Kathryn Dyakanoff Seller (1884–1980) was an Alaskan Creole educator. With her husband, she built and opened the first government-funded schoolhouse in the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a cha ...

, in 1909.

Early life

Ekaterina (Kathryn) Pelagiia Dyakanoff was born in

Unalaska Unalaska ( ale, Iluulux̂; russian: Уналашка) is the chief center of population in the Aleutian Islands. The city is in the Aleutians West Census Area, a regional component of the Unorganized Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Unalaska ...

, in an Aleut family. She lived at the missionary

Jesse Lee Home for Children The Jesse Lee Home for Children was a former home for displaced children on Swetmann Avenue in Seward, Alaska, United States. It was operated by the United Methodist Church from its opening in 1926 until the building suffered damage from a 1964 ...

as a girl. She was sent to the

Carlisle Indian Industrial School The United States Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, generally known as Carlisle Indian Industrial School, was the flagship Indian boarding school in the United States from 1879 through 1918. It took over the historic Carlisle ...

in Pennsylvania, graduating in 1906, and then to Westchester State Normal School, where she completed her studies in 1907."Anchorage 1910-1935: Legends and Legacies"
exhibit, Cook Inlet Historical Society, Anchorage Museum.

Career

Kathryn Dyakanoff started teaching in 1908, in

Sitka russian: Ситка , native_name_lang = tli , settlement_type = Consolidated city-borough , image_skyline = File:Sitka 84 Elev 135.jpg , image_caption = Downtown Sitka in 1984 , image_size ...

, for the

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...

. With her new husband, she sailed to

Atka, Alaska Atka ( ale, Atx̂ax̂, russian: Атка) is a small city located on the east side of Atka Island, in Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska, United States. The population was 53 at the 2020 census, down from 61 in 2010. The population of Atka is n ...

in 1909 to open a new school for the bureau, the first government-funded schoolhouse in the Aleutian Islands. The school building was also their home, and they were active in the community, helping to build a community farm, acquiring a boat for community use, in addition to offering an industrial shop and sewing machines for students. The couple taught on several of the islands before returning to

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

in 1920. In widowhood, Kathryn returned to teaching at remote Alaskan schools that served Native students. She developed her skills as a basketmaker, served at various times as a midwife, health officer, reservation superintendent, and photographer. In 1950 her lifetime achievements were recognized with an award from the Department of the Interior and a medal from the United States Congress. A former student, Mary Peterson, recalled Kathryn Seller's kindness later in life: "Mrs. Seller – Kathryn Seller – was my teacher. She was kind of old already, with gray, short hair. She was everything to us. She helped people that needed food...I don't know where she ordered them from, but she knew some of the people in the village who were in need because they had no money to buy food."Joanne B. Mulcahy
''Birth and Rebirth on an Alaskan Island: The Life of an Alutiiq Healer''
(University of Georgia Press 2001): 31-32.

Personal life

Kathryn Dyakanoff married English-born Harry George Seller in Seattle in 1909. They had six children. Their son Alfred drowned as a boy; their son Harry died in the Aleutian Islands Campaign during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Kathryn was widowed when her husband died in 1936. Kathryn Dyakanoff Seller died in San Francisco in 1980, aged 95 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyakanoff Seller, Kathryn Alaskan Creole people Alaska Native people 1980 deaths 20th-century American educators 20th-century American women educators 1884 births Native American educators Educators from Alaska 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native Americans Carlisle Indian Industrial School alumni