Talking about Wasilla

WASILLA — With progress moving the city forward, an oral history project is remembering what’s past.

Bethany Buckingham, the curator at the Dorothy G. Page Museum, is taking audio and video recordings of local residents with a story to tell, and she is actively calling for volunteers.

“We are losing the older generation. We need to get this information down,” Buckingham said.

Once recorded, the information will be included with the exhibits at the museum. Buckingham said her vision is to have touch screens at various displays to play the recordings that correspond with the other materials presented.

“If we can get a grant to do the touch screens, we will do it before 2017. The whole catalyst to do this was Wasilla’s centennial celebration happening that year,” she said.

Buckingham said the Wasilla Centennial Digital Story Project, as it is tentatively called, focuses on residents’ experiences living and working in the Valley. Questions range from what toys did you play with and where did they come from to do you think your values shifted by living in the area.

More specifically, Buckingham said she is interested in what life was like during distinct phases of the Valley’s past. The questions are tailored depending on the interviewee’s experiences and cover 15 particular topics. Topics range from historical epochs like the Great Depression and the designation of Alaska’s statehood, to economic growth such as the railroad and mining, and more current subjects like the oil pipeline and growth of tourism.

“We want to present a well-rounded version of the history of Wasilla,” Buckingham said.

In the half dozen interviews Buckingham has done so far, she said she has already learned some interesting anecdotes. For example, she said, one interviewee explained how Wasilla was a bit of a party destination in the 1930s. People living in Anchorage would take the train out, go to a dance, then head home.

“The first thing held in the new school house when it was built was actually a dance,” Buckingham said.

She said it has become clear how central Teeland’s General Store was to the history of Wasilla. Many of the stories center around the place where most people got their supplies, Buckingham said.

The interview process consists of five sessions of about 45 minutes of questions and answers per session. The first session is spent getting to know the interviewee, then the more specific questions follow later. The sessions can take place either at the museum or the interviewee’s house.

The project is similar to projects being done by the Mat-Su Borough, the Library of Congress and the History Channel, Buckingham said. However, she does not have strict requirements for participation. While the project does focus on Wasilla and its history, the surrounding areas are just as important, and the history doesn’t have to be 50 years past.

“When you talk about Wasilla, you have to talk about the surrounding communities. … We’re taking pretty much anyone, whether they lived here, moved here or worked here,” she said. “I’m even looking for people who were born here in the ‘70s and ‘80s. We want to talk to anyone who has a story of Wasilla.”

Buckingham said she is taking nominations from anyone interested in either being an interviewee or working as an interviewer. She asked those people to contact her at 373-9071 or museum@ci.wasilla.ak.us.

As to when the results will be available at the museum, Buckingham said it all depends on funding. She is actively working on securing grants, but could not give a timeline.

“If someone wanted to donate money to do that, that’d be great.”

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.