This museum is a great way to explore the different Alaskan regions’ history, culture, and art through extensive permanent exhibits augmented with seasonally temporary and changing exhibitions. The Alaska State Museum’s collections include the Athabascan cultures of Alaska, cultural materials from the Northwest Coat people (Haida, Tlingit, and Tsimshian), the Yup’ik of Alaska Southwest, the North Coat’s Inupiaq, the Unangax from out along the Aleutian chain, and the Alutiiq people of Kodiak Island and Prince William Sound. Artifacts from Alaska’s Russian colonial eras, fine art, state and political history, natural history, industry, and trades can also be found on exhibit.

The Alaska State Museum was established in 1900, and it collects, exhibits, and preserves the human and natural history of Alaska. It also features an extensive ethnographic exhibition on the Alaskan Native people’s cultures, a full-size bald eagle nesting tree, two galleries with seasonal changing exhibits, and a ground arboretum that include popular Alaskan plants; the Alaska State Museum provides services and assists in the state’s cultural and historic resources development and a store that’s operated by the Friends of Alaska State Museum which features a wide array of native publications, arts, and educational materials.

In 2014, the Alaska State Museum underwent a $139 million renovation, and it reopened its doors after two years and three months of closure. The museum closed temporarily to create a new facility that joined the Archives Museum and State Libraries in a comprehensive and unique research facility. The old structure was demolished in August 2014, and the new facility opened its doors on the same footprint on June 6, 2016. The new building was named after the museum’s first curator, Father Andrew P. Kashevaroff, the Russian Orthodox priest. This building is also known as APK, and it is accredited by the American Association of Museums.

 

395 Whittier St, Juneau, AK 99801 | +1 907-465-2901