William Schneider, Professor Emeritus and the previous Curator of Oral History for the University of Alaska Fairbanks, recently published “On Time Delivery – The Dog Team Mail Carriers” (University of Alaska Press) which is based on his research using oral history recordings to document the life of the dog team mail carrier before the advent of airplanes. With the advent and widespread adoption of aviation, many of the trails were abandonded, and a generation of rural Alaskans has now grown up with few ties to the overland trail system that supported their grandparents and inspired modern traditions such as the world-famous Iditarod Race.
Karen Brewster, Research Associate in the Oral History Program at the Rasmuson Library, UAF, published “Boots, Bikes and Bombers – Adventures of Alaska Conservationist Ginny Hill Wood” (University of Alaska Press). This book documents the life history of Ginny Hill Wood through oral history recordings.
Ginny Hill Wood was a pioneering Alaska conservationist and outdoorswoman who served as a Women’s Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) in World War II, co-founded Camp Denali, Alaska’s first wilderness ecotourism lodge, helped start the Alaska Conservation Society, the state’s first environmental organization; and applied her love of the outdoors to her work as a backcountry guide and an advocate for trail construction and preservation.
