The University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum of the North is a wonderful stop for visitors to Fairbanks. Found on campus, the architecturally abstract igloo-and-aurora inspired building holds artifact rich exhibits on the history, culture, geology and living experiences of each of the state’s regions in the Gallery of Alaska. Regions include: Southeast (Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian); Southcentral (Eyak and Alutiiq); Interior (Athabascan); Southwest (Aleut and Alutiiq); and Western Arctic Coast (Inupiaq and Yupik Eskimo)
Otto the Brown Bear
You are greeted by the 1,250 pound stuffed bear Otto who stands 8’2” tall. The exhibits are well layed out and flow smoothly from region to region. Each region has displays of the animals found there. Additionally there are native art, clothing, baskets, kayaks, etc which provide an excellent cultural introduction to the people who have inhabited the region.
Clothing made from seal skin in the Western Arctic Coast region
There is information and displays about the gold rush, building the Dalton Highway and the ALCAN Highway, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, the role and experience of Alaskans in WWII, Russian Immigration and the aurora borealis.
Alaska Gold
Additionally, the museum has an excellent collection of dinosaur bones, teeth, and footprints. Their dinosaur collection has been collected from throughout Alaska. Each summer, exhibitions led by a professor and a museum curator travel to many regions of the state: Coleville, along the Yukon River, in the permafrost of the North Slope and several other areas have been the most productive. There are wooly mammoth, mastodon, duck bill dinosaurs (hadrosaurs), tyrannosaurus, pachysaurus, and diplodocus to name a few.
Woolly Mammoth and Mastodons
Blue Babe the 36,000 year old preserved steppe bison
There is an auditorium which was rotating three films throughout the day with one film showing on the hour each hour while we visited. The three we watched included: “Dynamic Aurora” about the aurora borealis, “Dinosaurs” about the University’s exhibitions, and “Arctic Currents” about the life of bow whales and their relationship to coastal native villages.
The museum also houses an art gallery of Alaskan art on their second floor.
Ivory carvings on display
Several photographs from Michio Hoshino’s Alaskan works were on display as well.
Polar bears by Michio Hoshino
Caribou by Michio Hoshino
