Mary Pat Wyatt was dismayed when she began assessing the assortment of objects that would become the first collection of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum.

With a background in art history and sculpture, and stints at the Smithsonian Institution and the Anchorage Historical and Fine Arts Museum, Wyatt was used to baskets, ivory and finely sewn moccasins. What she found in Juneau was wrenches, lots...