The Juneau-Douglas City Museum hosts a Mug Up program on Saturday, April 30th, from 10:30 to noon. This format is a chance for the community to get together, share snacks and coffee, and swap stories and reminiscences about a topic of mutual, cultural and historic interest. Co-hosts Sharon Gaiptman and Peter Freer will kick off conversation on this day about Joseph Alexander, who owned and operated a photography studio in Juneau from the late 1940s until 1988 and whose photographs tell four decades of Juneau’s history.
Alexander first came to Juneau when working as a photographer for the army and was stationed here during World War II. Afterwards, he returned to Juneau to marry a woman he’d met at an Elk’s Lodge dance, and opened a studio downtown. For a number of years, Alexander’s was the only photography business in town. He took pictures for yearbooks, passports, and wedding albums. He was particularly known for his skill capturing portraits of everyone from babies to graduating seniors to governors. Many Juneau residents of a certain age can tell stories about having their picture taken by Joseph Alexander.
The term “Mug Up” was used in coastal communities by the mid-1800s to describe any snack or coffee break throughout the day or evening. Mug Ups were an important part of life for fishermen and cannery workers as well.
The Mug Up program is the culminating event of three days of “speed dating” with thousands of images from the Joseph Alexander Collection now housed in the City Museum. More than 5,000 of these portraits are unidentified and the Museum has involved the community in several ways to help put names to faces. “Who’s Who? Wednesday” is posted weekly on the Friends of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum’s Facebook page, and the Museum’s online database, accessible via their website, allows anyone access to the J. Alexander collection, www.juneau.org/library/museum/virtual_exhibits.php. From Thursday, April 28th through Saturday, April 30th, the public is invited to visit the Museum and peruse these images, in the hopes that more of the portraits can be identified.
For more information about this event, or to learn about exhibits and other programs, call 586-3572 or visit: www.juneau.org/museum. The Juneau-Douglas City Museum is located at 4th & Main Streets. April is the last month for winter hours, Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-4pm and free admission thanks to the generosity of Michelle and Robert Storer. Summer hours and admission fees go into effect May 2; annual passes are available for $25 and Friends Family level members and up receive free admission all year long.
