Alaska Film Archives

[trucks hauling pipe on Haul Road]
[trucks hauling pipe on Haul Road]
Footage includes trucks hauling 80-foot sections of pipe on the Elliot Highway and the Haul Road.
[birch bark container]
[birch bark container]
Notes on the film reel says "Native woman demonstrates tracing and cutting pattern from small birch bark container."
[Yukon River travel, Nenana and Eagle, seal skinning, sport fishing, commercial fishing, Unalakleet, gold dredge]
[Yukon River travel, Nenana and Eagle, seal skinning, sport fishing, commercial fishing, Unalakleet, gold dredge]
Part 1 (AAF-980) footage includes a dog team crossing ice, a riverboat on the Yukon River in autumn, a river pilot in a small boat checking water depth, a school in Nenana, people in Eagle Village, riverboat workers, a Dawson City street, going through Five-Finger Rapids, Alaska and Canada flags, Whitehorse, Skagway, Miles Canyon Rapids, and Lake Bennett. Part 2 (AAF-981) footage includes an Alaska Native woman wearing a parka, drying sea mammal intestines, whale butchering in Kotzebue, river scenery, sod houses, a cemetery at Pt. Hope, a gold dredge operating in Nome, a man speaking to an audience, Alaska Native dancers, a Ladd Field hangar, Athabascan men and women in Eagle, the Mission School in Nenana, Gren Collins float plane at a dock with people crowded around, and men trading furs in Canada. Part 3 (AAF-984) footage includes an Alaska Native woman skinning a seal at Pt. Hope. Part 4 (AAF-985) footage includes people at a picnic, small boats on the ocean, fly fishing on a creek, men catching salmon and flounder, the fishing boat "Radar,” a glacier, a flower garden, Sara Machetanz and a man with dogs pulling a three-wheeled cart in Nome, women in parkas, and Sara Machetanz with children eating ice cream. Part 5 (AAF-986) footage includes Sara Machetanz fishing, unloading salmon from a commercial fishing boat, a fishing fleet, crabs on a dock, totes of fish, emptying nets on fishing boats, salmon swimming upstream at a waterfall, Sara Machetanz with girls at a Girl Scout Camp near Ketchikan, women in parkas putting on mukluks, and boys playing on a rubber raft in a gravel pit. Part 6 (AAF-987) footage includes scenery around Unalakleet. Part 7 (AAF-988) footage includes men driving thaw points for a mining operation, men working hydraulic giants, and a large dredge in operation in Interior Alaska.
[Yukon River Bridge construction and hovercraft]
[Yukon River Bridge construction and hovercraft]
Footage includes aerial views of the Yukon River Bridge under construction, a hovercraft with tractor-trailer trucks crossing the Yukon, and aerial view of a construction site. Additional footage includes Senator Mike Gravel being interviewed in an airplane, viewing a hovercraft, sitting on the pipeline, and welding a pipe.
[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.”
[World championship sled dog races]
[World championship sled dog races]
This film features footage of George Attla and other sled dog racers.
[Wilkins expeditions, wonders in motion etc. 5]
[Wilkins expeditions, wonders in motion etc. 5]
This footage includes cutting hay with a team of horses, Charlie Creamer (?) in a field with shocks of hay, a large commercial garden and greenhouses, a picnic and political rally, a sluice box operating, a truck pulling Hubert Wilkins' Fokker fuselage through Fairbanks, a crashed Fokker with a broken wing, the wing being removed by men, a crashed Fokker with collapsed landing gear during winter, and snow-motors clearing a runway.
[Wilkins expeditions, wonders in motion etc. 3]
[Wilkins expeditions, wonders in motion etc. 3]
This footage features mining clean-up and a sluice box in operation, stacking tailings using a bucket, Stinson biplanes, Harding Lake recreation, Wilkins snow-motors seen from the air in 1926, grayling fishing, the paddlewheeler "Pioneer", dog races, and musher Joe Stickman being presented with a trophy (Endicott trophy?).
[Whittier earthquake cleanup, Lake George glacier breakup, wildlife]
[Whittier earthquake cleanup, Lake George glacier breakup, wildlife]
Footage includes foxes playing in brush; men working to repair railroad tracks, damaged buildings and burned out fuel storage tanks in Whittier following the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964, rubble along the shoreline, Lake George glacier breaking up, bears fishing in a river and playing onshore, aerial views of a volcanic crater, seals on a beach, closeups of young seals, and bears and cubs eating and fishing. The film is made from six shorter reels of film spliced together. The original boxes and can are labeled as follows: 1) Foxes - #60013 – 100’ $30.00. 2) R-58 Whittier Earthquake - $15.00. 3) #41 Lake George Glacier Breakup - $15.00. 4) #49 Close-up Brown Bears - $15.00. 5) #39 Fur Seals - $15.00. 6) #44 Bear and cubs - $15.00.
[White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, train interior]
[White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, train interior]
This film is labeled “Poor quality, train trip.” The footage contains scenes of buildings at Bennett Lake in Canada, a conductor and passengers within a train car, White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad travel and scenery, the Caribou Hotel in Carcross in Canada, a sternwheeler in Carcross, and more train scenes.
[White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, Bennett Lake]
[White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, Bennett Lake]
This film is labeled “Train.” The footage contains scenes of travel on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, Bennett train station in Canada, a log cabin, the Trail of ’98 sign, a railroad trestle over a gorge, an Inspiration Point sign, people gathered at a monument, Skagway, a ferry, an engineer, and a church at Bennett Lake.
[White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad summer and winter, de-railed train]
[White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad summer and winter, de-railed train]
This film is labeled “Reel 1, Reel 2, Steam engine trip to Whitehorse August 1961, Railroad shorts June 1960.” The footage contains scenes of the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, a steam engine pulling a train, a train crossing a bridge and arriving at Carcross in Canada, scenery along the railroad route, black–and-white scenes of derailed train cars, train travel, a bulldozer at work, a train at Bennett Lake in Canada, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church at Bennett Lake, a train operating under snowy conditions, black-and-white scenes of a bulldozer pushing railroad cars down a ravine, passengers inside a train car, train travel in winter, a White Pass and Yukon Route sign in Whitehorse in Canada, horses along a railroad route, a machine with a shovel filling a train car, and train travel in summer.
[White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad in winter]
[White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad in winter]
This film is labeled “Railroad shorts.” The footage contains scenes of travel on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad in winter, a church and a train station at Bennett Lake, an airplane taking off, snowy train tracks and a tunnel, railroad workers and employees near a track and inside a train, a train traveling over trestles, snowy mountain scenes, a and sternwheeler in Carcross.
[We Live in the Arctic - Reel 2]
[We Live in the Arctic - Reel 2]
Detailed summary information for this film was provided by the filmmakers, Bud and Connie Helmericks – see a film archivist for full information. According to these notes, films include scenes of an Inupiat family identified in notes as Nanny and George, son Apiak, and daughters Lydia and Martha; Nanny tending a fishnet set in the Arctic Ocean; Lydia (age 5) eating dried meat with an uluruk; Martha (age 17) holding a mirror and applying lipstick; a woman identified in the notes as Bessie with a homemade guitar made from a Prestone can; a whale boat in the Arctic Ocean; people identified in the notes as Oolak or Job (age 15), Little Jacob, Carrie with little Maugaulak or Mark, and Richard; Chandler Lake; a group of inland Inupiat or Nunamiut at Chandler Lake, including people identified in the notes as baby Franklin Roosevelt and his father, Simon Paneak; caribou skin tents covered with canvas; bear damage at a cabin; Connie picking berries; Bud and Connie hunting moose; Connie rendering tallow; Connie chinking a cabin with moss; Bud making a cabin window; Bud demonstrating winter wear; fishing through ice; Bud cutting ice blocks; and heating the airplane engine before take-off.
[We Live in the Arctic - Reel 1]
[We Live in the Arctic - Reel 1]
Detailed summary information for this film was provided by the filmmakers, Bud and Connie Helmericks – see a film archivist for full information. According to these notes, this film includes scenes of a Cessna 140 (the “Arctic Tern”) taking off from Tucson, Arizona; aerial views enroute to Alaska; Grand Prairie, Alberta; aerial views of Hughes, Alaska; Brooks Range mountains; landing at Takahula Lake; Connie and Bud at their log cabin at Takahula Lake; snowshoeing and seeing a “snow doughnut” that has rolled down from the mountain; Bud splitting wood and Connie collecting water; ice fishing on Takahula Lake while sunbathing; planting a garden; Connie climbing Takahula Peak; kayaking on the Alatna River; an airplane flight 300 miles north to the Arctic Ocean; cooking a meal of caribou and cornmeal along the Arctic Ocean; the village of Paulatuk in Canada; Royal Canadian Mounted Police at Cambridge Bay on Victoria Island; a power schooner (the “Tudlik”) traveling from Banks Land; Inuit hunters cooking caribou in northern Canada; Lakes Peter and Schrader in Alaska; and the filmmakers, Bud and Connie.
[Waymon Vest collection films 4]
[Waymon Vest collection films 4]
AAF-13898 is from a film identified by the filmmaker as dog mushing in Anchorage on Cordova Street with mushers George Attla and Roland “Doc” Lombard, circa 1969-1971. The full 16-minute reel was made from five smaller reels labeled by the filmmaker as follows: no label; "dog races Lombard and Attla;" "porky camp robber;" "dog races;" and "fur [illegible]." The films contain scenes of crowds watching sled dog races in downtown Anchorage, a cat train, aerial mountain views, a porcupine, a man hiking with a large pack, men at a cabin feeding a Gray Jay or “camp robber,” sled dog teams in Anchorage navigating a corner, and mushers and sled dog teams at the start line.
[Waymon Vest collection films 3]
[Waymon Vest collection films 3]
AAF-13897 is from a film identified by the filmmaker as: white grizzly bear on North Slope, North Slope scenes, and Kenai Peninsula scenes circa 1970-1972. The full 15-minute reel was made from five smaller reels labeled by the filmmaker as follows: grizzly bear - North Slope 1970, moose sheep - Kenai Peninsula Alaska; cat train Porter; good one Slope; Brooks Range from airplane Alaska; Herc C-130. Scenes on Alaska’s North Slope include a "blonde" or nearly-white-colored grizzly bear and oil exploration activities including a cat train, helicopter, Pilatus Porter airplane, tracked vehicles moving across snowy terrain, C-130 Hercules airplane, and a helicopter. The following information was received from the filmmaker: At about 2 minutes and 40 seconds into the full film reel is a scene of Portage Glacier as seen from the road in 1970; beginning at about 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the reel are barges frozen in the Arctic Ocean; and at about 11 minutes and 40 seconds into the reel, the camera zooms in to a scene of Mt. Susitna, also known as the “Sleeping Lady.”
[Waymon Vest collection films 2]
[Waymon Vest collection films 2]
This reel is made from four smaller reels labeled by the filmmaker as follows: bull riding, steer wrestling, kid bull riding, horse races, Calgary; Calgary Stampede parade; bull riding, chuck wagon race, Calgary Stampede; bronc riding, calf roping, horse races, Calgary Canada 1968. The film features footage from the Calgary Stampede rodeo, an exhibition and festival in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
[Waymon Vest collection films 1]
[Waymon Vest collection films 1]
This film was identified by the filmmaker as North Sea and Denmark, circa 1967-1969. The full 25-minute reel was made from eight smaller reels labeled by the filmmaker as follows: 1968 helicopter, North Sea, Denmark; air jump and pick up by chopper; air show, Esbjerg Denmark 1969, hovercraft glider; Denmark Germany ferry; Zapata jackup North Sea 1968; Denmark [illegible]; Denmark King’s summer house; hovercraft, Peder Iversen Denmark, Hanna and Peder. The film features scenes of an oil platform in the North Sea, people boarding a large helicopter and taking off from a platform, supply boats in rough seas, oil workers on a platform, parachutists jumping to water from an airplane and being retrieved by a helicopter (as part of a Danish military exercise, according to filmmaker), aircrafts flying in formation, a hovercraft demonstration, people shoveling snow, a ferry, aerial views of farmland and an oil platform from a helicopter, family scenes, an aerobatic airplane, a balloon, and travel and site-seeing scenes in the Denmark area.
[Walrus hunt, Kotzebue, Nome, Unalakleet, kayak races, wildlife]
[Walrus hunt, Kotzebue, Nome, Unalakleet, kayak races, wildlife]
This film contains footage of a waterfront in a northern Alaska coastal village, many people in a motor-powered umiak, a camp on a rocky beach, Alaska Native children playing in a tent, men throwing a rope into the water to retrieve a log, men on the edge of sea ice getting into an umiak, open water and sea ice, homes at the edge of the steep rocky island of Little Diomede, people unloading supplies from an umiak onto the shore on Little Diomede, and then some footage is repeated. The footage also features foxes playing in brush; the Kotzebue waterfront, fish drying on racks, children, the post office, the trading post, the Wien Arctic Hotel, a whalebone, and Alaska Native women and a man with closeup views of their faces; a Native dancing in Nome with King Island Chief Aulaġana (John Olarana or Olaranna) and others, a blanket toss, and fish drying on racks; the Unalakleet waterfront with kayaks and an airplane on floats, kayak races, and a demonstration of a kayak roll by a man wearing a gutskin parka; arctic ground squirrels or parka squirrels, a man feeding squirrels, a pika, a marmot, and seals on a beach and in water. Persons and locations identified in 2015 by a person who once lived in the Nome area include: Belmont Point, Snake River, Bering Sea Hotel, Sam Mogg, Charlie Dickson (?), Olaf Piscoya and persons from the Ozenna family, Big and Little Diomede Islands, and Aloysius Pikonganna. This film is made from five shorter reels of film spliced together. The original boxes and cans are labeled as follows: 1) Walrus Hunt - $131.25 [on leader = Color Reproduction Company – Hollywood, California]. 2) Walrus Hunt Reel 1 - $73.00. 3) Reel #19 Foxes – 220’ @ .29 $63.80. 4) XXVIII – 400’ – Kotzebue: tents, homes, post office, trading post, Wien Arctic Hotel, old Eskimo woman in sun on beach, older Eskimo woman and son – Nome: informal Eskimo dance with King Alarna, blanket toss – Unalakleet : 4th of July kayak races, rolling kayak over to upside down then to right side up. 5) #67 Parka Squirrels – Alaskan Parka – 100’ $30.00.
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 7]
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 7]
This film consists of one reel of 8mm film labeled “Winter Carnival” on the outside of the film can and “#1 Cleary Hill” on a piece of tape applied to the reel itself. This film contains footage of mining operations, sled dogs and people dog sledding, scenery in Alaska in winter at sunrise/sunset, fireworks at night; an airplane in the snow; a caribou; people gathering at an outdoor location in winter (possibly a winter carnival), a parade taking place in the, and more dog sledding.
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 6]
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 6]
This film consists of one reel of 8mm film labeled “People and Parties.” It contains footage of various locations throughout Alaska, a sign for ‘Evelyn’s,” a dog; the Traveler’s Inn, a number of well-dressed women exiting a building and showing off their clothing to the camera, a number of scenic views of Alaska landscapes, people and couples dancing at an undisclosed location indoors, a gathering of people in a home, and a woman and a baby playing together.
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 5]
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 5]
This film consists of one reel of 8mm film labeled “Aniak” and contains footage from a vehicle driving in the winter in Alaska, the exterior of a house in the winter, possible footage of a fire at nighttime, scenery of Alaska landscapes and river villages taken from an airplane in the winter, two people standing in front of an airplane in the winter, and the front of the Aniak Lodge.
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 4]
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 4]
This film consists of two reels of 8mm film that have been combined onto one reel. Reel 1 is labeled “2-1538” on the outside of the film canister and includes footage of large-scale excavation work, including large machinery moving dirt, men gold panning, mountain vistas and Alaska scenery, and the Cushman Street bridge dedication ceremony in Fairbanks, Alaska [Identified by George Lounsbury in 2013: Eva McGowan and Robert (Bobby) E. Sheldon appear in the dedication ceremony scenes]. Reel 2 is unlabeled and contains footage of powerboats on a river, river scenery during breakup, Alaska vistas and mountain views, a moose in the woods, and an outdoor circus including animals, clowns, acrobats, and tightrope walkers.
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 3]
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 3]
This film consists of two reels of 8mm film that have been combined onto one reel. Reel 1 is labeled “Lavery Fire” and contains a slip of paper inside the canister labeled “Lavery fire day & night.” This reel contains scenes of the 1959 Lavery Building fire at night and daytime scenes of downtown Fairbanks near Cushman Street and Second Avenue where the building once stood. Reel 2 is labeled “Aniak & Winter Carnival Parade,” and it contains aerial views of the Alaska landscape, scenes of an unidentified parade, cars racing around a dirt track, and sled dog races.
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 2]
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 2]
This film consists of 3 reels of 8mm film that have been combined onto one reel. Reel 1 is labeled “2-0084” and contains footage of a parade in front of Pinska’s in Fairbanks, the University of Alaska power plant and campus in Fairbanks, and a Wien hangar and airport tower. Reel 2 is unlabeled and contains aerial footage of Anchorage-area damage and the movement of earth following the 1964 earthquake (footage is shaky due to camera movement and deterioration of the emulsion on the film). Reel 3 is labeled “Shrine Circus” and contains footage of a circus.
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 1]
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 1]
AAF-11473 consists of 3 reels of 8mm film that have been combined onto one reel. Reel 1 is labeled “March 6, 1961” and contains footage of people sunbathing (the film has a mag stripe soundtrack that was badly deteriorated, so no audio was captured during digitization). Reel 2 is labeled “Hotel Fire” and contains footage of a burning building with firefighters responding (the film is badly deteriorated). Reel 3 is labeled”Chena Ice Classic etc.” and contains detailed scenes of the construction of the Cushman Street Bridge over the Chena River in Fairbanks in 1959.
[Valdez, Alaska and Outside travel]
[Valdez, Alaska and Outside travel]
The first segment in Alaska includes footage of blowing snow in Valdez the and aerial views of winter countryside. Footage outside of Alaska includes George Meals at his farm in Atkinson Nebraska with unidentified women, traffic at night, a Northwest Airlines airplane, a man chopping wood, a woman and dog, tourists watching a dog sled in the summer, mountains, women in a Valdez Light and Power office, men and women in a garden (Nancy, Frank and Ertha Mills in Sebastapol CA), seals in cages, homes and roads, lights in downtown Las Vegas, an old west town (Nancy and Ertha with figures), a dam site, Nancy and friends posing for the camera, homes, people posing (Nancy and family near Amarillo Texas, George Meals with a hay wagon, and farm scenes in Atkinson Nebraska with Melvin and Marvin Meals. The second segment includes footage of downtown Valdez, snow removal vehicles, a propeller-driven vehicle (probably built by Owen Meals) driving down a street, freight being unloaded from a ship, fuel tanks, Alaska Freight Lines and other semi-trucks with trailers and freight, a snowplow, parked semi-trucks, snow removal, a snowy road, wintertime dock activities, an Alaska Steamship Company trailer being offloaded from a ship,Valdez street scenes during winter, trucks hauling pipes, a Valdez Light Power & Telephone Company truck, a small helicopter landing and taking off, and dock views. The third segment includes footage at the Valdez airport with a military DC-3 and other airplanes, an airplane taking off, cars driving on a snowy road, Anchorage city lights, mountains and a lake, foxes at a fox farm, a small water wheel, a cabin and cache, a bear cub and people, scenic views, highway travel, a small airplane taking off and flying by, wind in the mountains, a no-hunting sign, a waterfall and ice, Valdez City School (built in 1936 and used until the 1964 earthquake), and views from a ship. The fourth segment outside of Alaska includes images of families posing for the camera, scenes at a large airport, a woman climbing oil derrick/tower stairs, oil-drilling operation, a small windmill, and oil rigs.
[UAF fire department 1980 to 1981]
[UAF fire department 1980 to 1981]
This film contains footage of a large group of people swimming and playing in a backyard swimming pool during cold weather and warm weather as well as footage of a firefighting competition which includes firefighting races and fires being extinguished by groups of firefighters.
[UAF campus views]
[UAF campus views]
Footage includes students at the University of Alaska Fairbanks walking in front of the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, the Wood Center, Wickersham Hall, and the Gruening Building.