Original constitution comes back to where it was drafted

Submitted by Joe Hardenbrook
Phone: 450-8599
10/03/05

The University of Alaska will accept a donation of an original copy of Alaska’s constitution at a special reception at the newly expanded University of Alaska Museum of the North on the Fairbanks campus at 2:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 3.

Peter Reader Jr. will present his father’s delegate copy to honor the university’s 50th anniversary commemoration of the drafting of Alaska’s constitution. The reception will feature comments by Reader, Chancellor Steve Jones of the University of Alaska Fairbanks; Jack Coghill, former state senator and lieutenant governor; Brian Rogers, chair of the University of Alaska Board of Regents and co-chair of the Creating Alaska Advisory Board; and Terrence Cole, UAF history professor. Fifty-five delegates met in November of 1955 at the university to craft the foundation of our state government. Peter L. Reader, a former miner and Nome city councilman, was the only delegate who actively opposed statehood. He served on the important Committee on Resources and the Committee on Resolutions and Recommendations.

Reader’s son, Peter Reader Jr., was a student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks at the time. "I was very proud of my father,"? the younger Reader said. "The constitutional convention was one of the most important events in his life, and in the history of Alaska."? State flags were lowered to half-mast to honor the delegate when Reader died in Nov. 2002.

Over the past two years, UA’s Creating Alaska project has worked to preserve historical recollections, information and artifacts from the statehood era. It will commemorate the civic spirit and work of the constitutional delegates through a series of events this winter. "We are honored to accept this donation of a precious historical document,"? Rogers said. "We encourage Alaskans who believe they may have an item of historic interest related to the constitution and statehood to contact their local museums and historical societies."? The archives at UAF’s Rasmuson Library will house the constitution. The pen used to sign it will go to the Museum of the North.

Creating Alaska commemoration activities begin Nov. 8 in Anchorage, with the opening of an exhibit at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. Other key events include public discussions, a Conference of Young Alaskans, and the statewide airing of a television documentary.

For more information about Alaska’s constitutional history and the Creating Alaska project, visit the project website at http://www.alaska.edu/creatingalaska .

For a photo of Peter Reader, click on http://www.alaska.edu/creatingalaska/reader .

For more information, contact Patti Harper at (907) 786-1169, or Joe Hardenbrook at (907) 450-8599.