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Aleutian Pribilof
Islands Association

1131 East International Airport Rd.
Anchorage, Alaska 99518
Toll Free: (800) 478-2742
Phone: (907) 276-2700
Fax: (907) 279-4351
E-mail: apiai@apiai.org

 

1. Edward C. Johnston2. Fr. Peter Kashevarof

3. Agnes Lekanof 4. Alexandra Lekanof

Ermogen Lekanof 6. George Lekanof

7. Laurence Lekanof 8. Pelagia Lekanof

9. Sophia Lekanof Stefan Lekanof

Constantine Lestenkof12. Demetri Lestenkof

13. Elizabeth Lestenkof Christopher Malavansky

Benjamin Merculief Daniel Merculief

Elizabeth Merculief 18. George Merculief

George Merculief, Jr. 20. Isaiah Merculief

Martha Merculief 22. Mouza Merculief

Helena Philemonof29. Ignaty Philemonof

 

St. George, AK

Save the date for The CAPTURE THE CULTURE GALA!

Please join us for a unique and exciting Silent and Live Auction Gala Fundraiser!
Where: Sheraton Anchorage Hotel
When: Saturday, March 16, 2013
Time: Silent Auction 4pm Dinner 6pm Live Auction 7pm
Register here to attend or donate.

The Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, Inc. (APIA) is seeking donations for the Silent and Live Auction. Merchandise, goods and services, art and jewelry will benefit our fundraiser. No item is too big or too small! We appreciate all donations.  

Thank you for the wonderful items donated to our 2012 fundraiser which included items such as contemporary art,  jewelry, Alaska Native art, prints, services and goods, framing, electronics, food and beverages, clothing, and gift certificates. Many items we receive are combined to create beautiful baskets for our silent auction Click here to Donate an item.

Newsletters Check out the new *Wellness Program Newsletter*

Who Is Eligible For Military Honors: Help identify Aleut Veterans that have passed away and have not received honors for their service in the Alaska Territorial Guard and other Military service. Memorial Benefits Request Form.

Public Service Announcement: September 30, 2011, PSP Project Ends - What's Next?

Shopping: purchase APIA publications, DVD and CD's online using PayPal or an Order Form

Word of the Week: view and listen to a new Unangam Tunuu (Aleut language) word/phrase of the week.

Elders Monthly Potluck and Tea Parties

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Edward C. Johnston

St. George Island Portraits - 1922

edward

Edward C. Johnston
1887 – 1951

Shown with box camera, date unknown, RG22, NARA
Pacific Alaska Region (Anchorge). The original negatives
 for the portraits are housed at the National Marine
 Mammal Library, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Admistration, Seattle, Washington.

An ardent photographer, Johnston took a series of
striking portraits of some St. George Island residents
while working as an agent for the U.S. Dept. of Commerce
on the island. He worked as an agent both on St. George
Island (1919-20, 1922-25) and on St. Paul Island (1925-27).

He also served as superintendent of the Pribilof Islands
from 1939-48. Johnston typed up his subjects’ genealogical
information on index cards. This information is included with
each portrait.

________________________________________

The Edward C. Johnston, St. George Island Portraits (33), 1922 collection is currently on display at Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, Inc. 1131 E. International Airport Road. You may view this exhibit during business hours: Monday - Friday, 8 am - 4:30 pm.

- PHOTOGRAPH ORDERING INFORMATION -

We offer 8 x 10 and 5 x 7 copies of photographs. Click here

We also have a booklet which includes a reduced size of the portraits. For questions or comments please contact the Cultural Heritage Department.

__________________________________________

Edward C. Johnston’s St. George Island Portraits – 1922

These stunning portraits of St. George Island residents in 1922 are extraordinary in many ways. As far as we know, this is the first printing and public viewing of these photographs. The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, the conservator of Johnston’s photographic Collection, had listed the portraits’ glass plate negatives
in the Johnston collection, but they had gone missing. In 2008, thirty-two glass plate portrait negatives turned up in a former Naval Air Field Hangar on NOAA’s Sand Point
campus in Seattle, along with about 238 glass plate negatives and 455 nitrate film negatives of Pribilof Islands’ flora that Johnston had photographed during his tenure as
a Department of Commerce agent on the Pribilof Islands.

More importantly, this collection is unique because they show men, women, and children of the Pribilof Islands in a formal setting. Much of the recorded history of the
Pribilofs focuses on fur seals and the fur-seal industry. Additionally, few formal portraits were being taken in Alaska at the time, especially of its indigenous population – and
let alone on one of the remote Pribilof Islands. It is our fortune that Johnston’s love of photography and desire to document Unangan (Aleut) life on St. George Island outside
of their role as laborers in the seal industry, led him to capture an important part of Pribilof Islands’ history.These are some of the earliest photographic portraits of
Unangan on the islands.

_________________________________________

Exhibit Sponsors

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; NOAA Preserve America Initiative; National Marine Fisheries Service; National Marine Mammal Laboratory Library; Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association; St. George Tanaq Corporation

 

Nedesda Merculief 124. Nadesda Merculief 225. Natalia Merculief26. Nicolai MerculiefSarah Merculief

Marina Shane Julia Swetzof 32.Simeon Swetzof Peter, Peter Jr., and Anna Prokopiof