Alaska Film Archives

[1977 Yukon 800 - 2]
[1977 Yukon 800 - 2]
This footage was filmed prior to and during the Yukon 800 riverboat race. Footage includes boats and spectators at Pike's Landing on the Chena River, racer Moe Samuelson being interviewed about boat construction and the race while showing different parts of his race boat (Slo-Mo's Kayak II) to reporter Ann Handley, spectators waiting for boats in Galena, boats arriving in Galena on 6/25/77, aerial views of the Tanana River, spectators in Tanana watching boats pass by, spectators and race boats at Pike's Landing on the Chena River, the airport and spectators in Tanana (?), Jim Movius crossing the finish line in the winning boat, and Jim Movius being interviewed about the race by reporter Chuck Benson.
[Chuck Gray film collection addition 3]
[Chuck Gray film collection addition 3]
The original reel and can notes for AAF-10077 are: "Bristol Bay, Valdez 1971, and winter fishing trips." The film includes fishing, airplanes on floats, a NCA seaplane landing and turning around onshore, a sign the says "Welcome to Brooks River Alaska - Katmai National Monument - Northern Consolidated Airlines - Anglers Paradise Camp" fly fishing near small waterfalls, cabins, fox closeups, a sign that says "Welcome to Kulik River Alaska - Northern Consolidated Airlines - Anglers Paradise Camp," children, a boat harbor, more waterfalls, a family on a boat, airport scenes in winter, airplanes on skis landing and taking off, and winter fishing.
[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.
[Kennecott, Eagle, Haul Road scenes, winter trucking and wildlife 1]
[Kennecott, Eagle, Haul Road scenes, winter trucking and wildlife 1]
AAF-10403 is made up of several smaller reels of film. Handwritten notes on original film boxes are as follows: “1986 Tim Walcott and I flying to P Bay.” “Ketchev plane flying alongside back to Prospect Camp with church people.” “Glacier Bay 1983, excellent falling, Glacier Bay 1.” “Haines eagles, flying to and from Anchorage, Mt. McKinley from air.” “Jim’s river boat, McCarthy, Teklaneka 79.” “End of D. King trip to Isreal – Anchorage, sheep at Glenn Hwy, bear near truck, Bill Chesley wh[?] fishing.” “Good D King and I cutting logs on So Fork, DK landing on So Fork winter time, good pictures at PB on taxi way lots of activity, Good taxi way P Bay, cutting logs with D King.” “Winter view mt from house 6mi, Little at Eagle in Dawson Parade.” “Good activity at Deadhorse Airport P Bay, small sheep, Larissa, beginning of D King logging.” This film contains footage of an airplane and the sign “Jim River DOT,” the pipeline, airplanes, tankers, a fishing boat, seals, calving glaciers, an eagle, mountains at sunset, children with a sled and snowmachine, McCarthy store lodge, Kennicott Glacier and Kennecott Mine, a family boating, dall sheep, a bear at close range trying to climb into a truck, a man chasing a grizzly, a bear and a truck on the Haul Road, cutting up trees, an aircraft, trucking, scenes in Eagle, a helicopter, a sternwheeler riverboat, a parade, and airplanes and trucks at a busy Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay Airport.
[KTVF news stories, interviews, dog mushing, softball, forest fires]
[KTVF news stories, interviews, dog mushing, softball, forest fires]
Some segments of film contain audio, and others are silent. Specific dates and other information noted on the original film are given here in parentheses. The footage includes a man speaking at a banquet about the need for action (title of segment is "University of Alaska President Hiatt") (undated) (sound), Pan Am officials being interviewed at an airport about a New York to Tokyo flight stopping at Fairbanks and tracing the route pioneered by Charles and Anne Lindbergh (title of segment is "Ted Lehme") (undated) (sound), men and women at dinner and at a painting class (titles of segment is "People: North Star Council on Aging") (undated) (silent), a dog musher being interviewed about travel by dogsled along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline route (title of segment is "People: Red Ohlsen") (undated) (sound), a man being interviewed about borough and city government structure (title of segment is "People: Wally Droz") (undated) (sound), boat views and a woman being interviewed aboard a boat (segment is titled "Smith") (undated) (silent), men playing pool (segment is titled "Gov. Hammond") (undated) (sound), views of people in downtown Fairbanks, men in scuba gear running through the street and into the Pantry Market, men swimming in the Chena River (segment is titled "Pantry Outs") (undated) (silent), children exploring a library (undated) (silent), views of DJs at work in the booth at the KFRB radio station in Fairbanks (segment is titled "Highways") (1971) (sound and silent), members of the Fairbanks Softball Association presenting a jacket to borough representative J. Carlson who then hits and throws a softball (undated) (sound), and aerial views of a wildfire and smoke (undated) (silent).
[KTVF news stories, pipeline, hospital, Valdez]
[KTVF news stories, pipeline, hospital, Valdez]
Some segments of film contain audio, and others are silent. Specific dates and other information noted on the original film are given here in parentheses. Footage includes semi-trucks loaded with pipeline sections and construction equipment at nighttime (sound) (undated), airport and university firemen being interviewed about a hangar fire at the Fairbanks International Airport (sound) (undated), a man being interviewed about emergency surgery rooms, labs, and other facilities at the new Fairbanks Memorial Hospital (sound) (titled "Hospital Tour") (January 30, 1972), views of the Worthington Glacier, Thompson Pass, waterfalls, a boat and crab pots, a KTVF van, the Valdez harbor, charter boats and people fishing, a Valdez pipe storage yard, the site of the future pipeline terminus and tank farm, Harry Henderson's grave, and people talking about pipeline activity in Valdez and the 1964 earthquake (sound) (undated), the University of Alaska Fairbanks physical plant, a reporter talking about the installation of a new water tank and the overhaul of the university water system (sound) (titled "Tank") (1972), people touring an empty building (silent) (titled "Hospital") (September 6, 1972), views of students and the campus at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (silent) (titled "U of A Open") (September 6, 1972), a man being interviewed about TVCC classes, a man playing a drum, a man playing guitar, and women being interviewed about Middle Eastern dancing or a belly-dancing class (sound) (undated).
[Richard and Janet Ward collection 1]
[Richard and Janet Ward collection 1]
Footage includes a porcupine, Dick Ward with a chained sled dog, Dick Ward in a Pan American World Airways (PAA) uniform in Metlakatla, the PAA terminal building, a PAA Dc-4 or DC-6 passenger plane, Annette Island scenery (?), trucks and equipment at an asphalt plant, men paving a runway, cars and trailers at the Log Cabin Inn on the Glenn Highway, a gold dredge in operation, ice going out on the Chena River during break-up, aerial views of mountains, cars and a semi truck on a muddy road, a glacier moraine, early tripod-style power poles or telegraph/telephone poles used by ACS, a river, a rainbow, power boats, a parade in downtown Anchorage, power boat races on Spenard Lake (?), a squirrel, a light airplane taxiing across railroad tracks, and a small boy. Footage from outside Alaska includes palm trees, scenery, neon lights, an orange grove, highway travel, and a variety of locations. Additional footage includes Alcan Highway scenes during winter, Whitehorse, U.S. Customs at the Alaska border, Macintosh Trading Post, Alcan Highway scenes during summer, sternwheelers and street scenes in Whitehorse, Peace River Bridge, and travel back to the U.S. Border. Additional footage from outside Alaska includes a college, road travel, a flock of sheep on a road, beach and city scenes, PAA and logging trucks, crew members, and (back in Alaska) scenes in Fairbanks following a large snowfall. Additional footage from outside Alaska includes neon lights, travel, a cactus, small children and adults, and a parade.
[Richard and Janet Ward collection 2]
[Richard and Janet Ward collection 2]
Footage includes a construction camp for the Anchorage International Airport, and airport construction scenes from both summer and winter. Additional footage includes winter travel, University of Alaska buildings in Fairbanks, a weasel tracked vehicle, airplanes that were damaged in the Easter 1949 wind storm at the Fairbanks airport, winter travel scenes, bison on a road, a muddy street in Fairbanks, the General Store in Fox, vapor trails, people skiing, travel on the Glenn Highway, ice going out on the Chena River during break-up, Copper Center Roadhouse, Keystone Canyon, people traveling by outboard-powered riverboat, a picnic, men working on a Caterpillar, a road construction camp, and 40 Mile Roadhouse. Additional footage includes a bear cub, salmon drying by a cabin, people traveling in umiaks, an unidentified village, a Cessna 195 light plane taking off, a gold dredge, a small outboard riverboat, caribou, black bears at a dump, summer scenes, ships at a dock in Seward or Whittier, Alaska Railroad travel, Alcan Highway travel, Seward, light planes, Winter Carnival activities, and people sport fishing.