The Pratt Museum is a regional natural history museum located in

Homer, Alaska Homer ( Dena'ina: ''Tuggeght'') is a city in Kenai Peninsula Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is southwest of Anchorage. According to the 2020 Census, the population is 5,522, up from 5,003 in 2010. Long known as the "Halibut Fishing Ca ...

, with exhibits exploring life around

Kachemak Bay Kachemak Bay ( Dena'ina: ''Tika Kaq’'') is a 40-mi-long (64 km) arm of Cook Inlet in the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southwest side of the Kenai Peninsula. The communities of Homer, Halibut Cove, Seldovia, Nanwalek, Port Graham, ...

South Central Alaska Southcentral Alaska (russian: Юго-Центральная Аляска) is the portion of the U.S. state of Alaska consisting of the shorelines and uplands of the central Gulf of Alaska. Most of the population of the state lives in this regio ...

. The museum's mission is to preserve "the stories of the Kachemak Bay region", through "collections, exhibits, and programs in culture, science, and art". Indoor exhibits include early

homesteading Homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. It is characterized by subsistence agriculture, home preservation of food, and may also involve the small scale production of textiles, clothing, and craft work for household use or sale. Pur ...

Native Alaskan Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entertai ...

traditions, local contemporary art, and an exploration of the marine and terrestrial life around Kachemak Bay. Outdoor exhibits feature a historic cabin, botanical gardens and a nature trail.

History

The Pratt Museum had its beginnings in the Homer Society of Natural History, which had incorporated in 1965. The museum opened in 1968 in a building designed by Crittenden, Cassetta, Wirum & Jacobs of

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 ...

. Local artist Sam Pratt had a collection of items that led to the founding of the society. Hazel Heath, the treasurer of the society from 1968 to 1983 and mayor of Homer from 1968 to 1976, has been credited with founding the museum, which was established in 1968. Sam Pratt and his wife Vega donated the land on which the museum was built, and Sam Pratt served as the first volunteer curator of the museum.

Exhibits

The main gallery's exhibit at the Pratt Museum is entitled ''Kachemak Bay: An Exploration of People & Place,'' which explores the cultures that have existed in Kachemak Bay, as well as contemporary life in Kachemak Bay. The gallery has exhibits from early Native Alaskans to the homesteaders of the 1930s and 1940s, to the current fisheries that sustain the Kachemak Bay area, including Homer, Kachemak City, Seldovia, Halibut Cove, Anchor Point, and additional villages around the Bay. One major attraction for visitors is a live-feed wildlife camera set up to view seabirds such as

puffin Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crev ...

cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven ge ...

s, and

murres ''Uria'' is a genus of seabirds in the auk family known in Britain as guillemots, in most of North America as murres, and in Newfoundland and Labrador as turr. These are medium-sized birds with mainly brown or black plumage in the breeding sea ...

on Gull Island in Kachemak Bay. The camera is controlled at the museum, with a touchscreen below the main screen for visitor use. The SeeBird Camera (or Gull Cam) is also available online during the summer months, although it is controlled by the visitors at the museum and not the online visitors. The museum also hosts a number of interactive activities, from fish-feeding on Tuesdays and Fridays to tours of the harbor on the

Homer Spit The Homer Spit ( Dena'ina: ''Uzintun'') is a geographical landmark located in Homer, Alaska on the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula. The spit is a long piece of land jutting out into Kachemak Bay. The spit is also home to the Homer Boat Harbor ...

on Fridays and Saturdays during the summer months. As of 2021, the Pratt Museum has expanded and restored the Botanical Garden, featuring over 150 plants that are native to the region. There is also a small Homestead Garden which features annuals and perennials that were and are of significance to farmers and homesteaders on the Kenai Peninsula.

Expansion

The Pratt Museum has been working to build a new facility on its 9.8 acre property, to increase exhibit space and storage space for its

collections Collection or Collections may refer to: * Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department * Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service * Collection agency, agency to collect cash * Collection ...

. The new building would also be on one level, eliminating the need for staircases and elevators, and would have other efficiencies not possible with the current building. The Pratt Museum's

Board of Directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

decided to support the creation of a new museum building, and started on the design of this building in 2010.

References

External links

* {{authority control Homer, Alaska History museums in Alaska Buildings and structures in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska Tourist attractions in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska Natural history museums in Alaska Art museums and galleries in Alaska Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums