Menadelook: An Inupiat Teacher's Photographs of Alaska Village Life, 1907-1932

I have not seen another book like this--in topic, artistry, and editing. The photographer, Charles Menadelook, a government-hired Inupiaq teacher in remote villages of western Alaska 1907-1932, produced not only remarkable photos of the lives around him, but left behind his teacher's journals that help us appreciate the scenes even more. His editor, eight decades later, has put it all together into a beautifully formatted book full of art and insights. Eileen Norbert tells how she, his granddaughter, as editor, took a long time to complete the project--to travel to the villages where Menadelook was usually (perhaps always) the only teacher, find people who could identify the persons and their activities in the photos and transcribe that, locate the journals (some were missing), and interlace portions of them with the photos, along with other oral history, to enrich the picture of his and the communities' lives. I am amazed at how much Menadelook took on. He was not only a teacher of as many as 40 children at a school, but a husband and father of many children, and a hunter, a provider of subsistence food so essential in those communities, but also expected to carry out the maintenance of the school and supplies, and take on other government duties as needed .His wife must also have been an incredibly strong person. It would have been a challenge for Norbert to interpret as much as possible without over-interpreting, and she succeeds, using reliable informants. We discover from his journals how difficult it must have been to teach in a way that assured his students could manage well in their radically changing world and yet hold onto and enjoy the traditional skills they had to have to survive. He had to fulfill the curriculum that was assigned, not always what the children preferred, and he did it. He had to be stricter than is expected today, and he did it. Norbert's first chapters fortunately cover the times he was born into at the village of Wales so we have a needed introduction. But by age sixteen he was already hired as a teacher's assistant. Soon after that he was the sole teacher at a different community, married, beginning a family and embracing his life-long avocation--photography. He died, alas, in his forties, of chronic disease, apparently cancer. One wonders if he was worn out; he always worked at some other job during the summer break. He was moved around a great deal, teaching in a total of at least nine villages, moving sometimes every year, but never staying more than three years at a place. Sometimes his requests for placement were honored, sometimes not. Meanwhile he and his wife raised many children to adulthood, through the epidemics common at the time. All during this time he was producing these wonderful photographs, and Norbert has produced a wonderful book. I had said enough--one has to see the book.

Since I live and teach not very far from where these photos were taking, this book is extremely meaning for me. Makes me want to do something similar to document the contrast after about 100 years...

Amazing collection, amazing life and regional stories! Strongly correlates to personal family history! Thank you for sharing!!!!?

Fast on shipping & enjoying a good book!

Well written. Great story of Native Alaskan life.

Excellent book!