Institute of the North - Meeting of Frontiers

Meeting of Frontiers

In 1999, the Library of Congress launched the “Meeting of Frontiers” web site. (http://international.loc.gov/intldl/mtfhtml/mfhome.html) From a modest beginning, the site now contains thousands of documents not only from the Library of Congress but also from libraries in Russia, Germany, and Alaska. The web site catalogs the paralleling stories of America’s westward movement and Russia’s eastward movement to where they meet—in Alaska.

In 2002, the Institute of the North began a cooperative project with the Meeting of Frontiers of presenting summer institutes and developing teaching units to assist high school teachers in utilizing the web site and its wealth of resources. The teaching units provided here are based on national standards in history, geography, and technology and include suggestions for assessment. They are designed for active student learning.

Teaching units

Alaska Purchase Kiowa storytelling

Cities Migration

Colonization Mutual perceptions

Creating the narrative Railroads

Exploration in Russian America Religion

Fur trade Tourism

Essays

Introduction to the 20th Century

At the end of the 19th Century a common frontier for both East and West had taken shape, but the 20th Century was the century of world wars, both hot and cold, and the frontiersmen mostly kept their distance. At the end of the century, we began to see the dawn of the actual “meeting of frontiers.”

This section includes three essays by Malcolm B. Roberts, a senior fellow at the Institute of the North. These essays explore the events on the Russian/American frontier of the 20th Century, how Alaska became an unusual mixture of Russian and American systems and traditions, and the remarkable and diverse history of indigenous peoples on both sides of what is now a common frontier.

Essay 1: The first half of the 20th century on the eastern and western frontiers

Essay 2: The frontiers meet and merge in Alaska

Essay 3: Russian and Alaskan indigenous peoples on the 20th century frontiers

At the end of each essay, students are presented with guiding questions, projects, and reference materials.

935 West Third Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska 99501, USA ~ (907) 771-2444 ~ (907) 771-2466 fax