A hundred-year-old wood desk and a dog sled believed to have been used by some of Kenai's earliest grade school students are just a few of the more than 80 artifacts on display this month at the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center. The newly swapped out exhibit spotlights Kenai’s Russian history.
Some of the artifacts have never been exhibited before.
“I’ve been trying to communicate with local historians and people that have just lived here for a long period of time to make sure I’m doing everything correctly,” said Danielle Lopez-Stamm, the chamber's cultural center coordinator. “I was most fascinated with the history of the church, and just like the timeline and how prevalent it was in the community.”
The church she’s referring to is the Holy Assumption Russian Orthodox Church, which still stands in Old Town Kenai. Lopez-Stamm says the church’s missionaries and priests were well-liked by Kenai’s Russian and Dena’ina communities.
Dena’ina artifacts are displayed in the exhibit, too. Lopez-Stamm says Kenai’s Russian history is intertwined with the Dena’ina people. She says there was hostility between the groups early on that later turned to shared camaraderie.
“I think it helps to show that there are different communities that live here, that coexist, and have learned how to function and operate together," Lopez-Stamm said. "And they’re all still here.”
Propped together behind display cases are Russian and Dena’ina subsistence artifacts, like mallets and hatchets. There’s also a display geared toward children, with Russian and Athabascan dolls.
Artifacts that are strictly Russian include nesting dolls, currency, religious icons and samovars used to heat water and tea. But, Lopez-Stamm says the exhibit was designed to show how Russian and Dena’ina people in Kenai lived together.
“I wanted to highlight that, that while there was fighting, they did, later on in their history, have this shared experience and this community that they built around their dualistic communities and cultures,” Lopez-Stamm said.
The Kenai Chamber of Commerce’s exhibit on Alaska’s Russian history will be on view through February. It’ll be swapped out next month for an exhibit on modern Kenai, with a focus on homesteading.
The museum will have a presentation about Alaska’s Russian history on Feb. 21 at the chamber.
