In this Up-Close episode of the podcast, Angela Linn, Senior Collections Manager for Ethnology and History introduces us to the always-unique process of considering and accepting a new donation of objects.
The More You Look is a production of the UA Museum of the North, on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River. UAMN illuminates the natural history and cultural heritage of Alaska and the North through collections, research, education, and partnerships, and by creating a singular museum experience that honors diverse knowledge and respect for the land and its peoples.
In this Up-Close episode of the podcast, Angela Linn, Senior Collections Manager for Ethnology and History introduces us to the always-unique process of considering and accepting a new donation of objects.
The More You Look is a production of the UA Museum of the North, on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River. UAMN illuminates the natural history and cultural heritage of Alaska and the North through collections, research, education, and partnerships, and by creating a singular museum experience that honors diverse knowledge and respect for the land and its peoples.
Roger Topp:
Hello, and welcome to The More You Look: Up Close, a short, unscheduled stop on your behind the scenes journey into museum collections research exhibits and public programming. I'm Roger Topp, Director of exhibits, design, and digital media at the UA Museum of the North, and today's host. Today, we take a close look and bring you a brief episode about a new and unique group of objects donated to the Ethnology and History Collection. Here is senior collections manager Angela Linn.
Angela Linn:
So, the daughters of the late UAF art professor Stan Zalinski brought in a model, a scale model of the Kolmakovsky block house, which Stan created. And these are some of the photos and designs of things that he made, or used to make them. And so this is a one inch to one foot scale model as--
Roger Topp:
a support for the roof there.
Angela Linn:
Yeah, so well. So it's a little, it's actually a second level.
Roger Topp:
Oh.
Angela Linn:
So the roof, the support for the roof is all internal structure. So, this is what he set, there are two roof designs that he created. Neither are what the actual roof, either the 1841 version--
Roger Topp:
Or the one that's outside, now.
Angela Linn:
Yeah, that based on photographs from 1880s, we know was sod at the time on site. When it came to the museum and was installed, it didn't have a roof, they left the roof iandn the bottom round of logs at the site at Kolmakovsky. And so, when they rebuilt it in the 80s, they--the guy who did the work came up, I don't know how he came up with this interior structure design. But this is--the model replica is very similar to the structure, the interior structure of the roof as it is now with the exception that the framework, this structural framework, then is supported on the roof by spruce poles, which are then covered with moss, as sort of chinking. And then on top of that is the landscaping fabric that we put on. And then the sod layer that Sandy Jamison put on when we renovated it. So this is more accurate to what the actual roof is. Whereas this is an alternative design that is essentially a second level--
Roger Topp:
A little lighthouse lookout on top--
Angela Linn:
With a little cupula up there with windows and a clearstory.
Roger Topp:
Oh, windowing.
Angela Linn:
Yeah. To look through.
Roger Topp:
Is there any--is this modeled after something historical? Nothing?
Angela Linn:
I don't know where this design came from, the second design. So, what's interesting is that the first roof that the--structure, interior structure is right. The he--he opted to put sort of shake shingles on with these. These ridge caps I don't know what you call these. But the the the St. Michael blockhouse, I think he started to paint the glue to match and then decided oh, it looks better. Just natural. Yeah. So so this design. This part is how the St. Michael blockhouse roof is the ones we do have the original--
Roger Topp:
The one that's in the collection but in storage.
Angela Linn:
Exactly. That used to be at the anchorage museum, but the center sections of the roof were board and batten basically strips, so it never had shingles like this. And but they're red, and this red color is accurate for the St. Michael one.
Roger Topp:
Nice.
Angela Linn:
But the horizontal lap kind of sheathing is not accurate for any of the blockhouses I've seen.
Roger Topp:
They're not dormer windows here. More of a snow break?
Angela Linn:
I don't know.
Roger Topp:
Interesting though.
Angela Linn:
I don't know what those are for.
Roger Topp:
Nice. Alternative form. This looks about 16 inches so the blockhouse is about 16 feet in diameter.
Angela Linn:
Correct. There are eight I think eight foot sections.
Roger Topp:
Nice, and I like the logs. They're gray ish here.
Angela Linn:
Yep, it's all been painted gray.
Roger Topp:
Very similar to what it looks like when aged out--outside.
Angela Linn:
Yeah, right because and we haven't coated it with anything. Of course and so that popular, which I think is what they decided this was--the original logs--that it gets that sort of grayed, natural look to it. So, he he tried to replicate the impacts, you know where--
Roger Topp:
The cannon impacts.
Angela Linn:
Yeah. So, where are they shot into it and then dug the balls, the musket balls ou,t and he's got the rifle, you know, holes--.
Roger Topp:
This is the Russians shot into it--because it was their blockhouse?
Angela Linn:
The Russians--we don't know who shot into it. They were practicing, according to the historical literature. It was never used as a defensive structure according to oral history.
Roger Topp:
That's what a blockhouses, though?
Angela Linn:
A blockhouse is the first building put on the site that the Russian American company made--
Roger Topp:
It's a good test to see it it works.
Angela Linn:
And it would be there in case the locals were Right, the logs on the actual blockhouse or intricly locked not, were not receptive to their presence. And so, the one at St. Michael, I think was 1832. And then St. Mich--or the Kolmakovsky was 1841. So, really similar construction, and I think the logs, you know the notches on both buildings are the same. So, within that same--these i, because it's glued together, I don't know if they're the locking lap-- together. Exactly.
Roger Topp:
These are done for efficiency and--
Angela Linn:
Probably, yeah. But because we can't see the inside of that joint, I can't--I don't know, if he did, but he--I don't know that he ever came to the site when Sandy and Tom were working on it. And I don't have any in-process photos to see what they look like.
Roger Topp:
We've often talked about trying to demonstrate that locking process and the logs on exhibit at some point. These are fascinating models. So, has it been donated to the Ethnology and History Collection?
Angela Linn:
Right. So, they've been offered to the museum--
Roger Topp:
Okay.
Angela Linn:
--through me because the original, you know, the blockhouse is in our collection. I-- The daughters just said basically, Stan hoped some day that the museum might find a use for them. And it's up to us then to decide internally what the best use of them are. And I think certainly as an educational tool as an interactive, you know, the idea of building scale models, what they teach you, having that hands on components in a gallery or in a program--
Roger Topp:
Definitey inspirational for kids--
Angela Linn:
For sure.
Roger Topp:
--to see how things are built. I think it's a great point that our collections at the museum are not all kept in climate controlled storage, they're hands off gloved not--many of our objects and collections, either within our ethnology or in the education department are meant to be hands-on. They're meant to be used and even degraded over time.
Angela Linn:
Absolutely, yeah.
Roger Topp:
Fantastic.
Angela Linn:
Yeah, so the the acquisitions committee will be reviewing the offer, the donation offer, on December 11, at our meeting, I'm about to send all the proposal, the completed justification forms to the committee. And I have mentioned in that proposal that the value of these are educational, and that I didn't think they're appropriate for the research collection. But, they could go in either our hands-on collection, they could go into the museum's hands-on collection for education. They could go--they could be exhibit props and be used for the exhibit staff to put them wherever they want to be. And when their usefulness is used up, then, you know, the museum isn't obligated in the same way for the long-term perpetual care, you know--
Roger Topp:
Well, we have this exhibit we're putting up in the spring called Thinking Made Visible. And we already have models of stage sets that we're looking at, as ways to visualize the finished work of art.
Angela Linn:
I wonder if we have any sketches in any of these.
Roger Topp:
Are their sketches in there.?
Angela Linn:
I don't know. I haven't looked through--
Roger Topp:
I use sketch liberally.
Angela Linn:
Yeah, yeah. So, these are the photos--
Roger Topp:
Photo references, yeah--
Angela Linn:
--he took when he came to see the work.
Roger Topp:
Yeah. Well, I can see his joint right there matches what you see on the surface of the log--
Angela Linn:
Yeah. Right, exactly. Yeah. And if you didn't see them putting it together, you wouldn't know there's hidden--
Roger Topp:
locking pieces there--
Angela Linn:
You know? Exactly. It's fascinating. Yeah. So he's got his progress shots in there as they were, you know, being completed, as he painted and assembled and made different ideas for the second level.
Roger Topp:
Well, we have a whole series of components that we're looking at for that exhibit that revolve around physical objects as ways of thinking.
Angela Linn:
And certainly, you know, building templates.
Roger Topp:
How to make you an octagonal roof.
Angela Linn:
Right. And then these are other-- Oh, drawings and newspaper articles regarding the blockhouse.
Roger Topp:
We're opening this up for the first time, aren't we?
Angela Linn:
Yes. So, some of this is printouts from the website--
Roger Topp:
His notes.
Angela Linn:
--the newspaper article, photographs. Ah! Here you go. We have some drawings. Scale drawings. Yep. There you go. Nicely recycled on calendars.
Roger Topp:
I love it. I love it.
Angela Linn:
2018. So, they're dated.
Roger Topp:
I love it. I was like, it's a roll of calendars.
Angela Linn:
Yup. Yeah. So, there you go.
Roger Topp:
Excellent. Well, thank you, Angie. The More You Look is a production of the UA Museum of the North, on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the ancestral lands of the Dene people of the Lower Tanana River. UAMN illuminates the natural history and cultural heritage of Alaska and the North through collections, research, education and partnerships, and by creating a singular museum experience that honors diverse knowledge and respect for the land and its peoples. Thank you for listening. Please subscribe and share and rate the program. This helps other listeners discover more about not only the work of this museum, but quite possibly other museums in their neighborhoods. The more you look, the more you find.