Willie Hensley, Lily Stevens Becker and Sean Parnell at the event. Photo taken by Scott Hobbs.
Chancellor Sean Parnell hosted a showcase of items from the Alaska Leaders Archive in the UAA Consortium Library on April 3.
The event featured speeches from Ted Stevens’ daughter, Lily Stevens Becker and former Alaska State Representative Willie Hensley.
Parnell introduced the event with an overview of the scope of the archive. UAA’s Consortium Library houses documents and other items from over 130 leaders from the state.
Parnell described the collection as documenting the lives of community, elected, business, nonprofit, health and Indigenous leaders.
“All of their archives tell the story of our people and our place that we love, but they also need to be accessible to more people,” said Parnell.
Parnell said that about a year ago, the Ted Stevens Foundation gifted the UAA and APU Consortium Library with the Ted Stevens Collection, totalling over 4800 boxes. According to Parnell, approximately 75% of this collection has been processed so far.
Parnell said the Ted Stevens Foundation is a primary fundraiser for the project, with the university serving in a supporting role.
This partnership has resulted in federal appropriations totaling around $19 million, along with an announced gift from ConocoPhillips Alaska totalling $1.5 million to the university and $500,000 to the Ted Stevens Foundation.
With the Board of Regents approval, the state legislature has been asked for $2.5 million to finish the match on federal funds donated to the Alaska Leaders Archive.
Between asks and donations, the university is nearing having the money necessary to complete Phase One of the project. Phase One plans to renovate the Consortium Library to make archives accessible.
Parnell said the goal of the project is to preserve the knowledge of leaders from the past for leaders of the future. The chancellor also said he hopes as the project is finished, more classes and capstone projects will make use of the archives.
Parnell said the scope of the archives is immense, especially following the donation of the Ted Stevens Collection to the archive.
Information ranging from the inception of the rural health system, Ted Stevens’ role in the Camp David Accords, primary source documents from the creation of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and more are contained within the archive.
Stevens Becker and Hensley echoed the importance of the archives, as well as personal anecdotes about the senator.
The archives will be housed on the third floor of The Consortium Library and open to the public once renovations are completed and documents are processed.
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