In honor of the 50th anniversary of statehood, the theme of this year's Alaska Historical Society conference is Alaska Visionaries: Seekers, Leaders and Dreamers. All are welcome to enjoy three full days of topical panel discussions, presentations and events that examine how Alaska became a state, what has happened to it in the years since and who were the visionaries who gave the young state its foundation. Invited guests from around the state will recollect the fight for statehood, discuss issues facing Alaska today and offer a perspective for the next 50 years.

Conference highlights are many. They include a conversation with pioneers of Alaska’s constitution Vic Fischer and Katie Hurley; a keynote address by Dr. Sven Haakanson Jr., executive director of the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak and winner of a prestigious 2007 MacArthur Fellowship; a talk by John Straley, Alaska’s State Writer Laureate 2006-2008; the annual Alaska Day lecture featuring Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens and Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye; Alaska 2058: The Next 50 Years, a conversation with experts from around Alaska looking towards the future of the state; and Alice Welling presenting “Hullabaloo: The Hysterically Accurate Musical Comedy about the History of Alaska” as evening entertainment. The conference was made possible by a generous donation from BP.

This year’s AHS conference, in association with the University of Alaska, is taking place on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus and at the Z.J. Loussac Library, Oct. 16-18, and promises to be among the most engaging and rewarding of the Alaska statehood anniversary celebrations.

To register, please visit AHS online at www.alaskahistoricalsociety.org. For more information about the conference and a full list of events, visit the Web site at or contact Katie Ringsmuth, AHS Conference Coordinator, at katmaikate@aol.com or (907) 830-2251.