Doug Vandegraft

Doug Vandegraft worked as a Cartographer for the Department of the Interior from 1983 to 2018.  He began his notorious bars of Alaska project in 1999 while still living in Anchorage.  A promotion in 2000 required him to relocate to the Washington DC area.  This move was beneficial not only for his career but also for his Alaska bars project, as the Library of Congress and the National Archives contain a vast amount of material on Alaska.  He supplemented these resources with bi-annual trips to Alaska to conduct research at the National Archives in Anchorage and the State Archives in Juneau.  During these trips, he also interviewed many bar owners and consulted with historians from Alaskan historical societies.