Jun 22, 2011

Tsimshian: New Internship Launched To Preserve Traditional Culture


Cooperation between the University of Alaska Southeast and Sealaska Heritage Institute has led to the launch of a new internship programme, providing increased opportunities for Tsimshian students to raise understanding and awareness of their unique culture.

Below is an article published by Juneau Empire

 

“Sealaska Heritage Institute has just joined with the University of Alaska Southeast in an internship program to encourage more Native archivists and museum curators.

SHI archivist said that more Natives are needed in these fields that are devoted to the preservation of their cultures.

“This field certainly needs diversity. Especially with museum materials, it’s important to have Natives working in their museums,” said Sealaska Heritage Institute archivist Zachary Jones.

Jones said having Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian students there makes a real difference because they are more in-tune with understanding their cultural materials in a sensitive way.

“They bring special perspectives relative to their own culture,” he said.

The importance of Natives working with their own archives really rubbed off on SHI’s first Tlingit participating in the program, Alyssa Peterson. She became more interested in anthropology and North Coast art in college and has received a scholarship to pursue library science at San José State University.

“When I started interning at SHI, I realized that I could combine my interests with a career in archives. It was a bit of a revelation,” Peterson said in a release. “I can do what I love and still work toward cultural preservation. SHI has definitely shown me that.”

Of the interns, three are at SHI, two at the state archives, one more with the state library and another at the state museum.”

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Photo courtesy of and all copyright belonging to the University of Alaska Southeast