Alaska Film Archives

[Drag racing, air show, parade, construction, family, Haul Road 2]
[Drag racing, air show, parade, construction, family, Haul Road 2]
AAF-10406 is made up of several smaller reels of film. Handwritten notes on original film boxes are as follows: “Good of mud going up Chandlar shelf, get caribou from Song River, caribou truck, caribou on Peterbuilt hood, Jason and Loren 18 mo old on porch.” “Children Jason, Loren, Larissa, Summer 1981, Nani’s house.” “Grandchildren sliding 1983.” “Jason, Priscilla, Bev, Jason on Haul Road, Livengood Gold Mining Camp.” “Train, RR crossing, Bud Wilson and I Atigun Pass, L and Larry wedding.” This film contains footage of men building something from wood, road construction on a muddy road, men with caribou racks posing near a truck, young children playing and posing for the camera, family scenes, a family in winter sledding downhill on an innertube and down a roadway on runner sleds, a snowmachine pulling people and sleds uphill, a mountain reflection in water, people at ERA Helicopters Inc.'s North Slope Operations Center in Deadhorse, a Wien airplane taxiing on a runway, a child with a trucker driving a truck, a man changing a tire on a truck, llamas or alpacas along a road, an overturned truck, driving on a muddy road as seen from the driver’s perspective, construction on a very muddy road, a wedding, a just-married car in winter, a truck driving on icy roads, railroad crossings with Alaska Railroad cars going by, truckers putting chains on tires, snowy roads and trees, and dog mushing activities near Fairbanks.
[Jeanie of Alaska – original reel 1]
[Jeanie of Alaska – original reel 1]
This film includes scenes of Bud and Connie Helmericks traveling with their young daughter, Jeanie, throughout northern Alaska. The date of 1952 was confirmed by Jean (Jeanie Helmericks) Aspen in 2015. Detailed summary information was provided by the filmmakers. According to these notes, the films include scenes of Bud, Connie, and their daughter Jeanie (just turned two years old) walking toward their airplane; an airport in Montana; the family en route to Alaska; scenes from Takahula Lake, including the Helmericks’ log cabin home in the Brooks Range (Jeanie had never seen it before); Connie lifting Jeanie out of an airplane; Jeanie’s first view of the Arctic following a five-day flight from the U.S.; Jeanie wearing a factory-made brown alpaca parka with a hood; the next day, Jean on her tiny snowshoes watching her daddy cut a hole through the four-foot ice of the lake; Ice-fishing; Connie in rubber boots carrying Jean through water to get out on the lake ice in May; Bud gassing up the airplane; ice on Takahula Lake getting slushy and treacherous, and so they must go north because the airplane’s landing field on the frozen lake is disappearing; arriving at the still-frozen Arctic Ocean, 300 miles directly north of the cabin; Bud setting up an Explorers Club flag on a staff; pitching a tent and making a polar camp; Jean watching from a gas can seat dressed in a new caribou fur parka; a dog team driven by a friend arriving from the shore by arrangement; Jean walking on her snowshoes; hunting seals; Jean helping her mother fetch a bucket of snow for melting; on sunny days, camp gear and bedding hung out over the airplane to dry out the dampness of living on the salt ice; Connie hanging child’s diapers to dry on the airplane prop; Bud stalking and killing a polar bear; Jean and her toy seal; ice getting dangerous; on shore again after two months; Oliktok Point, on the north coast of Alaska, changing the landing gear for summer flight; inside a tent – Nannie, Martha, and George; a summer evening on the Koyukuk River and an aerial view; a trading post at Hughes for mail and supplies; over the Brooks Range; a sunset rainbow over Takahula Lake in summertime; building a dock and steps to the cabin; planting a garden; Bud hanging moose antlers up on a gable; Connie and Jeanie paddling through the waters of Takahula Lake in a seven-foot homemade kayak, which was very tippy; on the Arctic coast in summer - the Helmericks family camping with a tent; mosquitos on Bud’s back; Point Barrow - a tractor pushing off a boat; two views of the polar ice pack as it looks in summer; a walrus hunt; a bull walrus charging the boat; and a walrus being harpooned and butchered.