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A History of Mud and other Noxious Annoyances of Daily Life in Early Anchorage

Buildings and businesses at new townsite of Anchorage, July 1915. Berta Walsky Postcard Collection, Anchorage Museum, B1978.104.74.

Buildings and businesses at new townsite of Anchorage, July 1915. Berta Walsky Postcard Collection, Anchorage Museum, B1978.104.74.

Join us online for a virtual Cook Inlet Historical Society lecture.

Free.

Advance registration is required to receive the link. Please register directly on the Anchorage Museum website by following this link: Register Here

Speaker:  David Reamer (hosted by Dick Mylius)

View a recording of this event here.
Password: CookInlet618


A rarely if ever mentioned aspect of early Anchorage life is the inescapable mud, ruts, mosquitos, trash, splashes, human waste, and associated odors, among many other lifestyle impairments. This talk presents some of the grittier and dirtier--literally--qualities of daily life in early Anchorage. From reckless motorists to tourists tossed into Cook Inlet, learn what life was really like in the so-called good old days. This is the second talk in the Cook Inlet Historical Society’s 2020-2021 Speaker Series, “Disasters.”

David Reamer is an academic and public historian. His peer-reviewed articles include topics as diverse as baseball, housing discrimination, food banks, and the English gin craze. His “Histories of Anchorage” column runs weekly in the Anchorage Daily News. He also posts daily Alaska history on Twitter (@ANC_Historian).