ONLINE: Matt Blessing

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courtesy Wisconsin Historical Society

Matt Blessing

press release: Join us for "Book Bites" - a series of brief Facebook Live book talks from the Wisconsin Historical Society Press exploring all things Wisconsin! The series streams on the WHS Press Facebook page.

On Wednesday, January 5 Matt Blessing discusses the remarkable history of Alaska's Matanuska Valley Colony, which he chronicled in his award-winning Wisconsin Magazine of History article, "Alaska Ho!"

This New Deal resettlement project moved 202 families from the upper Midwest to southcentral Alaska in an effort to alleviate rural poverty in one region and populate a fertile valley in America’s vast northern territory.

In the summer of 1935 the Milwaukee Journal reporter Arville Schaleben began chronicling this farming community. Working and sleeping in a government-issued tent, Schaleben filed nearly 150 stories for the Journal, providing a vivid portrait of these modern pioneers as they set up housekeeping, found creative ways to earn a living, and raised their families.

Matt Blessing recently retired from the Wisconsin Historical Society but remains actively engaged in studying the history of the conservation and environmental movements in Wisconsin, including the legacies of John Muir and Aldo Leopold.