Two boys and a man at the entrance to the Sheldon Jackson Museum, Sitka, Alaska, circa 1905

• Other Authors: University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections Division
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Galleries & museums > Alaska > Sitka; Doors & doorways > Alaska > Sitka; Group portraits; Sheldon Jackson Museum; Museum buildings > Alaska > Sitka; Sitka (Alaska) > Buildings; structures; etc; Mount Sheldon; tlingit; Alaska
• Online Access: http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org:80/cdm/ref/collection/alaskawcanada/id/91

Caption on mount: Sheldon Jackson's Museum Filed in Alaska--Cities--Sitka The Sheldon Jackson Museum in Sitka is the oldest museum in Alaska and is located in the first concrete building in the state. The first museum was started in 1888 at the Sitka Training School. Construction on the present building began in 1895 and it has been occupied since 1897. The building was placed on the National Historical Register in 1972. Sheldon Jackson College is the oldest educational institution in continuous existence in the State of Alaska. It had its beginning in 1878 when Presbyterian missionaries John G. Brady (later Governor of Alaska) and Fannie Kellogg opened the upper floor of an old military barracks as a training school for Tlingit Indians. In 1882, the building burned to the ground. Another Presbyterian missionary, Dr. Sheldon Jackson, came to the rescue. He initiated a nationwide fund-raising campaign, and later that year a new building was constructed on the site of the present campus. Dr. Jackson was later named Alaska's first General Superintendent for Education. By 1884, the school was known as the Sitka Industrial and Training School. A few years later, it became an elementary school. In 1910, the year of Dr. Jackson's death, the school was renamed Sheldon Jackson School. In 1917, a new boarding high school was added.