AFN Coverage

Photos: Anchorage Museum looking for info on 500 photos at AFN

Among political groups peddling their agendas and Alaska Native artists selling authentic goods at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention Friday was a booth scattered with a series of folders containing more than 500 photographs from Alaska Native communities.

The images, brought to the convention by the Anchorage Museum in hopes that passers-by could identify people and places shown in them, sparked nostalgia as elders took turns browsing in hopes of seeing an old friend, a grandparent or a unique trait of their home communities.

But the pictures have provided more than just information. Teressa Williams, the Anchorage Museum's Atwood Resource Center manager and librarian, said those looking through them experience little flashbacks into the past, sparking them to share stories and smiles with the strangers sitting next to them at the booth.

Read more: Elders peek into past while helping sort museum's photo collection

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