Project Jukebox Survey

Help us redesign the Project Jukebox website by taking a very short survey!

Elaine Abraham

Elaine Abraham was born and raised in Yakutat, Alaska, where she now resides. Her father was a traditional Tlingit chief and Elaine was raised in the traditional Tlingit manner. After earning a nursing degree and working for several years in Arizona, she returned to Alaska as the first Tlingit registered nurse. She served at hospitals in Juneau, Sitka - Mt. Edgecumbe, and in Bethel during a diphtheria epidemic. She assisted in the opening of the Alaska Native Health Service Hospital in Anchorage in 1954. Ms. Abraham moved to Sitka where she worked as a nurse, served as school board president during the desegregation of the village school, organized the Southeast Health Aide Program with Dr. Justice from Mt. Edgecumbe, which became the model for the statewide Alaska Community Health Aide Program, and organized the Southeast Native Board of Health. At Sitka's Sheldon Jackson College, she served as Associate Dean of Students, Director of Social Services, and Vice President for Institutional Development. She developed the Tlingit and Haida Language Teachers Training program and helped in the creation of the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In 1976, Ms. Abraham began her service at the University of Alaska, serving as Vice President for Rural Education Affairs, Coordinator of Native Student Services, and Associate Professor at the Anchorage campus. Her educational credentials include a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Alaska Pacific University (APU), a Bachelors degree in Human Resources Development from APU, a Certificate in Native Linguistics from the University of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and an Associate of Arts in Anthropology from Sheldon Jackson College. She received the highest recorded score for the Psychiatric Nurse Evaluation in Arizona. Ms. Abraham is a revered Tlingit elder and serves as Chairperson of the Board of Commissioner's of the Alaska Native Science Commission. For more about Elaine Abraham see the Alaska Native Science Commission website or an article in the Alaska Dispatch News published on May 17, 2016. Elaine Abraham passed away on May 16, 2016 at the age of 87.

Date of Birth:

Jun 19, 1929

Date of Death:

May 16, 2016

Elaine Abraham appears in the following new Jukebox projects:

Wrangell-St.Elias National Park

Elaine Abraham and Mary Ann Paquette's Slideshow

Fhoki Kayamori's Slideshow

Interview Title	Abstract	Archive #: Oral History	Project	Date of Interview
Elaine Abraham and Mary Ann Paquette	This interview has been edited. Bill Schneider was fortunate that Elaine Abraham, who lived in Anchorage at the time of this recording, was in Yakutat while he was interviewing and we were able to include her. She is joined here by Mary Ann Paquette and they give a very personal introduction to growing up in Yakutat. The edited section can be found in the Kayamori slideshow. They made comments on a photo album of pictures made by a Japanese photographer, Kayamori, who lived in Yakutat until World War II. When he learned that he would be detained in a camp during the war he committed suicide. The photo album is from his collection at the Alaska State Library in Juneau. There is considerable interest in the album and the images of Yakutat in the early years. Only a selection of images were described by Mary Ann and Elaine.	95-71-28	Wrangell-St.Elias National Park	Jul 12, 1995