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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 3 of 3 Objects
[Alaska On Line: Red Boucher interviews Steve Levi]
[Alaska On Line: Red Boucher interviews Steve Levi]
In this episode of Alaska On Line, Red Boucher interviews author Steve Levi about gold rush history. The program was recorded on February 15, 1997.
[Alaska On Line: Red Boucher interviews Ted Stevens]
[Alaska On Line: Red Boucher interviews Ted Stevens]
In this episode of Alaska On Line, Red Boucher interviews senator Ted Stevens about upcoming national and state issues. The program was recorded on December 19, 1996. Boucher and Stevens discuss Fairbanks Daily News Miner editor Bill Snedden, subsistence issues, wetlands development in Alaska, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, oilfield development in northern Alaska, the National Petroleum Reserve, the Fort Knox Gold Mine in Fairbanks and other new mines in the state, subsistence and the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the Senate Appropriations Committee, telecommunications legislation, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, fisheries, the 100th anniversary of the Alaska gold rush, and Alaska stewardship of the land.
[Bill Stroecker interview May 3, 2007]
[Bill Stroecker interview May 3, 2007]
Bank president and community leader William G. Stroecker (1920-2010) of Fairbanks, Alaska, speaks to students at Monroe High School in Fairbanks on May 3, 2007, after first being introduced by instructor Pat Doogan (James P. Doogan, Jr.). Stroecker talks about his family's background in Alaska going back to the days of the gold rush, being born in St. Joseph's Hospital in Fairbanks in 1920, graduating from Main School in Fairbanks in 1938, attending military school in New Mexico, graduating from the University of Alaska, U.S. Army service during World War II, and joining the First National Bank of Alaska in 1947. He discusses the importance of basketball in his life. He mentions Charles Creamer, Dyea and the Chilkoot Trail, Noyes Slough, Loomis Security, gold exploration in the Fairbanks area, the Spanish Flu, Creamer's Dairy, Richard "Dick" Wood, E.T. Barnette, Ben Eielson, W.F. Thompson, the Fairbanks Daily News Miner, the Fairbanks Airplane Company, Noel Wien, and Joe Crosson. He talks about being a bank president until 1978, Alaska Pacific Bank, Key Bank, and knowing prospectors as he was growing up. He tells students about the importance of getting outdoors and exercising, and lists the locations of his cabins scattered throughout the state. He says that music is a big part of his life, and talks about playing trumpet, and about the swing era of music. A student asks him about Roswell, New Mexico, and UFOs. He talks about the North Slope being a godforsaken place and about the importance of the oil industry to the state. He talks about Atlantic Richfield and Exxon. He shares his philosophy that tomorrow is gone forever and so today is a good day. He talks about his house at Fifth and Noble Streets in Fairbanks and periodic flooding of town. He talks about Piledriver Slough, the Chena River, ice from the Tanana River flowing through town, and Moose Creek Dam. He says that he loves everything about living in Alaska and doesn't mind the cold. He talks about hiking on snowshoes. He talks about mosquitoes on the North Slope. He talks about boating and camping, and hunting for moose, sheep and deer. He talks about duck hunting with his black Labrador Retrievers at Healy Lake. He talks about marrying in 1957. He mentions Ted Stevens. He discusses his love for birch trees and talks about trimming birch trees near his home to a height of 14 feet so that they look like large shrubs. He talks about Main School, how everyone walked everywhere in Fairbanks because there weren't many cars, basketball, and dog mushing. He goes into detail about his first job as a teenager getting paid 60 to 90 cents per hour at Independent Lumber Company, and about wood products being locally milled after being floated down the Chena River. He discussed getting hazed as a new cadet at military school, and at being good at wrestling due to the strength he gained from working the lumber mill job. He talks about the importance of getting involved in activities in school, and says he is a strong proponent of sport, including sports for women, because it teaches people to get along.