Timeline

Native Alaskan artist Michael Drew works on a wooden mask.

1939: US Department of the Interior requires a mark of authenticity affixed to all handmade Native products to guarantee ‘authenticity.’

1966: Alaska State Council for the Arts is established, to “ensure that the role for the arts in the life of our communities will continue to grow.”ALASKA-STATE-COUNCIL-ON-THE-ARTS_3

1972: The Alaska Department of Economic Development begins distributing Silver Hand tags. Inception of Silver Hand Program.

1980: The Alaska State Council on the arts established a Traditional Native Arts Program (TNAP). The program’s major responsibility is to assist rural Alaska Native artists with technical training and marketing strategies. Evidently, the Silver Hand Program had not done enough to assist Native artists, and a more targeted program was needed just eight years later.

1990: The Indian Arts and Crafts Act is passed by the US Department of the Interior, penalizing the sale of non-Native artwork marketed as being of Native origin.

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Although stagnant at first, enrollment in the Silver Hand program has skyrocketed since the mid-1990s.
Senator Gary Stevens (R-Kodiak) was a key sponsor of SB97, citing economic reasons.

2008: State legislature passes SB97, containing radical amendments to the existing Silver Hand legislation. Among other updates, the terminology is changed to more accurately reflect Native artwork, and the required blood quota of Native artists is removed.

For a more detailed chronology of legislation relating to Native artwork, see the full timeline compiled by Travel Alaska.

By Molly Grover and Grace Magoun