Two hundred and thirty-seven years have passed since Captain James Cook sailed along the shore where Anchor Point, Ninilchik, Kenai and Anchorage now stand, carefully mapping the area, making the first contact between Dena'ina and Europeans and keeping detailed notes in his acclaimed journal.
On March 27, that very journal will go on display as part of "Arctic Ambitions: Captain Cook and the Northwest Passage," a major summer-long exhibition at the Anchorage Museum. It will be the first time the journal has been back in the area since Cook sat in the cabin of his ship off Fire Island and took quill to hand to record his observations. In fact, it will be the first time the journal has traveled outside of England since the voyage returned home -- without Cook, who was killed in Hawaii.
More information about the exhibit will follow when it opens. Before then, Alaskans have an excellent opportunity to get an understanding of the explorer in the next Cook Inlet Historical Society lecture, "Captain Cook in Alaska." CIHS President Jim Barnett, an author and avid scholar of Cook's voyages, will present the talk.
"Arctic Ambitions" is not the first Anchorage Museum show about Cook, but it's much bigger than the Cook retrospective of some years ago. In addition, Barnett said, the world of Cookology has been shaken up in the past couple of decades. For many years, the popular image of Cook concentrated on him as an explorer of the tropics. His Alaska voyage and the follow-up trip made by his crew after his death were treated as footnotes. And yet, Barnett notes, the main reason for the voyage was to search for a Northwest Passage through the Arctic from the Pacific side.
Researchers have recently begun to pay more attention to the idea of Cook as a polar explorer, both in the Arctic and Antarctic, Bennett said. The upcoming show will be the first major museum exhibit to focus on that aspect of Cook's career.
"Captain Cook in Alaska" will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 19, in the museum auditorium. Enter through the doors on the Seventh Avenue side of the building. The event is free.
The Cook Inlet Historical Society is one of the main sponsors of "Arctic Ambitions" and heavily involved with additional events associated with both the exhibit and this year's Anchorage Centennial. A few upcoming highlights:
• Anchorage Museum curator Aaron Leggett will talk on April 16 about "The Arrival of the Underwater People: Captain Cook and his Crew meet the Dena'ina." Free.
• Alaska Gallery curator Katherine Ringsmuth will present a lecture on May 21, "Home Field Advantage: Baseball in the Far North." Free.
• The Anchorage Centennial Symposium will take place June 18-20 and includes a reception and luncheon as well as full-day discussions of Cook's trip to Alaska (June 19) and the history of Anchorage (June 20). The mayor of Whidby, England, Anchorage's sister city and the port from which Cook sailed, will be among the guests. Registration is $95, $85 for CIHS members.
• "Anchorage in 1915: Its Founding and Significance to the World" will be presented on July 9 by Preston Jones, whose historical works include "City for Empire: An Anchorage History" and "Empire's Edge: American Society in Nome, Alaska." Free.
• A panel discussion on the 40th anniversary of the Municipality of Anchorage will take place on Aug. 20. Free.
More information and registration for the June symposium can be found at www.cookinlethistory.org.
Supper with the storyteller
Alaska Junior Theater is presenting master storyteller David Gonzalez in several shows for Anchorage school kids next week and one public show of his performance piece, "Aesop Bops!" at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, in the Discovery Theatre. The show is described as "a feast of funky, physical storytelling" based on the classic Greek fables and at $14, the ticket for the Saturday show is as family friendly as the fare. They're available at centertix.net and www.akjt.org.
The public is invited to meet Gonzalez and jazz pianist Daniel Kelly at a Community Welcome Dinner at 6 p.m. on Monday, March 16, at the Kaleidoscape Play Studio; if you have a toddler you probably know how to find the place in the dark, but for the rest of us, it's in the University Center. Bring a dish and meet the artist close up.
In addition, there will be a free storytelling workshop at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, March 18 at the Muldoon Library, 1251 Muldoon Road.
2Cellos sells out
The pop cello duo of Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser, aka 2Cellos, has sold out its performance on Friday, March 13 in Atwood Concert Hall. For fans still looking to get in -- and there must be a lot of you out there -- the Anchorage Concert Association suggests coming to the box office at about 6:30 p.m. on the day of the show. Sometimes people holding tickets can't make the show and the returns are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no waiting list, so you'll need to be there in person.
Oomittuk in Bavaria
Point Hope artist Othniel Art Oomittuk Jr. is one of three artists involved in a show at the Bavarian Forest National Park in Germany. "Tikigaqmiut -- We Are Who We Were" opened in December and will remain on display through the middle of April at the park's House of Wilderness -- Ludwigsthal. It features mask forms and graphics that "explain the being of the First Nations of the North American Continent."
While at the opening, Oomittuk received a special reception from German colleagues with the fire department of Lindberger, apparently the closest place with a fire station. In addition to being an artist with an international reputation, Oomittuk is also fire chief of the Tikigaq Volunteer Fire Department.
Iditarod old-timers in Palmer
Fireside Books in Palmer will host a reception with Jon Van Zyle, Gail Phillips and other members of the "The Old Iditarod Gang" signing copies of "Iditarod: The First Ten Years" at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 14.