{"id":7977,"date":"2016-06-07T01:44:09","date_gmt":"2016-06-07T08:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/grand-slam-new-state-museum-opens\/"},"modified":"2016-06-07T01:44:09","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T08:44:09","slug":"grand-slam-new-state-museum-opens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/grand-slam-new-state-museum-opens\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand SLAM: New state museum opens"},"content":{"rendered":"
After 12 years and about $140 million in development, Alaska has a new state museum.<\/p>\n
The Andrew P. Kashevaroff State Library, Archives and Museum, affectionately known as the SLAM, officially opened after an hourlong ceremony featuring speeches from state dignitaries and song and dance from the Harborview Elementary School Tlingit Culture and Language Literacy Program. Hundreds of people filled the plaza outside the new building, standing under a cloud-dappled sky that occasionally dropped rain showers. The clouds parted just as Sen. Dennis Egan, D-Juneau, rose to speak.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a moment that will be marked in Alaska\u2019s history by what is happening today,\u201d Gov. Bill Walker told the crowd. \u201cThis building is absolutely phenomenal by what it represents.\u201d<\/p>\n
What it represents is a long-term commitment. Bob Banghart, deputy director of the state division of Libraries, Archives and Museums, has repeatedly said the new building \u2014 which combines the services of the capital\u2019s museum, archives and library into one structure \u2014 can last 100 years.<\/p>\n
The previous museum, built on the same location in time for the 1967 Alaska Centennial, lasted just shy of 50 years. It was torn down in 2014 as construction of the new building progressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis building ate it,\u201d Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott said of the old museum, \u201cand it has digested it well.\u201d<\/p>\n
At 118,000 square feet, the SLAM is seven times as large as the old museum, and it was intended to have space for 50 years\u2019 worth of new collections. The closure of the National Archives office in Anchorage took up some of that room with transferred items, but there\u2019s plenty of room to grow.<\/p>\n
The building is one of the last significant state projects to be funded with money collected and allocated in the 2008 oil boom.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing I\u2019ll say about this building: Timing is everything, and it was really good timing by somebody\u2019s part. We can afford to cut the ribbon,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n
Many lawmakers were in attendance at the ceremony, and Mallott alluded to their presence and the state\u2019s current fiscal situation.<\/p>\n
He said the building \u201ccelebrates what, if we make the right choices about our future in coming days, we can celebrate both collectively, symbolically and really when we say, Alaska can build the most beautiful edifices.\u201d<\/p>\n
Museum conservator Ellen Carrlee was in the audience, listening to the speeches given by the governor, lieutenant governor and eight others.<\/p>\n
In her hands, she held a framed picture of the decorative panels that adorned the old museum. It was given to her by a friend on the new museum\u2019s opening day to commemorate the years of work involved in the new building\u2019s construction and outfitting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a huge relief to finally be here,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s like studying for a big exam: You study and you study \u2014 you could always study a little more \u2014 but to have it be here is tremendous. It\u2019s not all the way done, but we couldn\u2019t keep people out any longer. People want in, they want to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the Harborview students finished their dancing and cut the celebratory ribbon, a crowd surged through the museum\u2019s front entrance and into the gallery.<\/p>\n
In front of one case, Juneau resident and temporary museum employee Tanna Peters explained the artifact mounts she\u2019s been working on for the past year and a half. Curators from across the state were brought to the museum two years ago to help move artifacts into storage and to draft plans for the displays that now make up the museum\u2019s permanent gallery.<\/p>\n
To a regular visitor, the gallery looks complete. To a curator\u2019s eye, however, there\u2019s still things to do. Peters pointed out one display, where two artifacts were slightly touching \u2014 a no-no where preservation is involved. Pull-out drawers in some display cases are still empty, and the vendors in charge of the museum bookstore and cafe have not yet moved in.<\/p>\n
Banghart said, however, that for all intents and purposes, the museum is complete. There might be a few little things to fine-tune, but it\u2019s nothing that will keep the public from enjoying it.<\/p>\n
David Shumway and Ken Ratcliffe, standing in the permanent gallery, couldn\u2019t help but agree. For the past several years, Shumway has worked as the project\u2019s mechanical engineer. Ratcliffe was its electrical engineer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a one-in-a-lifetime project for us,\u201d Ratcliffe said.<\/p>\n
To understand why, you have to look inside the museum\u2019s walls, at things a normal visitor will never see. Museums and archives demand precision care, even with something you might take for granted \u2014 like the way the air moves in the building.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s five separate and distinct environments in one building that are almost unnoticeable except for the Archives; they\u2019re at 55 degrees,\u201d Shumway said.<\/p>\n
To understand, Shumway offered a suggestion: stand in the lobby for a few minutes and feel the temperature and humidity. Next, walk into the gallery and do the same. It\u2019s much more humid, and it\u2019s designed that way to protect the artifacts.<\/p>\n
The lighting operates under the same principle \u2014 bright and inviting in the lobby and open spaces, but dimmer in the display cases to protect light-sensitive objects.<\/p>\n
Shumway said fine-tuning each element of the building will take a little while longer. Plans are one thing, but actually having people in the building is something else.<\/p>\n
To 5-year-old Eddy Seifert, however, the only thing filling his eyes was the mining locomotive in one corner of the gallery, with a section of the trans-Alaska Pipeline System towering overhead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my favorite thing, because it\u2019s new,\u201d he said with arms outstretched, indicating the entire building.<\/p>\n
His mother, Shannon, laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just walked through the doors,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m amazed how huge this is. I can\u2019t wait to explore all the little nooks and crannies.\u201d<\/p>\n
The state museum is open seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The state library and archives are open during working hours on weekdays.<\/p>\n
Admission is $12, $11 for seniors and children are admitted free during the summer. A season pass is $25, according to a rate increase approved last year.<\/p>\n