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Office of History and Archaeology (OHA)
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(Section 106 NHPA/A.S. 41.35.070)
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CLG Training Opportunities & Matching Travel Grants
(Anchorage, AK) -To All Certified Local Governments: The Office of History and Archaeology (OHA) would like to announce an upcoming grant-funded training opportunity for local government historic preservation staff and board members.   OHA will be accepting applications for training & travel grants from the Historic Preservation Fund to the following two conferences:
  • National Alliance of Preservation Commissions Biennial Forum: “Charting the Course.”   Norfolk, Virginia:  July 18-22, 2012
  • National Trust for Historic Preservation: 2012.   Spokane, WA:  Oct 31-Nov 3, 2012.

The formal announcement letter, information for each conference, and a grant application are attached.  A packet containing this material was also mailed to each CLG contact, official and preservation commission board chair. 

Deadline for application is May 30, 2012. Applications must be postmarked or e-mailed by 5:00 PM, Wednesday, May 30, 2012. 

A Certified Local Government (CLG) may apply to one or the other conference, but not both. Each CLG may send up to 2 people, but only one application from a CLG will be accepted, so be sure it covers both individual’s estimated costs. These grants, as with others for CLGs, will comprise a 60-40 percent split between federal and local sponsor matching share. A CLG may use their “Personal Services” line item as the 40% match. For example, local government employees and preservation commission members may use the time spent traveling to and from, as well as time spent at the conference, as match.

Airfare, lodging, per diem, basic transportation, and basic conference registration fees are also eligible for reimbursement by the grant. (A rental car is not an eligible expense unless that cost is shown to be less than the total of necessary taxi/shuttle fare while at the conference.) The CLG or each traveler is responsible for making travel and training arrangements, and will pay all costs initially. Upon completion of training/travel, the CLG must submit a request for reimbursement and receipts relevant to the grant as identified within your budget proposal. The State of Alaska will issue only one check to reimburse the CLG, so again be sure the request for reimbursement includes each person’s relevant expenses and receipts.

For budget planning purposes, you may consider the following estimates:
Spokane
Conference Registration = $200
Shuttle/Taxi/Airport Parking = $200
Round trip Airfare = $800
Lodging = $125/night
Per diem =  $61/day
More Information

Norfolk
Conference Registration = $190
Shuttle/Taxi/Airport Parking = $200
Round trip Airfare = $1,200
Lodging = $115/night
Per diem = $56/day
More Information

The Office of History and Archaeology will notify each CLG regarding the success of its proposal as soon as possible after receipt of the application. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

grant application


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State archaeologist explores Russian heritage
(Anchorage, AK) – State Archaeologist Dave McMahan has been building a base of knowledge about Alaska's historic Russian settlements for the past three decades. However, many Russian artifacts he and others have discovered in Alaska aren't explained in writings from the period. In McMahan's words, to properly identify and understand the cultural significance of these items, "you have to go to the motherland."

Based in the Alaska Division of Parks & Outdoor Recreation, McMahan has been the state archaeologist for roughly a decade and he presently serves as the president of the International Association of Specialists on Russian America (IASRA). For most of the past decade, McMahan has spent a portion of his summers visiting Russian communities with special significance to the country's early settlement of Alaska. This work is primarily funded with grant money and vacation time.

This summer, McMahan made his 7th research trip to Russia. With other IASRA members, he traveled to Ryazan, 122 miles southeast of Moscow, where he met museum and university officials and visited archaeological sites as well as the home of the 19th century Alaska explorer Lavrenty Zagoskin. Zagoskin explored the Yukon, Kuskokwim, Innoko and Koyukuk rivers during the early 1840s. Russian polar explorer Mikhail Malakhov retraced a portion of Zagoskin's travels in Alaska this summer.

McMahan then traveled to Kaluga, 117 miles southwest of Moscow, where he met the Russian Orthodox Chancellor for the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Kliment, an expert in the early history of the Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska. McMahan also made presentations of his research on colonial settlements in Alaska at a seminar in Vologda. He then traveled to Totma, the home base for many Russian traders who participated in the Alaska fur trade.

McMahan said the ultimate goal of these trips has been to enrich the understanding of Russian settlement and artifacts found in Alaska. Thanks to the connections made in Russia, when he or others in Alaska – museum curators, for example – have a question about artifacts found in Alaska, they have colleagues in Russia that they can call or e-mail, he said.

The cultural component is also significant. "There is a significant Alaska connection in some of these communities. People there still feel very connected to Alaska. In Totma, for example, even though it is an inland city, a number of people who lived there in the 18th and 19th century ended up on voyages of exploration to Alaska. These Russian seafarers became wealthy from their trading and sent back money to build churches in Totma, including one that is now the Seafarers' Museum," McMahan said.

McMahan's travels this summer were made possible by the Alaska Historical Society, the Alaska International Education Foundation and the National Science Foundation. Other scientists who joined him on the trip include Ty Dilliplane, a Lower 48 professor and former Alaska State Historic Preservation Officer, noted Russian historian Alexander Petrov and Yury Lyhkin, scientific advisor to the Taltsi Museum of Architecture and Ethnography in Irkutsk.

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New Guidelines for Integrated Business System / Alaska Heritage Resources Survey (IBS/AHRS) Access
Beginning July 1, 2011 the Office of History and Archaeology has new guidelines for Integrated Business System / Alaska Heritage Resources Survey (IBS/AHRS) access.

Please see: http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/oha/ahrs/ahrs.htm for details.

All users must complete all the applicable forms found at the above web site to continue accessing the IBS/AHRS.

An OHA Litigation Disclosure Form and an AHRS Data Request Form must be completed for each project; the user agreements are renewed annually.

In addition, non-agency personnel and contractors are required to:
(1) demonstrate a legitimate business or research need,
(2) attend an IBS/AHRS training course,
(3) submit proof of completion of a B.S. or B.A. degree in archaeology, and anthropology, architectural history, history, or historic preservation.

Please note that contractors working for a federal, state, or local agencies are not considered agency users.

The IBS/AHRS Orientation Workshop is a half day training that is offered at OHA on the second Thursday of each month. For individuals outside Anchorage training is offered via the web as needed. The training provides IBS/AHRS users with the basic skills needed to effectively and responsibly use the digital and paper resources of the Office of History and Archaeology.


Office of History and Archaeology, 550 W. 7th Ave. Suite 1310, Anchorage AK 99501-3565
Phone: (907) 269-8721, Fax: (907) 269-8908, email: oha@alaska.net

Last updated on Tuesday, May 1, 2012 .
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