As the Ku Klux Klan rode a second wave of popularity into the 1920s, almost no place in America was spared — including Alaska. New research sheds light on the Klan’s attempt to infiltrate Wrangell through a crafty con-man and an outgoing machine shop owner.

Just as quietly as Axel Rasmussen amassed his collection, so too was it sold and shipped out of Alaska, where most of it resides in the Portland Art Museum today. His legacy is the collection he built and the hole it left when it went away.

Axel Rasmussen had an ambitious plan to own and operate Shakes Island as a private museum, but his quest to purchase the island came up against resistance from Wrangell locals and the U.S. federal government.

After less than twenty years in Alaska, Axel Rasmussen amassed a collection of Native American artifacts so large it could fill a museum. But how did he do it? In Part 1, we look at Axel Rasmussen’s journey from Indiana to Alaska and the beginning of his collection.

The house of Kadashan was an impressive two-story Victorian home owned by Kadashan, head of the Kaaskagweidi. What made his house iconic were the two, towering totems in front bearing his name.

During the Klondike Gold Rush, the Fort Wrangel Opera House provided a place for performances, parties, and social clubs to gather.

Before there was Bob Ross, Theodore Richardson made his name as a prolific painter of Alaskan landscapes. Over decades, he made trips to Wrangell where he captured these scenes of extraordinary beauty.

President Warren G. Harding’s 1923 “Voyage of Understanding” is the only time a sitting U.S. president has ever visited Wrangell. Though he died a month later, his arrival was a defining moment in what Wrangell means to America.

We Teach in Alaska is a BIA handbook published between 1957 and 1965. It documents the agency’s policies, practices, and advice for teachers across Alaska’s BIA schools.

When the son of Chief Shakes mysteriously drowned in 1911, his family constructed a monument with an unforgettable epitaph.

The grave of Kaawishté, the 5th Shakes of the Naanyaa.aayí clan, is an important Wrangell landmark.

It just sits there. It doesn’t seem to be doing anything. And yet, it protects the beating heart of Wrangell. This is the story of the Etolin Harbor Breakwater.

When John Muir came to Alaska, he made Fort Wrangel his home. Here are some places you can visit today experienced by John Muir in 1879-1880.