Howard and Juliana Farley receive historic preservation award for involvement in the Iditarod Trail sled dog race
Anchorage, Alaska – Preservation Alaska announced a new award titled Historic Preservation Advocacy given to Nome’s Howard and Juliana Farley. The Farleys were awarded a lifetime achievement recognition for their involvement in the early years of the formation of the Iditarod Race along with Joe Reddington, Sr. and their preservation of the Jacob Berger/Sally Carrighar house. The Farleys bought the Victorian home in the late 1960s. It is one of the last buildings reflecting the gold rush era in Nome and is listed on the National Register for Historic Places.
Historic Preservation Awards were also given to two organizations at their recent annual meeting held virtually on November 4. This is an annual award presented to individuals, agencies, or organizations that are recognized for their work in historic preservation in Alaska. The statewide organization is celebrating 40 years as an organization.
Four awards were presented this year; two were new categories implemented this year.
Grant Crosby of Anchorage was presented the Robert Mitchell Historic Architect Award for his efforts in the associated project, the Relocation of the Ascension of Our Lord Russian Orthodox Church at Village of Karluk, on Kodiak Island. Grant is the Senior Historic Architect at the Alaska Regional Office, of the National Park Service. He has spent his career dedicated to preserving numerous Alaska historic properties, one of the most recent being this Russian Orthodox Church project. The award was implemented this year in honor of member Robert Mitchell who passed away earlier this year. Mitchell worked in historic preservation for over three decades as an architect and an advocate for historic preservation.
Treadwell Historic Preservation and Restoration Society, Juneau, was awarded Organization: Adaptive Use for the restoration of the Treadwell Office Building of the Treadwell Gold Mining Company. The project was completed in late 2018 and now serves as a public open-air interpretive shelter.
Howard and Juliana Farley, Nome, received the other new category award for Historic Preservation Advocacy.
Trish Neal, Anchorage, was presented the Lifetime Achievement in Historic Preservation award for her involvement in historic preservation for over thirty years. Neal was instrumental in the legislative funding of the Wrangell Totem Poles Replication and Shakes Island Tribal House restoration in the early 1990s. She has been involved in other historic restoration projects in Alaska and Oregon. She has authored three books about Wrangell’s history including almost 40 years of research on the Minnesota women who owned the garnet mine north of Wrangell on the mainland. She is currently the president of Preservation Alaska.
Founded in 1981 as a private, nonprofit corporation, Preservation Alaska (dba Alaska Association for Historic Preservation, Inc.) is dedicated to the preservation of Alaska’s prehistoric and historic cultural resources. The organization aids in historic preservation projects across Alaska, and monitors and supports legislation to promote historic preservation, serving as a liaison between local, statewide, and national historic preservation groups. Additionally, the group publishes a quarterly newsletter and holds educational workshops. Information about the Historic Preservation Award Program can be found on the organization’s website www.AlaskaPreservation.org.