The Maxine and Jesse WhiTney MuseuM

Valdez, AK

collecting stories
The new Maxine and Jesse Whitney Museum showcases the incredibly diverse Alaskana collection that Maxine Whitney amassed from the 1940s-1970s. With little provenance information, no curator, and a desire to show the collection in its entirety, this was an unusual project. But unusual projects demand unique solutions. AldrichPears Associates worked with the College and Maxine to develop a story that would unify the collection. The subsequent design takes visitors on a journey to see Alaska through Maxines eyes, while touching on the larger story of making art, collecting, and representation. At the new museum, visitors encounter everything from masses of ivory miniatures to towering taxidermy bears. They are encouraged to admire the rich displays of artifacts, as well as to question their own assumptions about collecting and how it relates to their lives. The Museum opened in 2008.

AldrichPears AssociAtes