Alaska, our 49th state and the largest in the United States, was considered a waste of money when it was purchased from Russia after the Civil War for about three cents an acre. But in the subsequent decades, its natural resources (including salmon and oi

Alaska, our 49th state and the largest in the United States, was considered a waste of money when it was purchased from Russia after the Civil War for about three cents an acre. But in the subsequent decades, its natural resources (including salmon and oil) were recognized, together with its immense beauty, as a national treasure. The lecturer, Barry Pell, recently traveled in Alaska by rail on the historic Alaska Railroad, by sea on the archipelago of protected islands known as the Inside Passage, and by air to grasp the enormity of the land from above. In this program, he will take you on this journey across the landscape of cedar and spruce forests, snow white mountains, and blue-green glaciers that is home to a menagerie of birds and animals. The state is also the ancestral home of indigenous tribes, particularly the Tlingit, whose craftsmanship in woodcarving is expressed in richly decorated clan houses and symbolic totem poles.