Clausen Memorial Musem
Established in 1968, the Clausen Memorial is a private non-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation, interpretation, and sharing of the history of those that have resided or have worked in Peterburg and the surrounding areas.
You could say that the Clausen Memorial Museum is pretty much a family logbook; this is the place where residents identify familiar faces in old pictures. They have an amazing display of historic fishing gear, fishing “traps,” and commercial models that once decimated salmon runs included. Clausen Memorial also boasts the -unofficial- largest king salmon and displays a collection of 45,000 photographs and 200 archival collections.
This museum offers a collection of 5000+ artifacts and relics, most likely related to the local fishing history. Some of the exhibits shown here include the largest king salmon ever caught (126 lb), a Tlingit dugout canoe, a giant lens from the old Cape Decision lighthouse, and the half an hour long film Petersburg: The Town Fish Built. On the outside, you can find the ‘Fisk,’ a unique fish sculpture that was commissioned to honor the Alaska Centennial in 1967.
Some may classify this town museum as a tourist attraction, but locals would say the opposite. The Clausen Memorial charm comes from its relevance for people that live in Petersburg as a place for their collective memory. With all of the artifacts, photographs, and archival of the Clausen Memorial houses, it’s normal to think that for residents, this place is more than a tourist attraction.