Alaska Film Archives

[Alaska Airlines Lockheed Starliner aircraft]
[Alaska Airlines Lockheed Starliner aircraft]
The donor’s original number and title for AAF-20723 are: “RM 16. Alaska Airlines, Connie OTZ, Cooper Ldg, Sheep.” This film features an Alaska Airlines Lockheed Starliner with "Fly Alaska" on its side (N7316C) landing and taxiing on a snowy runway at Kotzebue in northwest Alaska, an Alaska Airlines ramp agent directing the aircraft on the ground, passengers walking toward and boarding the airplane, and views of sheep on a hill. Note that the Starliner developed out of the Lockheed Super Constellation with the Starliner having a redesigned wing and more powerful engines.
[Alaska Native celebrations]
[Alaska Native celebrations]
This film contains scenes of different groups of Alaska Native peoples drumming and dancing in Southeast and Northern Alaska, people sharing and eating muktuk (whale) at a celebration in Northern Alaska, and a blanket toss in Northern Alaska (possibly Barrow).
[Alaska Visitors Association film]
[Alaska Visitors Association film]
This 35mm film from the Alaska Visitors Association shows eagles, whales, rivers, sled dog teams, aerial views, mountains, seals, hills, forests, moose, sheep, caribou, geese, rivers, ducks, bears, a cruise ship, fish, Prince William Sound, totem poles, a blanket toss, Alaska Native peoples, recreational activities, and waterfalls. A narrator encourages people to visit Alaska following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
[Caribou herds and Teller, Alaska]
[Caribou herds and Teller, Alaska]
First approximately eleven minutes of film contain various scenes of a large herd of caribou and Denali (Mt. McKinley). Remaining portion of film contains snowy scenes in Teller, Alaska, including a polar bear hide being offloaded from an airplane while people watch, woman and four children posing for camera (identified in 2022 as Rachael Otoyuk of Teller, Alaska, standing on the far right in a red kuspuk, with her children from left to right, Virginia Menadelook, Sam, Richard and Daniel), two boys demonstrating traditional Alaska Native dance (identified in 2022 as Marvin Okleasik at left in dark coat, and brother John Okleasik in light blue coat), woman in scarf (identified in 2022 as Theresa Soolook from Teller) hugging small baby, woman with tattooed chin and large fur ruff on her parka hood (identified in 2022 as possibly Ruby Gaugryya Singyke Cronin), man and woman wearing parkas with fur ruffs (identified in 2022 as likely John and Asicksik Kakaruk), boys demonstrating Alaska Native dance, aerial view of reindeer or caribou herd, dog sleds approaching herd, and men butchering a reindeer or caribou on the tundra. 2022 identifications were made by people from the Teller area via a historical social media site.
[Fairbanks 1960s]
[Fairbanks 1960s]
This film contains views of Fairbanks in the early 1960s, including cars driving through thick ice fog downtown, muddy neighborhood roads during spring break-up, the sternwheeler “Nenana” parked along the Chena River prior to its restoration and move to Alaskaland, and a bulldozer clearing snowy land.
[Fort Wainwright 1970s]
[Fort Wainwright 1970s]
This film contains scenes from the early 1970s of troops at Fort Wainwright boarding a C-130 aircraft, aerial views of the landscape, and scenes of soldiers with parachutes exiting the aircraft.
[Gold mining in Alaska]
[Gold mining in Alaska]
The donor’s original number and title for AAF-20641 are: “M 7. Gold Mining in Alaska.” This film contains scenes of a bulldozer clearing land and knocking down an old log cabin, a pilot with an airplane on floats, a large placer mining operation, draglines and hydraulic giants, a man and women cleaning a large sluice box, the Sternwheeler Nenana pushing a barge, many people on the porch of a Northern Commercial Company building as barrels are loaded onto the barge, a sternwheeler paddling away, hydraulic giants removing overburden at a mining operation, a sign for N.C. Co. Air Field, metal-sided buildings, a Gullwing Stinson airplane being fueled, an International tractor wrecked in the ice, and sled dogs.
[Inside the trans-Alaska pipeline]
[Inside the trans-Alaska pipeline]
This film contains silent scenes of a welder inside the trans-Alaska pipeline and views as a camera moves down the length of the inside of the pipeline.
McCall Glacier Project
McCall Glacier Project
AAF-20835: “McCall Glacier Project,” copyright 1974 by the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska, was presented as a contribution to the International Hydrological Decade. The film covers scientific studies on the McCall Glacier, and includes detailed explanations of scientists’ activities, equipment used, and data analyzed. Director of photography and editing is Milan J. Alexander. Narration by William Huhn. Sound by Steve Browne. Music by David J. Rychetnik and Gary Westcott. Studies on McCall Glacier were supported by grants from the Atmospheric Science Section, National Science Foundation. Senior Scientists were Gerd Wendler and Carl Benson. One title screen reads as follows: "We express our appreciation to the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory, Point Barrow, for logistic support, the Air National Guard for two excellently executed air drops, and the skillful Alaskan Bush pilots Chuck Meggill, Lowell Thomas Jr., Mike Van Hutten, Merrill Wien, Richard Wien and Al Wright.” According to Dr. Carl Benson in 2016, the film includes scenes of departure from Fairbanks and a flight to the Romanzof Mountains in the Brooks Range, the McCall Glacier on Mount Hubley, and scientists – including University of Alaska Fairbanks professors Will Harrison and Gerd Wendler, graduate students Dennis Trabant and Charlie Fahl, Yuji Kodama of the National Institute of Polar Research in Tokyo, and scientists from the Institute of Low Temperature Science at Hokkaido University in Japan – using instruments to study weather conditions and glacier depths.
[Miscellaneous Alaska scenes]
[Miscellaneous Alaska scenes]
The donor’s original number and title for AAF-20844 are: “RW 109. Travel Scenes, St. Moritz, Skiing.” This film features scenes outside Alaska, which include a road trip in the United States and skiers at St. Moritz in Switzerland. Scenes in Alaska include the Russian Orthodox Church and Spirit Houses at Eklutna, Skagway street scenes, Skagway Inn, Kirmses Curios shop, White Pass & Yukon Railroad train trip, men at a fancy dinner, aerial views of mountains, a boat trip to a glacier, competitive downhill skiing, people eating and huddling around newspapers, men being served an extravagant meal including wine and caviar on an airplane, a series of historic black and white photographs, a group of Alaska Native children eating, William Egan meeting with people, entertainer Burl Ives at Alaskaland, cabins and carnival rides and games at Alaskaland (also known as A-67 or Alaska 67 Centennial Exposition), and Alaska Native people dancing with masks. This is followed by scenes of a lighted sign for Alaska Airlines Golden Nugget Jets followed by "Golden Samovar Service" aboard a Boeing 727 Golden Nugget Jet. Passengers are served an extravagant meal that includes hors d’oeurves, wine, caviar, soup and a main course. Alaska Airlines introduced “Golden Nugget Service” in the early 1960s as a tribute to the 1890s gold rush era. Passenger planes were decorated in red and gold wallpaper and plush red seats. In the early 1970s, Alaska Airlines added the extravagant samovar service to highlight the fact that it had recently begun offering charters to the Soviet Union. This is followed by black-and-white scenes (striations indicate this may be Kodacolor film) of an Alaska town (possibly Rampart?) and flowers, well-dressed people at a conference or meeting, soldiers fighting in Vietnam, William Egan and Henry "Red" Boucher talking to men and women at a dinner, “Egan for Governor” sign, a map of the Bay of Bengal, a moose, the Santa Claus House in North Pole, people on go karts on a track in downtown Fairbanks, Woolworths Building in the background of the track, a log cabin visitors center in Fairbanks, an airplane taking off in Fairbanks and landing at Umiat, a Wien airplane, and a small totem pole.
[Seward scenes]
[Seward scenes]
The donor’s original number and title for AAF-20866 are: “RW 134. Early Seward.” This film features scenes from Seward, which include images of the railway station, people gathered around a small structure fire, the start and finish of the Fourth of July Mt. Marathon race, an Alaska Railroad AuRoRa prototype engine 1050 with a plow attached, women with flowers, a man and women outside a building, and a large ship in a bay and approaching a dock.
Thinking Cold
Thinking Cold
AAF-20588 is a film titled “Thinking Cold," an informative program about Husky Oil operations and the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. A film by Pendleton Productions, Inc., of Anchorage Alaska, and presented by Husky Oil N.P.R. Operations, Inc. Directed by George E. Lukens, Jr. Principle photography by George Lukens, Jeff Mart and Bill Bacon. Contains scenes of Alaska's North Slope, maps of Alaska, workers and construction camps, James Dowden and Phil Jeans of Husky Oil, cargo airplanes, mess hall in a construction camp, food service operator Bill Jenkins, administrative coordinator Sally Van Horn, the moving of portable camps across snowy landscape, Arnold Palenske of Tetra Tech, technicians in the field searching for oil drilling sites, geophysics manager Alan Balby, Carroll Livingston of Husky Oil, offices and managers in Anchorage, environmental director John Schindler, caribou, surveyors at work, archaeological workers, archaeologist Mike Kuntz of the Bureau of Land Management, helicopters flying low over the terrain and hauling cargo, oil drills, pipe-yard, airplanes landing on snowy runway, medic Bobbie Hendricks, transportation manager James Schwartz, construction manager Thomas Brooks, construction of ice roads, environmental specialist Philip Smith, installation of drill pad and drill rig, Rolligon, drilling manager Jack McCarthy, geology manager Sam Hewitt, lab and office scenes, and wintry Cat train scenes.
[Trailers hauled to snowy pipeline camp]
[Trailers hauled to snowy pipeline camp]
This film contains scenes featuring S.S. Mullen Construction Company equipment, a Caterpillar dealership in Fairbanks, aerial views of the Haul Road, a sign that says "Ice May Be Unsafe - Cross at Your Own Risk - State of Alaska Dept. of Highways," men standing next to a cargo airplane, trucks hauling equipment along a narrow snowy road, aerial views of the Brooks Range and a road, aerial views of trucks on a snowy road, aerial views of a pipeline camp, and trailers being assembled and put into place at the camp.