A view of early day Seward, Alaska, at the head of Resurrection Bay shows the railroad dock along the southern waterfront.
From the Beginning
Seward folks interested in preserving local history met July 13, 1962, to organize as a group and elected Seely V. Hall as president; Pat Williams, vice president; Mildred Kirkpatrick, secretary; Rachel Puckett, treasurer; and Irwin Metcalf, Juanita Everitt and Elizabeth Mahan to its board of directors.
After formally incorporating in 1965 as Resurrection Bay Historical Society, the group began receiving items, including a major donation of Alaska Native artifacts, ivory and baskets from former Seward resident Selma McDonald that had been collected by her late husband, Alaska Steamship Co. agent A.H. McDonald.
RBHS now needed a place to display and store its ever-growing collection. The city offered space in the new City Hall basement and the Seward Museum officially opened its doors on April 29, 1966. Twenty-three years later the museum moved into the ground floor of the former post office building at the corner of Third and Jefferson. Retired school teacher Lee Poleske volunteered to take charge of museum operations.
As the community marked its 100th year of founding in 2003, RBHS agreed to support and participate in the Community Library & Museum building project. Members poured hours of effort into bringing this dream to fruition and joined to celebrate the January 2013 dedication of the Seward Community Library & Museum at 239 Sixth Avenue.
With the new building came an agreement whereby the city took over operations of the Seward Museum with support from the Resurrection Bay Historical Society. Our organization continues in its mission of collecting, preserving and making accessible materials pertaining to Seward’s history.