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Alaska Film Archives

About the Collection

Over the past half century, the University of Alaska Fairbanks has built the largest collection of archival films in and about Alaska. The collection combines hundreds of donations of film and videos to UAF by individuals, organizations and institutions. Materials range from professional productions to amateur home-movies, made in and about Alaska from the earliest days of filmmaking through today. Since 1993 these materials have been held by the Alaska Film Archives, a unit of Alaska and Polar Regions Collections & Archives in the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library. Films and videos selected for this portal project are a sampling of the thousands available for checkout on DVD through the Rasmuson Library. Unless otherwise noted, items are presented here in their entirety, unedited and uncut. Short, popular clips from the collection can be viewed on our YouTube channel. Read more about the Alaska Film Archives.

1 to 7 of 7 Objects
[Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 2]
[Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 2]
This film is labeled “Alaska Steamship, Alaska RR, Ice Carnival Chatanika 1942, Fisher[?], Eldorado and skiing in Fairbanks.” A note inside the film can says “AK Steamship Port of Seattle to Valdez?, Alaska Railroad - Nenana, Weeks Field Fairbanks, Mother and Dad skiing, Winter Carnival, dog racing, parade, Leonard Seppala, Second Avenue, mining - gold dredge, Dad Guri[?] Lealand, Fairbanks Creek.” Writing inside film can says “Drilling and hauling ice Chatanika Birch Lake, Alaska steamship from Seattle, ARR Seward to Fairbanks, skiing in Fairbanks, Carnival 1940, Fish Creek, Cleary Creek, Eldorado.” The film contains images of the Alaska Steamship Company dock in Seattle, the Seattle waterfront as seen from aboard a ship, a Port of Seattle sign, Alaska Pacific Salmon Company buildings, the Alaska Steamship Company dock in Juneau, the AJ Mine in Juneau, a small vehicle on railroad tracks in winter, snowy mountains, Alaska Railroad steam engine 614, scenic views from travel via the Alaska Railroad, the train station in Nenana, the Nenana Bridge, a couple skiing, a musher and dogs, Pollack Flying Service hangars in Fairbanks, ice hockey in downtown Fairbanks, a Pacific Alaska Airways Lockheed Electra airplane, crowds of people watching dog mushers on the Chena River, the 1940 Winter Carnival parade with floats, a dog yard, a sign for the 1940 Fairbanks Dog Derby, a welcome sign over downtown Fairbanks, Leonhard Seppala, a panorama of downtown Fairbanks in winter, Pollack Flying Service, men driving thaw points for a dredge mining operation, a mining camp, hydraulic giants being used to clear muck, men testing the ground with a drill rig, a mining camp, tailings piles, an old wooden mine shaft revealed as muck is cleared away by hydraulic giants, a dredge in operation, ice being removed from a dredge pond, a drilling rig in operation, small log cabins, a group skiing, a mining operation with buckets emptying onto a large pile of pay dirt, a sluice, a mining camp, a bulldozer, and a building at Chatanika Gold Camp(?).
[Ferry, Tenakee Hot Springs, dock]
[Ferry, Tenakee Hot Springs, dock]
The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has AAF-20041 numbered as Bacon 10-01 and titled “Ferry Pass-Bys, Tenakee Hot Springs, Dock Ferry.” Reed Bovee interviewed filmmaker Bill Bacon in 2010, and the following information about the group of films that includes this film is based on Bovee's notes from that interview: “Carl Heinmiller repairs mask - He started the saving of the Tlingit culture - Carl was a WWII veteran - He came back and bought the houses for Chilkat at Haines - He bought two or three of the quarters that the army used and had them repaired - State ferry coming into Haines, pass by North Star landing at Skagway, the old pilings at the waterfront at Skagway; that is where the ships used to come in - It is all worn out now - This is where they used to have the dock.” Notes on the film's box that pertain to this film are as follows: “Reel 1: 1986, Original, Ferry pass-by’s, Tenakee hot springs from the water, on ground – flying kites, street scenes, dock ferry, people selling on the dock."
[Haines fishing]
[Haines fishing]
The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has AAF-20045 numbered as Bacon 10-05 and titled “Haines, Fishing, People, Bears, Fish, Mining.” Reed Bovee interviewed filmmaker Bill Bacon in 2010, and the following information about the group of films that includes this film is based on Bovee's notes from that interview: “Carl Heinmiller repairs mask - He started the saving of the Tlingit culture - Carl was a WWII veteran - He came back and bought the houses for Chilkat at Haines - He bought two or three of the quarters that the army used and had them repaired - State ferry coming into Haines, pass by North Star landing at Skagway, the old pilings at the waterfront at Skagway; that is where the ships used to come in - It is all worn out now - This is where they used to have the dock.” Notes on the film box that pertain to this film are as follows: “Reel 5: Haines, fishing – people, bears, fish, mining scenes, scenery, leaving Haines for Skagway, Klukwan.”
[Ketchikan]
[Ketchikan]
The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has AAF-20069 numbered as Bacon 14-04 and titled “Ketchikan, Boats, Fish, Float Homes, North Star, Totem.” Reed Bovee interviewed filmmaker Bill Bacon in 2010, and the following information about the group of films that includes this film is based on Bovee's notes from that interview: “Museum of all the old totem poles they could save before they deteriorated - The Rock Oyster Totem is a famous totem pole that shows a guy with his hand caught in the jaws of a giant oyster - Street scenes of Dolly’s at Creek Street - She was a prostitute that lived on Creek Street and there used to be a saying that this is where the men and the salmon come up river to spawn.” Notes on the film box are as follows: “Ketchikan Totem Museum, Nathan Jackson’s carving, trees, rainforest, pulp mill, totem poles, rock oyster totem” and “Reel 4: ECN, marked Original, Ketchikan – salmon derby, boats coming in, weighing fish, state fish check them over, float homes, North Star at dock taking on supplies, Totem Bight, people in the rain, cruise ships, overall shot of boat harbor, IP ‘86, pulp mill, salmon pix on rock, salmon ladder, harbor, street scenes, waterfront from water, people on ferry looking.”
[Lounsbury film collection 4]
[Lounsbury film collection 4]
AAF-10856 includes aerial views of Nome, the Nome waterfront, aerial views of the Seward peninsula, a mining operation, a truck pulling a long length of pipe, Mirow Air Service Loening flying boat airplane, a dredge operating on the Seward peninsula, a Pacific Alaska Airways Lockheed Electra, a Caterpillar and power shovel working at a placer gold mining operation, men cleaning up gold in a sluice box, various views of placer mining operations, a small riverboat, brief views of Palmer, a hard rock mining operation in Hatcher Pass, an aerial tramway operating, an Alaska Railroad bus on rails, aerial views of Copper Center (?), aerial views of Fairbanks, a Northern Commercial Caterpillar shop on Second Avenue in Fairbanks, the interior of an office, railroad travel and family scenes, Ice Carnival Parades in Fairbanks, Ice Carnival dog races and activities on the Chena River (during 1940, 1946, and 1950), a barge trip with the riverboats Idler and Mudhen taking barges with Caterpillars and other equipment, and a Cat train during winter hauling freight through a wooded area and cross country to Wiseman. Additional film has suffered water damage. Footage includes Lounsbury boys, a village along the ocean, family and farm scenes taken outside of Alaska, winter scenes in Fairbanks, boys shoveling off a roof and playing in snow, and a family posing for photos. According to George Lounsbury, approximately the first 30 minutes are Dan Lhamon and Rod Wolff films ending with the parade sequence. The next approximately 15 minutes are Johnny Repo (sp?) and Walter Rasmussen (sp?) films beginning with the boat sequence and ending with views of the Third Rail at Wiseman. The remainder of the reel is Lounsbury family films beginning with footage of a mine at Ester Dome and scenes at Kotzebue followed by a family visit to Iowa.
[Totems, dancing, Prince of Wales Island, fish program]
[Totems, dancing, Prince of Wales Island, fish program]
The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has AAF-20065 numbered as Bacon 13-04 and titled “Totems, Dancing, Prince of Wales Island, Fish Program.” Reed Bovee interviewed filmmaker Bill Bacon in 2010, and the following information about the group of films that includes this film is based on Bovee's notes from that interview: “Bight Saxman Museum and Nathan Jackson family - He is one of the greatest Tlingit artists - He is a carver - Film of him carving on a totem.” Notes on the film box are as follows: “Ketchikan, totem poles, Saxman, Nathan Jackson family - Wrangell, petroglyphs, Chief Shake’s house, town shots” and “Reel 4: ECN, Klawock, Prince of Wales Island, totems, Indian kids dancing, and fish program.”
[Wrangell scenes]
[Wrangell scenes]
The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has AAF-20063 numbered as Bacon 13-02 and titled “Wrangell, Petroglyphs, Lumber Mill, Chief Shakes House.” Reed Bovee interviewed filmmaker Bill Bacon in 2010, and the following information about the group of films that includes this film is based on Bovee's notes from that interview: “Bight Saxman Museum and Nathan Jackson family - He is one of the greatest Tlingit artists - He is a carver - Film of him carving on a totem.” Notes on the film box are as follows: “Ketchikan, totem poles, Saxman, Nathan Jackson family - Wrangell, petroglyphs, Chief Shake’s house, town shots” and “Reel 2: Original, ECN, Wrangell, overall shots of town, petroglyphs, Cha Johnson, street scene in rain, lumber mill, and Chief Shake’s house.”