| Summary: | FOREWORDS: -- In 1834, Russian Orthodox Priest (now Saint Innocent) Ivan Veniaminov wrote that there is “no reason to conceal… cruel acts against the Aleuts.” At the time, Veniaminov was talking about the promyshlenniki – the cruel sailors who forced Aleuts/Unangax̂ to hunt sea otter. About 100 years later, more cruel acts were committed against the Aleut/Unangax̂ people, this time by American archaeologists who sailed to the Aleutian Islands to dig up skulls of our ancestors to display in museums. When I read Alan G. May’s diaries, I found their level of disrespect unconscionable. When Dr. Aleš Hrdlička’s wife passed away, he treated her burial with the utmost respect with soft music, rose petals, green velvet, and kisses. When you compare that with how he and his “boys” treated Aleut/Unangax̂ ancestors, you have to wonder, “Why the difference?” I encourage you to read Alan G. May’s diary. If this painful part of our history is concealed, it may be repeated. Dr. Dimitri Philemonof -- President/CEO – Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association Part of APIA’s mission is to “strengthen and preserve the Unangax̂ cultural heritage.” As director of APIA’s Cultural Heritage Department and Unangax̂ Heritage Library and Archives, part of my responsibilities are to encourage and support the publication of literature about Unangax̂ history – even if that history is sometimes less-than-perfect and sometimes even uncomfortable. What Dr. Aleš Hrdlička and his boys did in the 1930s, sailing up and down the Aleutian Islands, digging up graves – even recent graves in other parts of Alaska – is today uncomfortable. Yet people need to know this history. By sponsoring the publication of Alan G. May’s diaries, APIA and the Cultural Heritage Department are decreasing the chances of this history being buried and forgotten. Millie McKeown – Director – APIA Cultural Heritage Department I read every word of Alan G. May’s diaries. The cavalier and disrespectful attitude Dr. Aleš Hrdlička and his boys displayed was sometimes challenging to ...
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