North Slope Borough (Department of Inupiat History, Language and Culture (Inupiat Heritage Center))

The Iñupiat Heritage Center will digitize 1,648 audiovisual recordings that are on obsolete videotape and film formats. They were created by Iñupiaq people about their language and culture during a time of rapid cultural change triggered by oil discoveries on the North Slope in the late 1960s. They document arctic survival strategies such as making clothing to keep warm, tracking and hunting caribou herds, and determining whether ice is safe to walk on during whaling, seal hunting, and ice fishing. Because of the language fluency of the Iñupiaq elders in the films, the materials are critical resources for Inupiaq language students. After the materials are digitized by Summit Day Media, the center will host identification sessions to identify individuals and detail activities depicted in the films. This information will be added to the center’s collection management database by a mayor’s Job Program employee trained by center staff. The center will provide copies of the digital files to local libraries and community members and will post film metadata on its website.