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UAF honors woman who helped Pribilof NativesFredericks Martin, conservationist and activist for Alaska Native rights, will receive an honorary doctor of humanities degree at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks 1986 Commencement on May 11, according to a UAF press release.“Perhaps her most significant contributioh to the state of Alaska was her tireless struggle to help the Pribilof Islanders gain their independence from direct control of the federal government,” said Robert Williams, chairman of the UAF committee which chooses recipients of honorary degrees. Her role in helping the Aleuts was linked to the conservation and preservation of Alaska’s fur seals, he said.She first lived on the Pribilofs in 1941. She and her husband, a physician, were assigned there by the Public Health Service. Martin was the head nurse. They were forced to leave during World War II when the islands were evacuated.Pribilof Islanders were kept in what she felt was virtual slavery by federal officials who dictated every aspect of their lives. Officials controlled all employment. Permission was required to leave the island. In the early 1950s, a congressional committee investigated the problem. The hearings were a direct result of Martin's work.While championing the rights ofthe inhabitants, Martin also fought for better conservation of the islands’ fur seals. Two books she wrote, “The Hunting of the Silver Fleece, Epic of the Fur Seal” and “Sea Bears: The Story of the Fur Seal,” helped change the way the herds were managed.Martin edited and arranged for the publication of an Aleut dictionary compiled by R.H. Geoghegan. She also edited Geoghegan’s translation of “Notes on the Islands of the Unalaska District.” The origin-al work, written by Bishop Veniaminof in the 1830s, was at that time considered to be the basic work on the Aleuts. Geoghegan, who was fluent in many languages, was Judge James Wickersham’sclerk of the court for many years.During his life in Alaska, Geoghegan collected papers and Alaskan works for his personal library. At his death as a pauper in 1943, the territory put the library up for sale. Martin used her own money to buy the entire collection to prevent it from being broken up and sold. Later, she donated the Alaskan portions of the collection to the University of Alaska library.Today the Geoghegan collection is part of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Rasmuson Library’s Alaskan collection That donation was the first of many contributions to the university’s library.Ted Ryberg, the retired director of libraries, said: “She spent manymonths in Spain and Mexico researching historical collections on Spanish voyages of the 18th century to what is now Alaska and arranged for photocopies or microfilm copies to be made available to Rasmuson Library. She also spent many, many hours translating the 18th century Spanish documents.“And all of her work, both in the Spanish and Mexican archives, was as a volunteer. She lived very frugally to conserve her own funds so that she could dig out this information for us to have here for future generations to use.”Before coming to Alaska, Martin served as a head nurse with the Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. She now lives in Mexico.
Newspaper Details
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
Fairbanks, Alaska, US
Mon, Mar 17, 1986
Page 9
Full Page
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USA 29 Aug 2024
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