Local History Professional Recieves Recognition

Anjuli Grantham. Kayla Desroches/KMXT

Kayla Desroches/KMXT

The Baranov Museum’s curator of collections and exhibits just received the President’s Award from the Alaska Historical Society for service in the field of history. Anjuli Grantham says the award is more for her extra-curricular history activities than her time at the Baranov Museum.

When she’s not working full-time in a history museum, she spends her free time on history too.

“I’ve served on the board of the Alaska Historical Society for about four years I think, but mostly the major service that I’ve provided is a lot of advocacy work for history programs. Every year, I go to Juneau and speak with the legislature about the importance of history programs and museum funding, and I do a lot to kind of advance the call to continue these programs around the state.”

Grantham says that was the first factor in receiving the award.

“The other component is that I’ve spearheaded a project called the Alaska Historic Canneries Initiative, and we just launched it last week. And it’s a state-wide effort, grass-roots effort to do a better job of documenting and preserving the history of sea-food processing in the state. So, I’ve spent the last couple of years planning for that initiative, and now I’m directing it.”

Grantham grew up in Kodiak and is invested in both the history of Alaska and the history of the seafood industry.

“Really, the fishing industry and the processing industry define coastal Alaska. It’s an intrinsic part of our landscape and our beings and our economies and our cultures, but it hasn’t gotten the attention that other industries in Alaska have. The canaries themselves are architectural wonders. Large industrial sites – many of them that are over 100 years old, but only two of them are listed on the national register of historic places.”

She says it’s time that people pay more attention to the history of the seafood industry to show that this is an important part of culture in Alaska, and Alaskans are dedicated to preserving it.