Programs & Events
Free Beginners Embroidery Workshop with Kirsa Hughes-Skandijs
Saturday, November 22 | 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
At the Juneau-Douglas City Museum
Are you interested in learning how to embroider? The City Museum is offering a free beginners embroidery workshop with artist Kirsa Hughes-Skandijs. During the workshop participants will learn some of the basic embroidery techniques and stitches and then combine them to create forget-me-nots. This is a free workshop and all supplies are provided. Kirsa’s embroidery exhibition titled, A Stitch in Time, will be on display in the Media Room Gallery at the City Museum through December.
Space is limited to 12 participants.
Call the City Museum at (907)-586-3572 to register.
November (all month) Celebrate Dr. Walter Soboleff's Legacy with a Letter of Gratitude
November 14th is Dr. Walter Soboleff Day. During the month of November, the Juneau-Douglas City Museum will provide a free note card, US postage, and an insert honoring the late Dr. Walter Soboleff to individuals interested in writing letters of encouragement and gratitude. Note cards, inserts, and stamps may be picked up at the City Museum between 10am and 4pm Tuesdays through Saturdays in November. As an additional complimentary service, the Museum will mail completed cards. Larger groups may request in advance inserts to be picked up at the City Museum.
Dr. Walter Soboleff (November 14, 1908 – May 22, 2011) was an influential member of the Juneau community and throughout the state of Alaska. Of Tlingit and Russian-German descent, he contributed to many organizations, including serving in all of the offices at Grand Camp ANB, participating in the Juneau Lions Club, teaching Native Cultural Studies at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, serving in the AK National Guard, and his lifetime avocation as Presbyterian pastor for the Juneau Memorial Church and as a traveling preacher. He spent his life working with people, with the goal of higher education, self-respect, spiritual values, tolerance, and equality. In 2014, HB217 was signed into law by the 28th Alaska State Legislature, 2nd session, “an act establishing November 14 each year as Dr. Walter Soboleff Day”.
Throughout his long life, Dr. Walter Soboleff encouraged others with recognition and kindness. Those who knew him remember his frequent handwritten notes and cards. Through this simple act of recognition and caring, the Juneau-Douglas City Museum invites community members to send someone a note of encouragement this November in his honor. As Dr. Soboleff once said, “When you give, feel good about it.”
November 15th Book Talk with Larri Spengler from 10:30 a.m. to noon
Taking Time: Sailing with My Family in Southeast Alaska
A Book Talk with Author Larri Irene Spengler
Saturday, November 15th | 10:30 a.m – 12:00 p.m.
at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum
Taking Time: Sailing with my Family in Southeast Alaska chronicles the many adventures Larri Spengler and her family experienced while sailing their 27-foot Cape Dory sailboat, Altariel. Over the course of 18 years, Larri, her husband, and her daughter made regular wilderness forays from their home in Juneau. While sailing throughout Southeast Alaska they became attuned to weather, gained skills and resiliency, coped with emergencies, watched whales and sunsets, read aloud to each other, and had spacious time for both conversations and silence. In 2022, the family decided it was time to sell Altariel, and in 2025 Larri published Taking Time, Sailing with my Family in Southeast Alaska.
Larri looks forward to sharing what she learned from her sailing experiences. Her book Taking Time will be available for purchase at the City Museum during the book talk, and coffee and tea will be provided. This is a free event.
Taking Time conveys one way to live in the present, and to nurture together-time in the face of brimming schedules and encroaching technology. It provides a life-affirming template, whether or not you own a sailboat!
November 20th Performance by Jan Welch from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Plucky Lady, a Solo Performance by Jan Welch
Thursday, November 20th | 6:00 – 7:00 p.m | at the City Museum
Join us at the City Museum for a free solo performance by Jan Welch. Plucky Lady brings to life the story of fearless Alaskan adventurer Mary Joyce, who came to Southeast Alaska in 1928 and instantly embraced its rugged beauty. She was a nurse, the owner of a hunting lodge, a mink farmer, bush plane pilot, stewardess, Alaska's first female radio operator, military advisor, territorial government candidate, movie actress and bar proprietor. But she's most famous for traveling 1000 miles by dogsled from Taku to Fairbanks in the harshest of conditions.
Jan Welch is a professional writer and actress who first learned about Mary Joyce when she visited Taku Glacier Lodge in the summer of 2023. She immediately knew she wanted to bring Mary's story to life in Plucky Lady, the script she adapted from Mary Anne Greiner's book Mary Joyce Taku to Fairbanks 1000 Miles by Dog Team.
This project was funded in part by a Juneau History Grant from the Juneau-Douglas City Museum, City and Borough of Juneau, 2025.
The Marie Darlin Prize Applications Due May 1st, 2026
Applications Due Annually on May 1st
The Marie Darlin Prize recognizes outstanding works of artistic, literary, performative, or scholarly merit that concern the cultures and peoples of Southeast Alaska. The prize is awarded annually to an individual or collaboration whose work expresses a commitment to the region’s social or cultural history, community advocacy, or Indigenous identity.
In accordance with the wishes of Marie Darlin and donors, the Juneau-Douglas City Museum administers the Marie Darlin Prize, and the Juneau Community Foundation oversees the fund. Prize contenders are writers, visual artists, performing artists, or scholars from Alaska or elsewhere who have completed a significant work that emphasizes community values and regional identity. Applicants are reviewed by a selection committee which determines the winner. A cash prize of $5,000 is awarded annually and may be used as the recipient wishes.
For more information about eligibility and submission instructions, please visit the Friends of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum’s website at fojdcm.org