Alyeska at the Smithsonian

Patrick Crow
Washington, D.C.
[email protected]

The National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., will open an exhibition this week commemorating the 20th anniversary of the completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.

The idea for the show came about a year ago in a typically Washington way: Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.'s Washington representative met a Smithsonian curator at a party.

Their conversation led to Alyeska's offer to donate items to the museum, and the museum's subsequent decision to display them and others in an exhibition.

Alyeska paid to remodel a 1,200 sq ft area in the museum for short-term exhibitions, the first of which will feature the pipeline.

The focal point of the Alyeska display will be an 18,000 lb, 21-ft section of elevated 48-in. pipeline. Part of it has been cut away to show a pig inside.

Broad scope

Jeffrey Stine, the curator who led the Smithsonian team, said his major challenge was to convey, in a small space, the magnitude of the 800-mile pipeline and what it has meant to Alaska.

He gathered several hundred items-photos, maps, and memorabilia-relating to the line, its construction, and the impact it has had on Alaska and its citizens.

Stine tried to present a "banquet" of information for visitors: "I'm hoping the exhibition will work for different people in different ways, so that everyone can get something from it."

His favorite items in the exhibition already were in the Smithsonian's collection. An Alaskan disagreed so strongly with the state's policy of disbursing excess oil revenues to its citizens that the man sent his "dividend" checks from the state-uncashed and worth thousands of dollars-to the Smithsonian as mementos.

Environmentalists feared the display would argue for exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which, if successful, could help keep the pipeline pumping many years longer.

But Stine said, "This is an historical exhibition that focuses on the pipeline in the context of Alaska. It's not an exhibit that talks about what we should do and whether those options are right or wrong."

Broad benefits

Stine said Alyeska deserves credit for its generosity and because "there was no push to tell us what to say." He also credited the state, natives, labor unions, and other museums for their cooperation.

When the exhibition closes next April, most of the items will be returned to their owners, but the Smithsonian will get some more Alaskan items for its collection, including two native coats the ARCO Foundation commissioned for the show.

Stine has worked on six exhibitions over 8 years but said, "I've never had such an entire cross section of the museum so interested in what I was doing. I would never have guessed I would have gotten such a reaction to an exhibition about a pipeline in Alaska."

He said about 5 million people tour the history museum yearly. Since not all of them see every exhibition, the Alyeska show may get up to 1 million visitors during its 6-month run.

Here's hoping that they will leave with an appreciation for a massive, technological marvel that delivers a quarter of the U.S. oil supply.