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David Reamer

@ANC_Historian@alaskan.social

Historian. Posts daily Alaska material here, Twitter, Instagram, & Bluesky,weekly at the Anchorage Daily News, and periodically elsewhere. Coauthor of Black Lives in Alaska (2022) and co-Alaska Historian of the Year (2023).

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29 Posts

Joined June 13, 2023

Anchorage Daily News weekly history column:

https://www.adn.com/author/david-reamer/

Bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/anchistorian.bsky.social

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/anc_historian/

Buy Me a Coffee:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/davidreamer

Posts

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Aug 06, 2026

Replying to @tychotithonus@infosec.exchange

@tychotithonus@infosec.exchange There is an occasional thing I've noticed with some archives, when they conflate print date for slides/pics with shoot date.

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Aug 05, 2026

@tychotithonus@infosec.exchange After your period of interest, but I was intrigued to see this license plate #100, taken in 1965 per Museum description.

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Aug 03, 2026

1943 Alaska Highway poster, via University of Alberta. #alaskahistory #alaska

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Jul 27, 2026

This is Chick Lambert, a 1960s Long Beach car salesmen with his German shepherds. If you remember Cal Worthington and his "my dog Spot" commercials, they began as a parody of Lambert. The first "Spot" was an ape. Learn more in my latest article: https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/2026/07/26/5-facts-and-5-commercials-about-legendary-car-salesman-cal-worthington/

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Jul 27, 2026

Cal Worthington dealership plate, reminding people of his "Go See Cal" jingle though no one needed the reminder. In my latest article, the first of a two-part series, I offer five facts and five commercials for Cal, check it out here: https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/2026/07/26/5-facts-and-5-commercials-about-legendary-car-salesman-cal-worthington/

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Jul 25, 2026

Circa 1930-1940 cat in a heavy fog on Creek Street in Ketchikan. Photo by Alfred Milotte. Via Tongass Historical Museum. #alaskahistory #alaska #Caturday

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Jul 22, 2026

Undated matchbook for the Imperial Bar in Cordova with a nifty optical illusion. The bar was destroyed in a 1951 fire. Proprietor R.W. Korn was better known as Bob Korn, also the Cordova pool namesake. #alaskahistory #alaska

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Jul 20, 2026

Oct 15, 1942, soldiers try to dump a load of gravel or dirt in the construction of the Alcan Highway, but the load is frozen in the truck. Via National Archives. #alaskahistory #cdnhist #alaska

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Jul 19, 2026

Circa 1961, two MGs out and about in Alaska. Are they both MGA 1600s? Those who know more about cars can yell at me in the replies. Somewhat related, my next article is about early Porsches in Alaska. #alaskahistory #alaska

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Jul 14, 2026

July 14, 1960, Bun Drive-In on Northern Lights Blvd in Anchorage. In the 1960s, The Bun was a center of teen culture: a place to eat, socialize, show off cars, & listen to rock 'n' roll. It opened in 1959 and moved a block east in 1964. #alaskahistory #alaska #anchoragehistory

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Jul 06, 2026

I've written about men easily escaping murder charges in Alaska before. More than once. In a very special article, now learn what it took for a woman to get away with murder in Alaska. My latest piece here: https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/2026/07/05/a-sympathetic-shooter-and-botched-prosecution-how-did-lovely-lois-get-away-with-murder-in-1960s-anchorage/

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Jul 03, 2026

In 1952, first Anchorage-area Dairy Queen opened on Spenard Rd. They advertised the location as Deadmans Curve, which was Spenard between 36th & Minnesota, then infamous for crashes. Prompted by sad news of Anchorage's Dairy Queens suddenly closing. #alaskahistory #Alaska

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Jun 26, 2026

June 1984, pulling into the Willow Creek Grocery and adjacent view of the Parks Highway. Via Anchorage Museum. #alaskahistory #alaska

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · May 10, 2026

Twelve more images of earliest Anchorage, from 1915 to 1917, and their context in my latest article. They include baseball, food, pets, labor strife, and more. Check it out here: https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/2026/05/10/labor-strife-liquor-fueled-debauchery-pets-and-baseball-more-photographs-of-early-anchorage/

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · May 06, 2026

1910 Sleem's Map of Central Alaska detail of Anchorage area five years before Anchorage was established. Here it is simply the Knik Harbor. The dotted red line is a proposed railroad path. Red circles are mining regions. Note trail routes. #alaskahistory #anchoragehistory #alaska

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · May 06, 2026

1898 U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey map detail of Upper Cook Inlet 17 years before Anchorage was established. The "Trading Post" on west side of the Knik Arm became town of Knik. No Girdwood (or Glacier City as first known) yet. Many archaic spellings. #alaskahistory #alaska

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · May 04, 2026

In 1959, Vernal Tyler proposed a "gun barrel" built into Denali to launch space vehicles. Would have required a 52 mile railroad spur, 18 mile horizontal tunnel into the mountain, & a 10,000 foot vertical "barrel." See my latest article for more madness: https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/2026/05/03/destroying-the-seward-peninsula-for-a-warmer-summer-and-other-bering-sea-megaproject-proposals/

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Apr 29, 2026

The very stylish Bessie Couture (1869-1959), who, in 1897 Skagway, became the first known Black business owner in Alaska. Via Anchorage Museum. #alaskahistory #alaska

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Apr 24, 2026

Barbara Brubaker before and after trying to herringbone uphill in Alaska. From the Jan 3, 1944 issue of Life magazine, a feature about the McKinley Park Hotel, which the Army took over during WWII for rest & relaxation furloughs. #alaskahistory #alaska

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Apr 22, 2026

Elyria, Ohio was to add fluoride to water supply beginning April 22, 1954. Over the next week, locals complained about change in odor & taste. However, due to an unannounced delay, fluoride had not actually been added yet. People ruled by agendas & hysteria, can you believe it?

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Apr 18, 2026

2007 "Legend of Octopus Woman and Crow" painting in style of a button blanket by Chholing Taha for an anti-smoking campaign. Adapted from a Coast Salish story, octopus is cancer, blue crow quit smoking, & the yellow crow is someone who did not listen to elders (i.e., doctors).

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Apr 06, 2026

After doing the origin of "cabin fever" a couple of weeks, this week I present the history of "breakup," from verb to noun, literal to idiom. https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/2026/04/05/the-history-of-the-term-breakup-a-harbinger-of-alaskas-spring/

Anchorage Daily News

The history of the term breakup, a harbinger of Alaska’s spring

Like termination dust and snowmachine, the word is another example of idiosyncratic slang in Alaska.

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Apr 05, 2026

Circa 1911-1920, mushing during breakup near Nome. Article on breakup out later today. #alaskahistory #alaska

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Mar 31, 2026

Frank Stagno and his airboat in 1980s Fairbanks. In 1985, friends bet him $200 that he couldn't drive his airboat on land to the Lonely Lady strip club on Airport Way. He almost made it but melted the boat bottom off and got a drunk driving charge. #alaskahistory #alaska

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Mar 25, 2026

Circa 1920s Geographie Universelle series card of Alaska, notably with Juneau relocated to the Yukon River. This set was a promotional item for La Belle Jardinière, a Parisian department store open 1824-1974. #alaska #alaskahistory

alaskan.social

Alaskan Social

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Mar 20, 2026

April 1993 Starlog magazine ad for the Anchorage Star Trek Convention that same month. Featured appearance by Michael Dorn, Worf on Next Generation. #alaskahistory #anchoragehistory #alaska

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Mar 09, 2026

Circa late 1980s T-shirt, "Alaska where men are men and women win the Iditarod" referencing the success of Libby Riddles & Susan Butcher. A couple of people have asked me to keep an eye out for these. Via eBay, not my listing (https://ebay.us/m/kkagQS) #alaskahistory #alaska

David Reamer @ANC_Historian@alaskan.social · Jan 28, 2026

Anyone here a nurse at Providence in Anchorage? Working a story on 1952 wage negotiations and the ugly fallout at Providence. I want to roughly verify modern annual pay. Glassdoor has it around $95k to $125k for RNs. Does that sound right? Photo is midcentury Providence.