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Photo by John Wagner

Photo by John Wagner

FAIRBANKS — One of the original 100 copies of the Alaska Constitution, a framed American flag featuring 49 stars and a sneak peak at a KUAC documentary, “Mr. Alaska: Bob Bartlett Goes to Washington,” took center stage at a continuing celebration of Alaska’s golden anniversary Monday at the University of Alaska Museum of the North.

The constitution and flag are gifts to the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the film is undergoing final editing before premiering next year.

Mary Nordale, daughter of the late Katherine Nordale, one of the original 55 Alaska Constitutional Convention delegates, said her mother’s copy of the original state constitution was so precious to her that she kept it in a small safe along with the pen with which Katherine signed it.

“That was all that was in there,” Nordale said.

“It was one of the most rewarding experiences of her life, and she cherished it until the day of her death.”

Nordale’s copy holds extra significance, since it is one of only a few signed by Ralph Robertson, who initially held back from endorsing the work of his fellow delegates and only later decided to sign it.

Students in the Fairbanks school district will have the opportunity to view the Nordale family gift firsthand, since the original constitution will be visiting area classrooms starting in January.

Documenting and celebrating Alaska’s statehood anniversary and involving youths in the process is one of eight goals of the 49th State Golden Anniversary Project — also known as the Eight Stars of Gold, said Karen Perdue, who was involved in the planning of the celebration. Another goal is creating the Bob Bartlett documentary.

The documentary is the second KUAC-TV production focusing on Alaska’s history and its journey to statehood.

The first documentary, “The 49th Star,” won top honors nationally.

The $500,000 price tag for the Bob Bartlett film is being partially underwritten by New York Life Insurance for $175,000, along with the University of Alaska and smaller sponsors.

Coghill credited his son, State House Rep. John Coghill, for the 49-star flag, an eBay find. But the signatures of four of the original delegates on matting below the flag (Jack Coghill, Seaborn Buckalew, Victor Fischer and George Sundborg) set it apart.

University of Alaska President Mark Hamilton, one of the event’s presenters, said it is important to challenge youths so the next 50 years will elicit accomplishments.

The message to youths in these down times, Hamilton said, is: “You can wring your hands or raise them. These people raised them.”

Similarly, he continued, if young people do the same, “then we’ll have a future.”

Vic Fischer of Anchorage and Katie Hurley of Wasilla, who was the constitutional convention clerk, also were on hand Monday night.

At the behest of the university, Fischer is in the process of writing an autobiography that will include much about the framing of Alaska’s constitution.

Fischer said he has been talking about writing an autobiography and has been rolling the idea around in his brain for the past 15 years. He has some notes written in a computer and has been recording a lot of memories.

“There are scratches all over,” said the first director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research.

While in Fairbanks, Fischer also is doing a bit of research at the Rasmuson Library archives.

“It’s fascinating,” he said. “I’ve found my life, my friends, correspondence with Bob Bartlett, trials and tribulations.”

Hurley traveled to Fairbanks prior to the Constitutional Convention to set up for the delegates. She spent long days on campus, taking minutes of all the action during the plenary sessions. In the evenings, she would transcribe them in her apartment before passing them along to be cut into stencils and mimeographed.

Sometimes, the work would go on until 4 in the morning, and she would be up and ready to catch the 8 a.m. bus and pass the minutes out at the 9 a.m. session.

“It was so exciting; I never thought of it as a job,” Hurley said.

Hurley didn’t sign the constitution, despite a motion during the convention to allow her to do so. The majority didn’t agree, she recalled.

Mary Nordale was studying in Europe during the constitutional convention and didn’t see her mother’s copy of the new Alaska Constitution until August or September of 1956.

But one sunny day in Juneau when Mary would have preferred to be outdoors, Katherine Nordale, with the constitution in hand, bade her daughter to sit beside her on the couch.

“She went through it, line by line, and sometimes word by word, explaining about the delegates and why they made the choice,” Nordale recalled. “It was the best education I ever had.”

Contact staff writer Mary Beth Smetzer at 459-7546.