The Filipino American National Historical Society’s 12th National Conference will be held Thursday-Saturday, July 3-5, 2008 in Anchorage, Alaska.
Hotel site is Hilton Anchorage, 500 West Third Avenue in the downtown of America’s northern-most metropolis, which hopes to lure from throughout the nation hundreds of researchers, academics, authors, writers, filmmakers and, certainly, students, plus many community folks just wanting to learn and share more about Filipino American history in the past and present.
Conference theme is “Lure of the Salmon Song,” emblematic of playwright-poet Timoteo Cordova’s essay subscribing in part the conference:
“… FANHS will host this extraordinary event in Anchorage, Alaska, where the currents of Pinoy history run strong and the depth of our pride runs deep. From canneries to communities and from family to industry, for more than a century Alaska has been a bridge and cornerstone to the wandering spirits deep inside countless Filipino American souls.”
The conference is being dedicated to the late Thelma Garcia Buchholdt, former Alaska legislator and FANHS national president who died last November in office... Major plans for the 2008 conference had been her principal involvement before her death.
Conference fees are a bargain, compared to other national gatherings.
Full conference registration postmarked by May 30: FANHS members, $100; non-members, $140; senior members and student members, $90; non-member seniors and non-member students, $110s; and includes Thursday morning coffee/tea-pastries and Author’s Reception, then on Friday a box lunch, membership meeting snack and Saturday the evening banquet. Fees go up slightly after May 31.
One-day registration includes sessions and Thursday and Friday meals with rates $40 members; $35 member students and seniors; $50 non-members; $40 non-member students and seniors. Then for banquet alone, $50 per person; Wednesday historic tour, tentative $30 with lunch with space limited.
FANHS’ annual membership dues, $35 individual, $50 family and $15 student
or senior.
Established in 1982 in Seattle, FANHS has 28 chapters in the nation. Incoming national president is Prof. Joan May Cordova of Drexel University in Philadelphia. FANHS founder and executive director is Dr. Dorothy Laigo Cordova of Seattle where the National Office is at 810 18th Avenue (98122); phone, 206-322-0203. Principal conference host is the Alaska Chapter, presided by Dr. Aurora Salazar Hovland of Anchorage.