Archival Support for Iñupiaq Historical and Cultural Materials at Tuzzy Consortium Library of Ilisagvik College

FAIN: PG-252826-17

Ilisagvik College (Barrow, AK 99723-0749)
Christie Burke (Project Director: May 2016 to June 2019)

Purchase of rehousing supplies and environmental monitoring equipment, which would contribute to the prolonged survival of Native Alaskan archives. The collections include books, pamphlets, newspapers, and other items associated with the Iñupiaq people. Of note are 3,000 rare books (many published on the North Slope), 17,000 photographs, 600 films, and 300 linear feet of manuscript materials documenting the history of northern Alaska and Iñupiaq lifeways.

The archival collections at Tuzzy Consortium Library in Barrow, Alaska are focused upon Iñupiaq culture, history, and language, as well as the history of the North Slope region. Tuzzy is also the library for Ilisagvik College, the only tribal college in Alaska. The funding through this grant would help support the archival work at Tuzzy by covering the costs of supplies that are needed to preserve and house fragile and unprocessed materials in Tuzzy’s rare books, manuscript, and photo and media collections. Tuzzy’s full-time Archivist completed a preservation assessment in 2015 that will guide the project and serve as the informed plan in which the Archivist and other personnel manage the collection. By updating the current environmental control system and purchasing supplies for preservation work, Tuzzy can ensure that the irreplaceable and singular cultural and historical materials documenting Iñupiaq life will remain in good condition and accessible to the public.