PRESS RELEASE
The long-overlooked experiences of Alaska Natives during the Aleutian campaign of World War II are presented during a book talk and signing with Holly Miowak Guise on March 29 at The Museum of Flight. The program is based upon Guise’s groundbreaking book, Alaska Native Resilience: Voices from World War II.
Guise draws on a wealth of oral histories and interviews with Indigenous elders to explore the multidimensional relationship between Alaska Natives and the US military during the Pacific War. The 2 p.m. program will include live ASL interpreters and is free with Museum admission.
Holly Miowak Guise
Holly Miowak Guise is an Iñupiaq Alaska Native historian born in Anchorage, Alaska. Her book, Alaska Native Resilience: Voices from World War II focuses on gender, Unangax̂ (Aleut) relocation and internment camps, Native activism/resistance, and Indigenous military service during the war.
Her research methods bridge together archives, tribal archives, community-based research, and oral histories with Alaska Native elders and veterans.
Guise launched a digital humanities website (ww2alaska.com) that features her YouTube channel (World War II Alaska) with oral history content from Native elders, veterans, and Unangax̂ internment survivors.
Since 2022, she has served as an editorial board member for the Alaska History Journal. She received her PhD in History from Yale University in 2018.
Founded in 1965, the independent, nonprofit Museum of Flight is one of the largest air and space museums in the world, annually serving over 600,000 visitors. The Museum’s collection includes more than 160 historically significant airplanes and spacecraft, from the first fighter plane (1914) to today’s 787 Dreamliner. Attractions at the 23-acre, 5-building Seattle campus include the original Boeing Company factory, the NASA Space Shuttle Trainer, Air Force One, Concorde, Lockheed Blackbird and Apollo Moon rockets. In addition to the Seattle campus adjacent to King County International Airport, the Museum also has its 3-acre Restoration Center and Reserve Collection at Paine Field in Everett (not currently open to the public).
With a foundation of aviation history, the Museum is also a hub of news and dialogue with leaders in the emerging field of private spaceflight ventures. The Museum’s aviation and space library and archives are the largest on the West Coast. More than 150,000 individuals are served annually by the Museum’s onsite and outreach educational programs. The Museum of Flight is accredited by the American Association of Museums, and is an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.
