Alaska Day 5: Nome, 08.20.07 - Museum

A Day at the Museum. Today was the day we met with Laura Samuelson, the director of Carrie M. McLain Museum in Nome, to donate original cards, letters and photos from Mary Catherine and Joseph Plein. Mary Alice has been keeping this trove safe for years until she found the right place to donate it. The letters were sent from both Nome, where the Pleins lived from 1900-1914 and Marshall/Fortuna Ledge, where they resided from about 1915-1932. Mary Alice made numerous copies of the letters, and gave sets to Ginger, Kelley and me. The museum happily accepted the letters, but asked that we take the photos home (there are probably between 60-75 of them), scan each one onto disk, and carefully document them more fully. The photos are now in my possession and soon I'll begin the scanning project. Then Mary Alice may come out to Arizona to help provide provenance for each photo.

We had hoped to do more research on the Pleins, and search microfilms of old newspapers, of court cases involving Joseph Plein (there were three), of mining claims, etc., but our efforts were thwarted by a broken microfiche machine. Laura tried to arrange for me to use the one at the University of AK-Fairbanks/Nome library, but their machine was also broken.

Despite the research frustration, we all genuinely enjoyed our time at the museum, and spent a lot time looking at books, exhibits and photo collections. Laura and Beverly could not have been nicer or more helpful.


The Museum Ladies Nome local (and granddaughter of Carrie McLain) Cussie Kauer, museum staff member Beverly Gelzer, Mary Alice Lee, Ginger Danzer, museum director Laura Samuelson and (me)Ginny Reilly.
On Wed., Cussie's mother met us at the museum, looked through the Plein photos of Nome, and helped us identify local buildings.




Kelley Allton, Ginger, Mary Alice, Ginny, Beverly & Laura (museum photos by Kelley, with the help of her camera timer).




























The Gold Dredger. Kelley and I took a long evening beach walk to find sea glass. (I learned that sea glass are shards of glass that have turned opaque and funky after years of being worn down by the ocean.) Along the way, we ran into a man who had designed his own little gold dredge, which he operated the public beaches of Nome. At left, you can see his "catch" for the day -- a line of little specks of gold on the right side
of the pan.









Kelley's first time in the Bering Sea. This would be probably be as good a time to talk about what a terrible roommate Kelley was. I could leave all the lights on and make as much noise as possible, and she could sleep through it all. Where's the challenge in that? And she didn't steal any of my chocolate! What, my chocolate isn't good enough for her? Wow, those redheads is nothing but trouble.








Ginny steps into the Bering Sea. Since I come from the desert, Ginger, Mary Alice & Kelley are forced to spend much of their time with me explaining basic concepts like "oceans," "marine life" and "beaches." One morning, after patiently teaching me the difference between a lagoon and a sound, they admitted that although normally none of them drinks at all, that this week they've all been imbibing heavily just to assuage the pain of my constant questions.









Crabfest. Mary Alice & Kelley enjoying crab at the Polar Cafe. I believe "crab" is a type of edible marine creature, but I will have to look it up on wikipedia.







The only mean person in Nome totally chewed out Kelley for staging this photo at the (closed) Nugget Inn bar. I mean, all Nike Girl did was take out a few glasses and a bottle of Grand Marnier from behind the bar, and some cranky chick at the Nugget is screaming at her like she's doing something dastardly! Luckily, the Nugget Hag was the only nasty person in a town of friendly souls.



Kicking it with the Lee Sisters. Ginger and Mary Alice in front of the Bering Sea Saloon.