Charles Menadelook, an Inupiat, was born in Wales, Alaska, in 1892. One of the first Alaskan Natives to become a teacher, he taught in Diomede, Shishmaref, Shaktoolik, Kotzebue, Noatak, Sinuk, Nome, Gambell, and Unalaska. The book is edited by Menadelook¿s granddaughter, Eileen Norbert, who first started collecting these photographs as a senior in anthropology at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Norbert realized the value of this historic collection, and for more than thirty years she meticulously researched and recorded the stories behind the photographs.