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Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum

Introduction

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The Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum has existed in Nome for about 50 years. In 2016, it moved to the Richard Foster Building. The museum is dedicated to the history of Nome and the Seward Peninsula. The museum is named after Carrie Mary McLain, who moved with her family to Nome in 1905. Over time, she collected many oral histories, artworks, and photos from the area. More photographs, artifacts, and archives have been added in the intervening decades. The museum includes a collections storage area, conservation and object preparation lab, visiting research room, and two exhibit galleries. The cost is $4 for adults, $3 for youths and elders, and free to Nome residents who have a Nome Resident Card.

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Backstory and Context

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Caroline "Carrie" Mary Stipek (later McLain) was born in 1895 in Astoria, New York. Her father, Vaslov William Stipek, left for the Klondike gold rush in 1897. He returned twice to New York over the next eight years. Her mother, Kristiny Stipek (née Varousove), died in 1905. After that, William moved Carrie, her three sisters Barbara, Anne, and Helen, and her brother Frank to Nome. She was raised there, became a teacher, and married Arthur McLain. She then worked as a welfare agent. She became Nome's first woman city clerk in 1943. She served in that position for 14 years.

McLain became known for her extensive knowledge of the region. In the late 1950s, she started collecting items of historical value, and collected oral histories and photographs as well. The city donated a small property for a temporary museum in 1965. In 1967, the state funded a shared space for the museum and the library. Others started to donate photographs, stories, and artifacts as well. She died in 1973. Afterwards, the city renamed it the Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum. In 2016, the museum moved to its current location in the Richard Foster Building. The building also houses the Kegoayah Kozga Library and the Katirvik Cultural Center.

There is a permanent exhibit detailing the cultural and environmental history of the area. More than 50 community collaborators participated in interviews, shared their stories, and contributed photographs for the exhibit. The permanent exhibit includes historical and cultural objects from the Bering Strait region. There are interactive elements.

Sources

Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum / Nome, AK, The City of Nome, Alaska. Accessed July 20th 2020. https://www.nomealaska.org/department/index.php?structureid=12.

Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum, Alaska.org. Accessed July 20th 2020.

Additional Information