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Wassillie Evan

Wassillie Evan (Misngalria) was a Yup'ik elder from Akiak, Alaska. He was born in 1930 in Napaskiak, Alaska and grew up living a traditional subsistence lifestyle of hunting, trapping, and fishing. Throughout his life, Wassillie spent a lot of time traveling on the land and waters in the region and became an expert on survival, navigation, trails, and traditional Yupi'k place names. He was also a traditional healer. Wassillie passed away in 2010. He was 80 years old.

Date of Birth:

Jan 15, 1930

Date of Death:

Nov 13, 2010

Wassillie Evan appears in the following new Jukebox projects:

Akiak

Interview Title	Abstract	Archive #: Oral History	Project	Date of Interview
Wassillie Evan and John Phillip, Part 1	Wassillie Evan and John Phillip are interviewed on November 19, 2004 by William Schneider, Karen Brewster, Louann Rank, and Shawna Williams along with 7th grade students Leanne Jackson and Nels Jasper at the Akiak School Library in Akiak, Alaska. In this first part of a two part interview, Wassillie and John talk about subsistence activities, the history of Akiak, and refer to a map to talk about traditionally used places, travel routes and trails, and Yup'ik place names. John and Wassille have hunted and trapped together, and they talk about Qantar and the original trail, and mention two sites in particular: Anayaruaq - "a place up by the mountains that you are supposed to avoid;" and a small lake down by the Kuskokwim River that "if you drink the water from it you will disappear." Wassillie also tells a story in Yup'ik about starvation times and talks about traditional medicine and healing practices. Wassillie is most comfortable speaking Yup'ik, so he speaks in Yup'ik throughout much of the interview and John translates his comments into English.	2004-07-23_PT.1	Akiak	Nov 19, 2004
Wassillie Evan and John Phillip, Part 2	This is the continuation of an interview with Wassillie Evan and John Phillip on November 19, 2004 by William Schneider, Karen Brewster, Louann Rank, and Shawna Williams along with 7th grade students Leanne Jackson and Nels Jasper at the Akiak School Library in Akiak, Alaska. In this second part of a two part interview, Wassillie and John talk about traditionally used places and place names, travel and trails, and trapping. Wassillie and John also talk about the origin of their Yup'ik names, and John talks about the use of fish traps. Wassillie is most comfortable speaking Yup'ik, so he speaks in Yup'ik throughout much of the interview and John translates his comments into English.	2004-07-23_PT.2	Akiak	Nov 19, 2004

As a Person Present at Interview

Interview Title	Archive #: Oral History	Project	Abstract	People Present
Bertha Beaver	2004-07-18	Akiak	Bertha Beaver was interviewed on November 16, 2004 along with Wassillie Evan and John and Mary Phillip by Shawna Williams, Karen Brewster and Louann Rank along with 7th grade students Holly Demantle, Diedre Williams, Gabriel Nicolai and Milton Jones while looking at historic photographs at the Akiak School Library in Akiak, Alaska. In this excerpt of the longer recording, Bertha talks about what it was like to be in an arranged marriage and some of the hardships of raising such a large family in the early days when there was little money. Bertha emphasizes the importance for young people to remember their traditional values, activities, and foods.	Wassillie Evan, John Phillip, Mary Phillip