The Alaska Highway’s construction and its legacy is a significant and enduring creation in the Yukon’s history - it had the effect of binding the region and its people much more closely into the wider political and economic systems of mainstream Euro-North American society. Today the Alaska Highway is both an economic and social conduit, and a home for both a progress and disruption narrative.

Janna Swales of the Yukon Transportation Museum will discuss the construction of the Alaska Highway, 80 years ago, through a a series of ‘Tall Tale Postcards’ donated by the Kubik Family formerly of Watson Lake, Yukon, some of which pre-date civilian travel on the highway in 1946. Janna will examine the impact the highway had on opening the Canadian north to car travel and the relationship between the Yukon and the Yukon as presented by period postcards.

This online talk will take place over Zoom and is part of the Canadian Automotive Museum's Third Thursday lecture series. These online talks are free and open to the public, but registration is required. The Canadian Automotive Museum is a registered Canadian charity and a suggested donation of $10 goes toward covering the cost of hosting these virtual events. Donors who make an annual contribution of over $25 will receive a charitable tax receipt. 

About our speaker:

Janna Swales is the Museumist for the Yukon Transportation Museum and the President of the Yukon Historical & Museums Association. In her experience, exploring the past is a personal voyage and it broadens our perspective -- it helps us understand and connect with others and care about where we live, and the world. Janna has been working in the museums sector, hiking into old mines, and driving the Alaska Highway for more than twenty years.