A reminder of the fragility of our history

Last week’s move to change the name of Colony Days and Colony Christmas should remind us of one thing—the fragility of our history. There is an old saying that history is written by the victors. But when history gets erased there are no victors, we all lose. And this has nothing to do with any political or ideological issues.

Our history is just that, ours, particularly in a state as young as Alaska where so many people have arrived recently. That 1930’s truck out in the old shed your grandfather had that hasn’t run in years, that’s part of history. The old pumps the neighbors used to pump out flood water with, that’s sitting in your basement, that’s history. All the photos your parents and grandparents took of the farm, what they did and how they did it, that’s all history. The 78s sitting boxed in a closet that your grandmother used to listen to on Sunday afternoons, that too is history. That is all physical history.

There are places that may want that physical history. The Transportation Museum in Wasilla, or the various local museums and historical societies in Palmer, Wasilla and any other town, all look for materials to include in their exhibits. If you want to maintain the history of the area, your family, or what happened when the valley was being settled, this is one way to put those things to good use.

There is another type of history though that is often overlooked. That history is our stories. The family stories about how Uncle Joe had to run away from Mr. Drinkwater’s bull one day taking a short cut home from school. When grandpa worked on the railroad and there was a wreck just outside your fields. Warming the engine block of your truck in December with a blow torch so you could get it started. When mom used to can salmon for days. When you were all so sick of potatoes you decided you just weren’t going to eat that day. That’s our history too. It is just as important as the physical aspects of our history.

Professional historians might call this oral history or antiquarian history. The labels don’t matter, it is our history and like the physical artifacts it too deserves to be preserved. It is the history of people, individuals, those who made the valley and the state what it is.

There are organizations that want to help you preserve those stories. The Pioneers of Alaska is a state- wide organization whose mission is to preserve the history of Alaska and its people. It wants to preserve the history of those hardy souls who came to Alaska, through travel or birth, and built it. Most of those hardy souls aren’t famous or mentioned in history books but they are just as important as Baranoff, Shelikoff, or Bering. In fact, without those anonymous people there would be no roads or railroads, no farms, no trucking companies here.

An African proverb notes that “when an elder dies, a library burns to the ground”. Get your stories preserved. Either write the stories down or get them recorded for your children and grandchildren. Get in touch with the local chapter of the Pioneers (www.pioneersofalaska.org) or other organization that seeks to preserve the history of Alaska. They want your stories. If you google for local organizations, you’ll find museums for the Colony House, as well as the towns of Wasilla, Palmer, and Knik. Historical societies for the same areas are listed. Visitor centers often have museums affiliated with them.

Times change, modes of thought shift, and there will be other movements to rename things and how we interpret our history. This is natural and to be expected. But if we don’t preserve the history we have, if we can’t remember what happened or why, there will be nothing to interpret. Those who do not know history may be doomed to repeat it, but if there is no history left because it has been forgotten we are merely adrift with no anchor.

Debbie Dauphinais is a Pre-Colonist and Colonist Grandchild.