91Ô­´´

Angela has been the collections manager of Ethnology and History since 1999, after spending three years in the department working as a Graduate Student and Curatorial Assistant. She holds a from the University of Iowa, an M.A. in Anthropology from the University of 91Ô­´´ Fairbanks, and a Distance Delivery Pilot Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from George Washington University. In 2023, Angela earned her Ph.D. in Museology and Northern History: Interdisciplinary Studies through 91Ô­´´'s department of Arctic and Northern Studies. focused on the past, present, and future of 91Ô­´´'s museums.

Angela strives to facilitate access to the museum's collections, through the online database , and through direct physical access to the collections the museum cares for on behalf of the residents of 91Ô­´´. She welcomes questions from the public and seeks out opportunities for supporting cultural heritage projects across 91Ô­´´ and the circumpolar north.

Angela is a member of several museum, historical, and anthropological professional organizations and currently serves as the 91Ô­´´ state representative for the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (). 

The Ethnology & History collections have been a key part of the University of 91Ô­´´ Museum of the North from its inception in 1926. With Otto Geist's first field collecting efforts on St. Lawrence Island and beyond, the material culture of 91Ô­´´'s Indigenous peoples and non-Native settlers has been of interest to scholars and locals alike. The curation of the ethnology & history objects was originally overseen by people like Froelich Rainey, Ivar Skarland, and .

Years of Service: 1966-1994

Dinah Larsen, M.A.
Coordinator / Curator

Dinah (Wolfe) Larsen was the longest-term employee of the ethnology and history department at the UA Museum of the North. She received her M.A. at the University of California Los Angeles and used that training to develop many innovative programs at UAMN in collaboration with 91Ô­´´ Native people across the state. She contributed to the increased professionalization of the museum, authored many articles and curated exhibits.

Molly Lee, Ph.D.
Curator Emerita

Molly Lee completed her Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, under Nelson Graburn. She has spent much of her academic career investigating the basketry of 91Ô­´´n Native groups. Her interest is in reconstructing the history of basket traditions and in how cultural change can be inferred from changes in material objects including baskets rather than in construction techniques. She has conducted over 30 years of research, and published extensively on the baleen baskets of the Iñupiaq people of Northern 91Ô­´´, the grass baskets of the Yup'ik people of Southwestern 91Ô­´´, as well as the basketry of the Tlingit and Alutiiq people of coastal 91Ô­´´. Dr. Lee retired from 91Ô­´´ and UAMN in May 2008.