Scope and Contents: This collection consists of materials related to the 1996 events surrounding National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) attempt to construct a large laboratory facility on Indian Point, Auke Cape, near Juneau, Alaska. Regarding this issue, in 1995-1996 NOAA selected Indian Point as their desired location to construct a lab, but it was also a known location possessing sacred and traditional value for local Native American Indians, the Tlingit, a place which also hosted many shaman graves. To halt the construction of the NOAA lab on this traditional site, the Sealaska Corporation and Sealaska Heritage Institute hired Simpson, Tillinghast & Sorensen (STS). After legal investigation by STS and pressure from Sealaska (such as Board of Directors member Rosita Worl) and other Native organizations, NOAA agreed to select a new site for their lab. This collection contains correspondence concerning this event, legal research by STS, and reports prepared by NOAA and others all dating to between 1995 and 1998. Original order has been obtained in the arrangement of these materials.
For additional information about this event see the following essays:
Rosita Worl, “Indian Point Not for Sale; Or, Reflections on Indian Point,” The George Wright Forum vol. 26, no. 1 (2009): 57-63.
Thomas F. Thornton, “Anatomy of a Traditional Cultural Property: The Saga of Auke Cape,” The George Wright Forum vol. 26, no. 1 (2009): 64-75.
| Sealaska Heritage Institute Archives
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