The More You Look

Fisheries graduate student Sydney Almgren is studying Pacific Herring in the Bering Sea, their genetic diversity and the structure of the population, because it’s good to know what’s happening in the sea, it’s good to refine techniques and analysis for current and future work, and it’s good to be able to provide a better picture of the ocean to fisheries managers.  In this episode a conversation with both Sydney Almgren and UAMN Curator of Fishes, Andres Lopez. 

The More You Look is a production of the UA Museum of the North, on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River. UAMN illuminates the natural history and cultural heritage of Alaska and the North through collections, research, education, and partnerships, and by creating a singular museum experience that honors diverse knowledge and respect for the land and its peoples.

In the museum’s latest special exhibition, Thinking Made Visible, perception, communication, and invention are explored through nature journals and cartoons, maps and scientific fieldnotes, architectural, art, and exhibit design. Memory and sensory experience are given form by the humble sketchbook.

In the course of developing the exhibit, museum staff conducted more than three dozen interviews and delighted in following those branching conversations, the cross-cutting themes and stories for a museum exhibit as conversation across conversations. In this episode, we hear from a few of the contributing artists and scientists about intergenerational influence and encouragement, the planting of the seeds for the practice of observation and the visualization of what we see, what we feel.

The exhibit, Thinking Made Visible, runs through January 5, 2025, in the museum’s special exhibits gallery.

The More You Look is a production of the UA Museum of the North, on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River. UAMN illuminates the natural history and cultural heritage of Alaska and the North through collections, research, education, and partnerships, and by creating a singular museum experience that honors diverse knowledge and respect for the land and its peoples.

The stampede trail bus, or Bus 142, saw more than 70 years of use in Fairbanks and then the mining trail west of Healy, Alaska before being flown back across the Teklanika and eventually becoming an object in a museum collection. Before it became a pilgrimage and a touchstone for memory, and well after its life in the military and the Fairbanks transit system, it was a well-used bunkhouse, a hunting camp for those who knew how to get off the beaten path. 

In the fall of 2022 and the spring of 23, Jerry Freel made three visits to the museum and bus to talk with UAMN Senior Collections Manager for Ethnology and History, Angela Linn about his family’s use of the vehicle. Moose hunting was his dad’s passion. Three visits. Three conversations with Jerry Freel and family.

The More You Look is a production of the UA Museum of the North, on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River. UAMN illuminates the natural history and cultural heritage of Alaska and the North through collections, research, education, and partnerships, and by creating a singular museum experience that honors diverse knowledge and respect for the land and its peoples.

In this bonus Up Close episode, we continue our Episode 16 ("The Silences") conversation with UAMN Film Curator emeritus, Leonard Kamerling. We talk about the increasing need to curate our personal photos, the value in being an outsider as a storyteller, and what projects Kamerling envisions on the horizon.

The More You Look is a production of the UA Museum of the North, on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River. UAMN illuminates the natural history and cultural heritage of Alaska and the North through collections, research, education, and partnerships, and by creating a singular museum experience that honors diverse knowledge and respect for the land and its peoples.

In this episode, we talk about how UAMN Film Curator Emeritus, Leonard Kamerling came to filmmaking. What’s changed in the last quarter-century? What is very much the same? And what should we all, as individuals, as families, think about when it comes to the documentation of our own lives.

The More You Look is a production of the UA Museum of the North, on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River. UAMN illuminates the natural history and cultural heritage of Alaska and the North through collections, research, education, and partnerships, and by creating a singular museum experience that honors diverse knowledge and respect for the land and its peoples.

In this episode of the podcast, a conversation with UAMN Curator of Birds, Kevin Winker, and Ornithology Collection Manager, Jack Withrow about the growth of this museum collection, the vastness of North and how little has been studied in detail, the time-tested value of room temperature preservation, the difference between live mounts and study skins…and so much more. 

The More You Look is a production of the UA Museum of the North, on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River. UAMN illuminates the natural history and cultural heritage of Alaska and the North through collections, research, education, and partnerships, and by creating a singular museum experience that honors diverse knowledge and respect for the land and its peoples.

In this episode, we continue our Episode 14, "Always Getting Ready" conversation with members of the Friends of the UA Museum of the North. The friends are a group of engaged community members whose purpose is to build a bridge of understanding and knowledge about the museum's collections and research. We pick up the discussion with Ron Inouye, Dave Norton, and Tim Doran.

The More You Look is a production of the UA Museum of the North, on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River. UAMN illuminates the natural history and cultural heritage of Alaska and the North through collections, research, education, and partnerships, and by creating a singular museum experience that honors diverse knowledge and respect for the land and its peoples.

Enjoy this illuminating conversation with several members of the Friends of the UA Museum of the North: Ron Inouye, Tim Doran, and Dave Norton. The Friends are a group of engaged community members whose purpose is to build a bridge of understanding and knowledge about the museum's collections—and the research and other work the collections support. They do this through spending time with the staff and the curators, engaging with exhibits, and taking on special projects.

The More You Look is a production of the UA Museum of the North, on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River. UAMN illuminates the natural history and cultural heritage of Alaska and the North through collections, research, education, and partnerships, and by creating a singular museum experience that honors diverse knowledge and respect for the land and its peoples.

The UAMN audio guide, Sounds of Place was conceived and first recorded in the year 2000 by UAMN Film Curator emeritus, Leonard Kamerling and sound-recordist Kathy Turco. Twenty-something years later, it has grown into a mobile app with 6 tours and nearly 200 stops encompassing all of the museum galleries. The UA Museum of the North mobile app is free and available on a smartphone near you. This week on the podcast, “A Taste of Sounds of Place,” 20-something eclectic clips for 20-something years.

The More You Look is a production of the UA Museum of the North, on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River. UAMN illuminates the natural history and cultural heritage of Alaska and the North through collections, research, education, and partnerships, and by creating a singular museum experience that honors diverse knowledge and respect for the land and its peoples.

On September 21st and 22nd, 2023, staff and students from four UAMN research collections excavated a humpback whale skeleton on the UAF campus. This, of course, is not its usual habitat. This was not an ancient, fossilized animal. The skeleton, salvaged from the beach at Kincaid Park, Cook Inlet, in southcentral Alaska, was brought by museum staff to Fairbanks and buried in sand for more than six years in order to allow for the continued natural decomposition of the remaining soft tissues. Maybe not all the remaining soft tissues. More on that in this episode.

The More You Look is a production of the UA Museum of the North, on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River. UAMN illuminates the natural history and cultural heritage of Alaska and the North through collections, research, education, and partnerships, and by creating a singular museum experience that honors diverse knowledge and respect for the land and its peoples.