By Sue Bergstrom for Valdez City News –
The first museum in Valdez was founded in 1901 by prospector Joseph Bourke. He collected items of interest and displayed them in several places around town. When the town relocated after the 1964 earthquake, these items moved with it. Citizens of Valdez, concerned that they might be lost, took the initiative to save and relocate them. They form the core of present museum’s collection. In 1967 a Centennial Grant awarded by the State of Alaska paid for the museum’s current home at 217 Egan Drive. The museum opened that same year. At that time it was a department of the City of Valdez. During the 1990s a Friends of the Valdez Museum group was formed to support the museum’s goals. Archival material, which had been in the custody of a well-known local became part of the collection. The private non-profit Valdez Museum and Historical Archive Association was formed in 1997. Its purpose is to manage and operate the museum. The collection remains the property of the City of Valdez
Once again, Valdez Museum and Historical Archive needs a new home. It has outgrown the building it’s in. But a new museum building is not like a new or bigger store or office. A Museum board needs to know what it wants to do in its new space, how much it needs and what it should look like. Museums are visual places and they’re meant for the public. They need to be welcoming, accessible and beautiful. They need to be what visitors and community members want.
The first step in that process was finished in July when the museum building committee decided to hire Alchemy of Design, a Portland Oregon firm, to assist with a master interpretive plan. That’s a plan that defines what the museum building needs to grow and evolve. Then they need to look at whether building from the ground up or remodeling and expanding an existing structure will work best.
Alchemy of Design’s web site gives this description.
“Our team has worked on projects covering cultural history, geology, paleontology, physical science, and the ways humans interact with and influence ecosystems. We have integrated big ideas into specific concepts in fun, interesting, and accessible ways. We also know how to build an effective exhibit team. We have worked congenially together in one form or another since 1989, and each member’s talents and experiences adds richness to the whole.”
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Creative Director/Exhibit Designer Alan Ransenberg has collaborated with Valdez Museum before. He worked on the recent upgrade to the exhibit ‘A Moving Experience: A Look Back at the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake’, which was unveiled last year. Alchemy Design also helped the museum survey storage needs for the existing collections.
The next step in the planning process is soliciting input from the community. Stakeholder meetings are scheduled for Monday, August 17th and Tuesday, August 18th. This is your chance to help decide the direction our museum will take.
