If you don\u2019t know the name Bob DeArmond, you don\u2019t know Juneau history.<\/p>\n
DeArmond was one of the founders of the Gastineau Channel Historical Society and wrote prolifically about local history. Now, his son William has released a revised and updated version of one of Bob\u2019s most popular books, “Southeast Alaska Names on the Chart and How They Got There,” sometimes called \u201cNames on the Chart.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he did the original, he didn\u2019t have access to the Internet, and I was able to clarify and fix up obscure spellings of English estates and Army and Navy people of the 18th century,\u201d William said by phone.<\/p>\n
The updated version was released in September and is the third release of \u201cNames on the Chart\u201d since it was originally published in 1989.<\/p>\n
Intended to be kept in a backpack or a boat\u2019s pilothouse, it remains the definitive explanation for names like Point Retreat and Meyers Chuck.<\/p>\n
De Armond (William spells his last name with a space, though his father did not) said the newest version includes new additions urged by readers and some corrections to fix errors in previous editions. This edition is the first to provide the history behind all of Southeast Alaska\u2019s manned lighthouses, he said by example.<\/p>\n
The book used to be a best-seller in the gift shops aboard ferries, and it remains popular at local bookstores. In Juneau, Hearthside Books carries it. In Sitka, it\u2019s Old Harbor Books. In Ketchikan, Parnassus Books ordered 250 copies, De Armond said.<\/p>\n
Updating the book took about two years and involved many historical society members, he said. Because the printing plates of the original versions were lost, the book had to be reproduced by scanning old printed copies, then editing and rewriting the result. Some of the illustrations from the 27-year-old original were recovered in the same way and reprinted.<\/p>\n
De Armond isn\u2019t stopping with \u201cNames on the Chart,\u201d either. His current project involves updating his father\u2019s work from the 1950s, \u201cSome Names Around Juneau.\u201d<\/p>\n
That work will be serialized in the next three issues of the historical society\u2019s newsletter before becoming more widely available.<\/p>\n
To learn more about the historical society or to become a member, visit the Juneau-Douglas City Museum and pick up a brochure.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
* Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the correct full names of the books referenced: “Southeast Alaska Names on the Chart and How They Got There,” not “Names on the Coast,” and “Some Names Around Juneau,” not “Names Around Juneau.” Also, William De Armond spells his name with a space and lives in Juneau, not Ketchikan. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you don\u2019t know the name Bob DeArmond, you don\u2019t know Juneau history. DeArmond was one of the founders of the Gastineau Channel Historical Society and wrote prolifically about local history. Now, his son William has released a revised and updated version of one of Bob\u2019s most popular books, “Southeast Alaska Names on the Chart […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":426,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[74],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-27948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-arts-and-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/426"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27948\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27948"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=27948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}