nome during the 1925 diphtheria epidemic. In May, 1981 the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) photographer Jet Lowe included the Seppala House in an index of 34 photos taken for the Historic American Landscapes Survey of the City of Nome, part of the nation’s first federal preservation program, begun in 1933 to document America’s architectural heritage. A KNOM article details the story behind the restoration effort, spearheaded by former Nome teacher Urtha Lenharr.
And the newest project from Northern Light Media is a journal:
This new magazine, edited by Helen Hegener (me!), presents the history of sled dogs and the mushers who drove them across thousands of miles of snowy trails, creating a legacy which has endured and grown and is celebrated today in a multitude of ways. Scheduled to be published four times a year, in January, April, July and October, the first two issues are already in print.
Anyone familiar with my books, my website, and my writing for other magazines and newspapers will recognize many of the articles in these first issues, as I’ve pulled from those sources to preserve that history in this new format. But there will be plenty of new material, including excerpts from classic books, articles about those working to protect and promote the history of mushing, and photographs, maps, and other resources which were not included in the original books and articles.
Mushing History Quarterly will delight anyone interested in the colorful heritage of the sled dog teams which still travel trails all around the world! Details can be found at the website linked to the images here.
And here is the Western Spirit Museum press release mentioned above:
Thanks for reading!
Helen