Digitizing Recordings of the Unangax̂ (Alaska Aleut) Peoples

Grant to: University of Alaska Fairbanks (2020)

Summary

An award in the amount of $8,050.00 to University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2020.

Synopsis

The ‘Cuttlefish Project’ recordings are of immense Unangax̂ (Alaska Aleut) cultural importance due to not only the topics covered by Elders but because many of them were the last fluent speakers of the Unangam Tunuu language,” says Leslie McCartney, Associate Professor and Curator of Oral History at the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library. “They are of the utmost importance to the Unangax̂ people themselves, for educators around the world who study the diversity of Indigenous people in the United States, and for worldwide linguists and historians.” Fifty-nine open-reel audiotapes of the “Cuttlefish Project” will be digitized and made accessible to researchers and the public. Each of the recordings will be cataloged in the UAF Library Catalog via WordCat. URLs will be placed directly into the library catalog record so anyone around the world with an internet connection may find and listen to the recording.

About the NRPF

The National Recording Preservation Foundation (NRPF) is an independent, charitable organization and registered 501(c)(3) entity. The NRPF works across the United States to foster awareness of the diverse perspectives and communities documented in audio, to support the preservation of historical and at-risk audio collections, and to coordinate resources for the digital preservation of audio recordings. The NRPF was mandated through federal charter by the U.S. Congress under the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000 (Pub. L. 106-474) and was thereafter duly incorporated in 2010.

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