Sealaska Corporation

The Sealaska Heritage Institute, on behalf of Sealaska Corporation, will increase access to its valuable “hidden collections” by focusing on 137 Tlingit language recordings that contain Tlingit oral histories and traditional ecological knowledge. An intern from the University of Alaska Southeast will migrate the cassette tapes according to Library of Congress National Recording Preservation Board standards, then native Tlingit speakers will review the digital copies and record relevant metadata. This information will be added to the Institute’s records and then uploaded to be shared through the international Open Language Archives Community (OLAC). The University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska Native Language Archive has agreed to deposit copies of their Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian recordings with the Institute, further opening those collections over time as native speakers continue to provide crucial metadata for these materials.