The Katmai Eruption of 1912

Marina Cummiskey holds some of the ash still found on Kodiak Island.
Marina Cummiskey holds some of the ash still found on Kodiak Island.

This film is about the Katmai eruption that occurred in Alaska in June of 1912. The eruption affected a lot of places, but especially Kodiak Island, which was blanketed with two and a half feet of ash.

I first got started with this project through volunteering with the Baranov Museum. KMXT, Kodiak’s public radio station, had done a broadcast for the centennial of the eruption. They took accounts of people who experienced the eruption, and invited community members to read them. I used these audio files with archival museum photos to put together this five minute film for a Baranov Museum exhibit.

Thank you to the Baranov Museum, KMXT and school tech services for supporting this project, so that people today can go back in time, and imagine what it might have been like to live through a natural disaster from 100 years ago.

My name is Marina Cummiskey and I have lived on Kodiak all of my life. I am 12 years old and in 7th grade. I am mostly homeschooling and enjoy doing volunteer work at the Baranov Museum, the Animal Shelter, and our long-term Care Center. I am a competitive swimmer and I like babysitting and making iMovies in my spare time.

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