1. The Alaska Native Language Archive: Present and Future Partnerships
Stacey Baldridge
Collection Manager, Alaska Native Language Archive
University of Alaska Fairbanks
May 24, 2013 1

2. Alaska Native Language Center
June 9, 1972
founded 1972 by State legislation to be a center for research, documentation, and teaching of the 20 Native languages of Alaska 2

3. Archive Holdings
~ 1500 linear ft. manuscripts, including nearly everything written in or about Alaska Native languages
~ 5000 recordings 3

5. Language Families in Alaska
Eskimo-Aleut (5 languages)
Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit (13 languages)
30+ others in Canada and lower 48
originally called Na-Dene
Haida
Tsimshian
Others?
>14k sites in Tanana Valley
“crossroads of continents” 5

6. Overview: Partnerships
Who is ANLA partnered with?
Why partnerships are important
Current and future challenges
Partnerships allow us to share materials, make storage and back-up capabilities a reality, and work with other institutions to increase access and availability. While some archives collect only a certain language or languages, ANLA collects all 20, making us a central hub for language materials and information. 6

7. ANLA Partnerships
Ahtna Heritage Foundation (C’ek’aedi Hwnax) Copper Center, Alaska (Ahtna Language)
Sealaska Heritage Institute, Juneau, Alaska (Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian)
Native Village of Afognak/Alutiiq Museum, Kodiak, Alaska (Alutiiq)
Upper Kuskokwim Athabascan Language Preservation and Revitalization. Telida, Alaska Project (Upper Kusko)
Others in the future?

8. Importance of Partnerships
Access worldwide
“Sharing the wealth”
Building bridges and connections
Further language research and documentation
-Access worldwide; AK, like other Arctic countries, is sparsely populated, with populations tending to collect around established cities (i.e. Fairbanks, Oslo, Nuuk etc.)
researchers of Alaska native languages are all over the world. We presently have active researchers in Norway, Japan, Canada, and periodically receive requests from other nations.
-sharing the wealth; While ANLA has large grants and University funding, not all archives are so well supported. This allows us to help other repositories and archives with tasks that might otherwise be unattainable.

9. Language documentation
dictionaries
grammars
texts
pedagogical materials 9

10. Archive History
1960 Krauss to UAF, begins collecting copies of anything he can find
1972 state legislation found ANLC but doesn’t mention archive or archiving
1980 first finding aid (Krauss & McGary)
1999 first electronic catalog project
2000 first digitization project (with Oral History)
2001 join OLAC (with ARSC)
2002 relocation to Brooks Building
NEH funds student assistants
UA President’s fund Rose Speranza half-time
NSF funds Stacey Baldridge (first full-time employee) 10

11. Current and Future Challenges
(digital) preservation
(digital) access
repurposing language materials
integration with non-linguistic resources
interface with local language archives
outreach to community-based and academic researchers 11

12. Digital preservation
initial audio digitization efforts begun in 2000 in collaboration with Oral History
2003 founding member of Digital Endangered Languages and Musics Archiving Network
participant in NSF Electronic Metastructures for Endangered Languages project (E-MELD)
currently working with Surreal Studios to digitize entire audio collection
preservation of digital files at ARSC 12

13. Access via catalog
The following slides are some of the ways in which ANLA is reaching out, and providing access to materials, and examples of how our materials are being used to develop new language learning websites and projects. 13

14. 14

16. 16

17. Alutiiq Grammar 17

18. Vast majority of requests are non-linguistic
ethnobotany in the Yukon Flats region
eulogy for Father Rysev
genealogy in the Upper Koyukuk region
Yup’ik music recordings
photos from Prince William Sound region
information on Russian influence in the middle Kuskokwim River region. 18

19. For further discussion
How can we better collaborate on digital access and partnerships?
How can we better engage with communities to develop and repurpose repatriated materials?
How can partnerships benefit users as well as institutions? 19