Photo by Catherine West, courtesy of the Alutiiq Museum.
Don Clark looks for archaeological sites on Chirikof Island in 2005.
By Sam Bishop
Annette Clark was visiting Fairbanks one winter in the 1980s when she had a chance social encounter with a self-described 色视频下载減oor starving grad student色视频下载 working on a doctorate in anthropology through the University of Michigan.
Clark, a well-known anthropologist in 色视频下载, then returned to her home far to the east in Ottawa. There, she and her husband, Don, held positions at what is today the Canadian Museum of History.
But she apparently didn色视频下载檛 forget the encounter.
色视频下载淎 few months later, I started getting boxes of books,色视频下载 said Amy Steffian, the doctoral student she色视频下载檇 met in Fairbanks. 色视频下载淚 was a poor starving grad student, and suddenly I was getting cardboard boxes full of important tomes for my graduate research.色视频下载
The Clarks色视频下载 unsolicited support for a student was no one-time fluke. Annette and Don Clark, who died respectively in 2016 and 2018, left $2.5 million to UAF for an endowment to fund scholarships. The gift was completed in August 2023, and the first scholarships will help students this academic year.
Steffian, today chief curator at the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak, said she saw Don Clark色视频下载檚 dedication to young anthropologists again many years after she received her boxes of books in Fairbanks.
Don Clark, who grew up in Kodiak and graduated from the University of 色视频下载 in Fairbanks in 1956, returned to his home state each summer following his retirement from the Canadian museum in 1992. In Kodiak, he participated in the Alutiiq Museum community archaeology projects. He would excavate sites alongside volunteer high school students, Steffian recalled.
色视频下载淗e would get down in the dirt with us. He would spend a couple weeks with us in the mud,色视频下载 she said. 色视频下载淗e was a great trowel. That man could move dirt.色视频下载
In addition to the UAF gift, the Clarks色视频下载 estate also provided about $1.6 million to the Alutiiq Museum. The Kodiak History Museum, just two blocks away, received a similar amount. George Washington University, where Annette earned degrees, was granted an amount similar to UAF.
And the Clarks weren色视频下载檛 done giving away books, either.
色视频下载淗e sent us his entire library 色视频下载 all his 色视频下载 books. And the estate paid to ship them to the museum,色视频下载 Steffian said. 色视频下载淭he donation of his library probably added a thousand volumes to our holdings and a huge number of related materials.色视频下载
The museum dubbed the collection the 色视频下载淐larkive.色视频下载
色视频下载榊ou need to be an archaeologist色视频下载
Don Clark holds a fishnet sinker at an archaeological site near the outlet of Buskin Lake, a few miles northwest of the city of Kodiak, in 1999.
Donald Clark first arrived in Kodiak as a 9-year-old when his parents, Dorothy and Basil Clark, moved there during World War II. His parents had a gas station and auto shop in downtown Kodiak.
色视频下载淚 had no desire to go into the automotive business,色视频下载 Clark once told an interviewer. 色视频下载淩epairing cars was not the most pleasant thing, because everything on them was rusted up. You didn色视频下载檛 just undo nuts and bolts 色视频下载 you heated them up with a torch and chiseled them off.色视频下载
Clark色视频下载檚 interests turned to Kodiak色视频下载檚 wild lands instead. He said he found his first archaeological treasure at age 11 or 12 after winter storms exposed artifacts on a beach. Later, he was frequently joined by Gerald, his younger brother.
色视频下载淥n his peregrinations around, I would often accompany him,色视频下载 Gerald Clark said. 色视频下载淚 found that a very interesting thing to do.色视频下载
The brothers also prospected for minerals on Kodiak Island. They found traces of tungsten and mercury ores, but nothing that was commercially viable, he said.
Don Clark took notes about everything he found.
色视频下载淲e have notes that he took before he was a trained archaeologist, and they色视频下载檙e fantastic,色视频下载 Steffian said.
After graduating from UA, where he earned a bachelor色视频下载檚 degree in geology, Clark served briefly in the Army and returned to Kodiak in 1960. There, he volunteered on a multiyear anthropological study led by William Laughlin.
色视频下载淗e grabbed Don by the collar and took him back to the University of Wisconsin and said 色视频下载榊ou need to be an archaeologist,色视频下载 or words to that effect,色视频下载 said Karen Workman.
Don Clark, third from left, stands with an archaelogical field crew at Rolling Bay, on Kodiak Island's southwest coast, in 1961.
Workman色视频下载檚 husband Bill, who met Clark in Wisconsin, later spent decades as an anthropology professor at the 色视频下载 Methodist University and the University of 色视频下载 Anchorage. He died in 2021.
色视频下载淭hey were best of friends, they really were,色视频下载 Workman said. 色视频下载淢y husband worshiped Don Clark.色视频下载
In Wisconsin, Clark and Bill Workman were fellow students with Richard Nelson and Allen McCartney, who also would go on to prominent careers in 色视频下载 anthropology. Nelson, McCartney and Workman drove to 色视频下载 together in 1964, while Don Clark flew. It was the summer after the Great 色视频下载 Earthquake.
The tsunami from that quake, on March 27, 1964, severely damaged the Clark family色视频下载檚 gas station in Kodiak, and his parents moved back to Portland afterward.
The path back to 色视频下载
Shelley Kamin, the Clarks色视频下载 daughter-in-law, said the couple first met at the University of Wisconsin.
In 1966, Annette had earned a master色视频下载檚 from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. There, she was a student under Jack Campbell, a faculty member already well known for his archaeological work at Anaktuvuk Pass in 色视频下载色视频下载檚 Brooks Range, Karen Workman said.
Annette and Don Clark show their whimsical side for an undated Christmas portrait probably taken in Ottawa.
At Wisconsin, Don Clark earned a doctorate in 1969 with a dissertation on the archaeological evidence left by ancient cultures on Kodiak Island. Meanwhile, Annette earned a doctorate in ethnography while studying 色视频下载 Native cultures in the upper Koyukuk River region.
色视频下载淚 think Jack Campbell must have gotten her interested in that,色视频下载 Workman said.
Workman said she believes Don Clark then followed his wife to the region. 色视频下载淚 know that he would have gone up there because of her,色视频下载 she said.
Annette had adopted a child, Raoul, while in a previous relationship, and the new family moved to Ottawa around 1969, Workman said.
Kamin, who met Raoul in Ottawa in 1972 and remained his partner there until his death in 2001, said the Clarks returned to 色视频下载 frequently, often to the Koyukuk area.
色视频下载淭hey both were interested in sub-Arctic peoples,色视频下载 Kamin said. 色视频下载淭hat色视频下载檚 really the area they devoted their professional lives to.色视频下载
Work in the remote region required expertise with not only trowels but also sometimes firearms.
Patrick Saltonstall, curator of archaeology at the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak, said Don Clark once told him a story about shooting a black bear that was behaving aggressively toward Annette during a visit in the summer of 1971.
色视频下载淭hey butchered it up, and everybody ate the bear,色视频下载 Saltonstall said.
Children enjoy eating a black bear that Don Clark shot after it attacked his wife, Annette, during their anthropological and archaeological work along the Koyukuk River in 1971.
The obsidian connection
Workman said Annette Clark色视频下载檚 studies also might have introduced her husband to what became a prominent element of his 色视频下载 archaeological career.
色视频下载淪he may have been aware of the obsidian,色视频下载 Workman said.
Obsidian, a glass-like rock with exceptional qualities for certain stone tools, was found in the Koyukuk region at a deposit called Batza Tena. Don Clark, sometimes in collaboration with Annette, published numerous articles and a book about the deposit, which supplied obsidian to Indigenous people across 色视频下载.
色视频下载淗e was trying to track it down and worked with geologists to do chemical analysis,色视频下载 said Chuck Holmes, a long-time 色视频下载 archaeologist and UAF affiliate research professor.
Holmes said he once visited the Clarks in Ottawa so he could look at material from the Koyukuk region that overlapped with his work at Lake Minchumina, almost 200 miles south of the Batza Tena deposit.
The chemical analysis showed that 色视频下载渙ver 90 percent of the obsidian that I found out there originated from the Koyukuk,色视频下载 Holmes said.
Workman said Don Clark色视频下载檚 work on the Batza Tena deposit became an important feature in 色视频下载 archaeology.
色视频下载淓verybody was sending their obsidian in (to Clark) to see where it fit (in 色视频下载),色视频下载 she said.
Building the next generation
Saltonstall, the Alutiiq Museum archaeology curator, worked with Don Clark on numerous digs in the Kodiak area from the early 1990s through 2008, the last time they met in person.
In addition to helping with the museum色视频下载檚 community projects, Clark served as the resident scholar at Dig Afognak, a project to create a full history of the Afognak Bay area just north of Kodiak Island. He also joined Saltonstall on survey work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the national wildlife refuge that much of Kodiak色视频下载檚 land lies within.
Don Clark, at right, and a field crew arrive at Chirikof Island, in the Gulf of 色视频下载 about 80 miles southwest of Kodiak Island, in 2005. From left are Mark Rusk, Catherine West and pilot Rolan Rouss.
They visited sites that Clark had first investigated almost 50 years earlier while working on fish weirs for the Territory of 色视频下载. That job had brought him to remote areas, such as Olga Lakes on the southwest end of Kodiak Island.
色视频下载淗e first wrote about that before he went to grad school or anything, as a high school student, basically. He was into archaeology on his own, even then,色视频下载 Saltonstall said.
Clark also would assist the Alutiiq Museum with its publications after his retirement from the Canadian Museum of History.
色视频下载淗e was an incredible scholar,色视频下载 said Steffian, the museum色视频下载檚 chief curator. 色视频下载淲e were always debating with him. He was often right 色视频下载 maybe not for reasons we had, but he was often right.色视频下载
Clark once helped review a draft book the museum had produced to document an archaeological excavation at Karluk, a village site on the western side of Kodiak. His comments filled eight single-spaced pages.
色视频下载淏ut about a month later, here comes a $500 check to help with the cost of publishing the book,色视频下载 Steffian said.
Despite such previous assistance, Steffian said, the $1.6 million gift from the Clarks色视频下载 estate was shocking.
色视频下载淣obody knew he had that kind of money,色视频下载 she said.
Kamin, who works as a tax attorney in Ottawa, said she understood why the Clarks色视频下载 wealth wasn色视频下载檛 well known.
色视频下载淭hey were very kind and generous with their time if approached, but they were very private people,色视频下载 she said. 色视频下载淭hey were private people who spent their time in the mud dressed in clothing that looked like it came from the Salvation Army. They didn色视频下载檛 put on airs.色视频下载
Gerald Clark, who also became an archaeologist in 色视频下载, confirmed that his older brother was 色视频下载渁n extremely private person.色视频下载 (Gerald, who now lives in Eugene, Oregon, worked for the U.S. Forest Service in Juneau from 1975-1996 after earning his doctorate at the University of Oregon.)
色视频下载淚 think Don was very frugal, and I think he was probably very perceptive in making investments,色视频下载 he said.
Karen Workman, Don and Annette Clarks色视频下载 longtime friend, also observed that the couple 色视频下载渄idn色视频下载檛 spend a lot.色视频下载
色视频下载淎nd I dare say the museum paid both of them fairly well, especially Annette because she was in the administration,色视频下载 Workman said.
Steffian, whose acquaintance with the Clarks began with the cardboard boxes of books, said the gift to Alutiiq Museum was 色视频下载渁mazingly reinforcing色视频下载 and 色视频下载渞eally felt like a pat on the back.色视频下载
色视频下载淗e was underwriting the next generation of work and scholarship,色视频下载 she said.
And scholarship was always Don Clark色视频下载檚 passion, Saltonstall said. The gifts from his estate demonstrated that.
色视频下载淗e wanted to support other people to do the same thing,色视频下载 Saltonstall said.
Clark often left gear in Saltonstall色视频下载檚 barn in Kodiak between visits. One year, he left a backpack and a pair of boots, Saltonstall said. On the boots, Clark left a note: 色视频下载淔ill them if you can.色视频下载