Kodiak History Museum occupies the Russian-American Magazin, also known as the Erskine House, one of the oldest surviving Russian colonial buildings in Alaska. The exhibits move through Alutiiq life, the Russian-American Company, American rule, the Second World War, the 1964 tsunami, and the fishing industry that still shapes the town.
The building itself is half the point. Its heavy old frame makes Kodiak's colonial history physical in a way a text panel cannot, especially with the harbour only a short walk away.