Alaska State Museum - Have Twins, Will Travel

Juneau, Alaska – When we weren’t busy climbing mountains, hanging out with humpback whales, and exploring glaciers, Daddio and I have spent our time in Juneau doing research for our forthcoming book, The Last Stand of the Raven Clan. This takes place mostly at the Alaska State Museum and Archives.

The museum has an impressive collection of artifacts from various native Alaskan groups, including lots of cool Tlingit stuff. This awesome frog hat (c 1840) comes from the heroes of our book–the Kiksadi clan in Sitka.

The museum also contains some fascinating artifacts from Russian Alaska:

Russian metal plate on display at Alaska State Museum — *One of several metal plates buried in secret places along the Alaskan coast, claiming the territory as a Russian possession.*

Double-headed eagle crest on display at Alaska State Museum — *Double-headed eagle crest (symbol of the Russian Empire) presented to a Tlingit chief during peace negotiations following the Battle of Sitka in 1804.*

Baranov medal from Alaska State Museum — *Medal presented to Alexander Baranov for “maintaining diligence in establishing, strengthening and maintaining Russian trade in America, 1799.”*

We could not get the twins excited about the Alaska State Museum. While we worked, they spent a lot of time at Heritage Coffee, reading comic books and drinking hot chocolate, in true hipster fashion.

juneau, museum, raven clan, restaurant review, russia, russian america, southeast alaska, tlingit, tweens