Courtesy of the Alaska Native Heritage Center.
R&M developed an interactive GIS map and online StoryMap documenting more than 100 historic boarding schools and assimilative day schools across Alaska as part of the Alaska Native Heritage Center’s (ANHC) Education in Alaska: Disruptions to Our Traditional Teachings exhibit. R&M worked closely with ANHC staff to integrate their historic research and visuals into an accessible digital experience. Utilizing Esri’s tools, and in collaboration with ANHC, R&M designed intuitive mapping tools to help visitors understand the scale and impact of the boarding school era. R&M also georeferenced an electronic scan of the 1880 Comity Map to align the historic map onto a modern geospatial coordinate system. The map features indigenous place names from the Indigenous People and Languages of Alaska online map hosted by the University of Alaska. The StoryMap map was recognized as a Map Gallery finalist as part of the 2026 Esri User Conference.
This work supports ANHC’s efforts to honor Alaska Native stories and make this history more accessible to communities across Alaska and beyond. The Education in Alaska exhibit aims to document history, spur conversations and fortify healing for generations to come.
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