In the Loop
Alumni News : May 12, 2016

Museum Studies alumna working as historian in Alaska

Molly Conley (MA Museum Studies '11) is working as a historian for the Alaska State Office of History and Archeology.  With her background in museum studies, she has become her office’s unofficial collections specialist. She manages an archaeological collection of well over 300,000 artifacts, and this next year will be getting started on some outstanding NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) issues, and consults with many of our state parks on their collections questions.

Her job allows her to travel all over the state and learn the history of Alaska one project at a time. In the last 4 years, she’s traveled to Barrow, Kotzebue, Point Hope, Platinum, Prince of Wales Island, Juneau, Sitka, and on highway surveys.

She has also served on the boards of Museums Alaska and the Cook Inlet Historical Society for the past two years. She is helping plan the Museums Alaska conference in Juneau this fall and has been working as an independent contractor to process an archaeological collection from a shipwreck survival camp. She’s also currently helping to edit a book on Anchorage history.

For more information about the Alaska State Office of History and Archeology, please visit their website www.dnr.alaska.gov/parks/oha/.