Baranov Museum Curator of Collections and Exhibits Leaving Museum

Kayla Desroches/KMXT

After almost five years at the Baranov Museum, the museum’s curator of collections and exhibits is moving on. Kodiak local Anjuli Grantham has been active in the history scene both locally and state-wide.

She recently completed a project called West Side Stories, which has a multimedia focus on the lives of setnetters and cannery workers on Kodiak’s west side, and she’s the director of the Alaska Historic Canneries Initiative, which focuses on educating the public about Alaska’s cannery history.

Grantham says after leaving the Baranov, she’ll be freelancing – or contracting – with different groups and museums.

“Being a contractor means that I’m available to work on private and public projects that require a historian or – I’m a writer as well – so I’ll continue to be reporting for Pacific Fishing and other publications, but I, for example, I’ll be working on projects with museum collections and Kodiak and also Southeast Alaska, I have something going on there.”

Grantham says she’ll be working with a museum in Petersburg on the catalog and inventory of their collection. She also says she’ll collaborate with other artists and historians on history projects, including one based downtown.

“We’re hoping to be able to create some interpretive signs, looking at salmon cannery history, which will be in downtown Kodiak, and so we’re waiting to see if that makes it into the budget for this coming year, so I’ll be working on a variety of projects that relate to history and the seafood industry and museums.”

Grantham looks back at some of her achievements while at the Baranov Museum, and the redesign of the museum stands out. She says staff has a plan in place to renovate the first floor and is currently fundraising for that.

“And if we’re able to successfully get that funding, we’re gonna start as early as this winter with implementing it, so to be able to be involved with planning for that project and looking at a new way of discussing Kodiak history and selecting all the objects and images and writing the text was an incredible experience.”

Grantham predicts she’ll be traveling more often now that she’s working with different museums, and says she’s going on a road trip at the end of June.

“I’m going down the Alcan for the first time in sixteen years and I’ll be writing down there, looking at fishing industry stories in Washington and doing some reporting, so I will just be engaged in a variety of interesting projects.”

Grantham says her last day is May 31. You can drop by to say hello until then and check out the West Side Stories project, which will be on exhibit at the Baranov Museum starting Friday.