The Tlingit People and Their Role in the History of Sitka | P17AS00370

Opportunity Information: Apply for P17AS00370

This grant opportunity, titled "The Tlingit People and Their Role in the History of Sitka" (Funding Opportunity Number P17AS00370), was offered by the Department of the Interior, National Park Service as a discretionary cooperative agreement in the Education/Humanities category (CFDA 15.945 and 15.946). It was created on June 14, 2017, with applications due August 21, 2017. The National Park Service expected to make one award, with a maximum award amount (ceiling) of $300,000. Eligible applicants included state, county, and local governments; public and state-controlled colleges and universities; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments; other tribal organizations; and qualifying 501(c)(3) nonprofits.

The core purpose of the opportunity was to correct an imbalance in how Sitka National Historical Park presents and documents local history. While the park has long had strong legal and management documentation focused on Russian Sitka, the Russian-American Company, and the 1867 transfer of Alaska, the Tlingit side of the same historical story has often been treated as secondary or left in the background. The funding was intended to support a major historical study that places Tlingit people, clans, and perspectives at the center of the narrative, rather than treating them as an add-on to a primarily Russian colonial storyline.

The opportunity points out a specific gap in existing scholarship and park studies: since the 1980s, the park has produced multiple studies, but only one focuses entirely on the Tlingit, and even that work is narrow in scope, largely limited to traditional uses of the Indian River area. In contrast, the National Park Service argues that the broader history of the Kiksadi and other clans in the region is a much bigger and more important theme that deserves sustained research and public-facing interpretation. The project is meant to reflect the depth and complexity of Tlingit society in southeast Alaska, including their well-known artistic traditions, long-distance trade networks, raiding and slaving expeditions documented in regional history, intricate clan and social structures, and a rich cosmology that shaped governance, identity, and relationships with outsiders.

A major emphasis of the proposed work is to present the Tlingit as a powerful and successful cultural and political force both before and after European contact. The opportunity explicitly warns against simplistic interpretations of Tlingit-Russian relations that reduce the story to one-sided conquest or a single military event. Although the Tlingit experienced a military defeat at Sitka in 1804, the description stresses that their history cannot be summarized by that moment alone. The Tlingit achieved victories elsewhere, retained significant autonomy over time, and eventually negotiated a workable peace with the Russians. The National Park Service also highlights the longer arc of Tlingit influence after Russian rule, noting that Tlingit strength and leadership later contributed to Alaska Native civil rights efforts and land claims movements, tying early colonial-era history to modern political and legal struggles.

The project was designed to explore the full range of interactions between Tlingit communities and outsiders, including not only conflict but also the more complicated realities of coexistence. According to the opportunity description, life at Sitka involved violent clashes alongside religious mingling, intermarriage, trade relationships, and mutual dependence. The study would help explain how the Tlingit and Russians relied on one another for practical necessities such as food, clothing, furs, and other essential goods, creating relationships that could shift between hostility and cooperation depending on circumstances. It also frames 1867 as a moment of continuity for Tlingit residents: when Russian Alaska became American Alaska, the Russians departed, but the Tlingit remained in their homeland, facing ongoing land-rights and land-tenure pressures that did not simply disappear with the change in colonial administration.

In terms of deliverables and intended impact, the opportunity called for research and development of a substantial historical work that would be scholarly but still readable and useful to non-specialists. The goal was to support both interpretive materials for general park visitors and more in-depth publications that remain accessible to broader audiences. The final historical product was expected to cover three main themes: the dominant role of Tlingit clans across much of southeast Alaska in the pre-contact period; the diverse interactions between Tlingit people and outsiders, including Europeans and other Alaska Native groups; and the specific role of Tlingit people in the operations and day-to-day realities of the Russian-American Company at Sitka. In plain terms, the grant sought to help Sitka National Historical Park tell a more complete story of Russian America by making it impossible to understand Sitka's Russian colonial history without also understanding the Tlingit history interwoven with it.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the education, humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "The Tlingit People and Their Role in the History of Sitka" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.945, 15.946.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 14, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 21, 2017 Applications are due 8/21/2017 to contact provided in the Notice of Funding Opportunity.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $300,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for P17AS00370

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: